General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley in the Korean War and the Meaning of the Chairmanship

Abstract

General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley served as the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and he played a significant role during the Korean War. Bradley served as the senior military advisor to President Harry S. Truman, and he was the critical link to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur as the United Nations Commander during the war. The most critical events in the Korean War occurred in the first year. Bradley established the military policy that guided the actions for MacArthur in the conduct of military operations. His role with MacArthur was to ensure operations did not violate policy. In the beginning of the war, Bradley granted MacArthur wide latitude as the field commander, yet he restricted his actions later in the war because MacArthur's actions were in contradiction to military policy. Eventually, Bradley recommended the removal of MacArthur to President Truman. As Chairman, Bradley established certain precedents for the job position. He balanced the need to support the field commander in military operations and to enforce the military policy approved by the President.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 19, 2011
Accession Number
ADA546268

Entities

People

  • Michael D. Forbis

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Amphibious Operations
  • Command And Control
  • Department Of Defense
  • Department Of State
  • Far East
  • Governments
  • Korean War
  • Military Advisors
  • Military History
  • Military Operations
  • National Security
  • New York
  • North Korea
  • South Korea
  • United States
  • War

Readers

  • Archaeological Resource Survey
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Military Science