President Truman's Dismissal of General MacArthur: A Case Study in Bureaucratic Politics

Abstract

President Harry Truman's dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur from Korea in 1951 occurred as a result of bureaucratic politics. For 40 years, historians have portrayed this decision as a straight-forward conflict between two strong-willed individuals. In reality, the President's decision was a result of a breakdown in communication due to misconceptions, inadequate third party advice, and partisan politics. In this paper, the decision to dismiss General MacArthur is analyzed using Graham T. Allison's Governmental Politics Paradigm. The model views government decisions as products of "compromise, conflict, and confusion of officials with diverse interests and unequal power." Using the bureaucratic politics paradigm, the paper will examine the President's decision by presenting the players' positions, perceptions, motivations, preferences, compromises, and actions that resulted in General MacArthur's dismissal.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1995
Accession Number
ADA440771

Entities

Organizations

  • National War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Case Studies
  • Communists
  • Congress
  • Department Of State
  • Far East
  • Foreign Policy
  • Governments
  • House Of Representatives
  • Korea
  • Korean War
  • National Security
  • New York
  • United States
  • Universities
  • Wake Island
  • War Colleges

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.