But the UCMJ was in effect at the time The JCS agreed that MacArthur was not legally guilty of insubordination 891 nor was he guilty of using contemptuous words against the President 888 although today this is read broadly to include both public and private comments He wasn t even ordered to shut the hell up Which could have attracted 892 I have read an article that claimed that Truman did not remove MacArthur simply because of his repeated insubordination but because he wanted a reliable commander on the scene should Washington decide to use nuclear weapons But I don t know how much weight to give to this