Evening star., 1951-04-15

Arthur OF his command Tor pr
orders and replaced him with 1t.
Republicans, who have long
has sometimes seemed to be tc
then-sprang to his defense, the
general prepared to come home to
state his case. and the country
was plunged into a bitter contro-
versy.
The final outcome and conse-
quences of these dramatic events
remained uncertain at weeks end
At least one towering fact emerged
out of all the fire and fury, how
ever:
This fact is that President Tru-
man has reasserted the constitu-
tional principle of the supremacy
of the civilian authority of the
Republic over the military.
Honored in Breach
1t has sometimes seemed. dur
ing the past decade or more, that
this principle has been more hon
ored in the breach than in the
observance.
Enjoying vast powers. and
checked by few lets or hindrances
some of Americas strong -willed
generals and admirals have tended
to act as though they were an
swerable to no superior authority
civil or military. Discipline, to
these men. has appeared to be
something which they imposed or
others, but which was not to be
imposed on them. There has beer
no one, it has seemed at times
who could command the COM
manders.
1.-THE President shall be Com
mander in Chief of the Army anc
Navy of the United States and oi
the militia of the several States
when called into actual service o1
the United States" the Constitu-
ton provides. Some generals have
not obeyed.
The Constitution also makes the
President primarily responsible fol
the conduct of the country's for
eign relations. too, but some gen.
erals have not paid conspicuous
heed to this provision either.
Gen. Macarthur has finally
forced this constitutional, issue ol
the powers of the presidency.
Macarthur has been a proue
and imperious man all his life
and he has been increasingly in
transigent since the end of Wofl6
War II. He has outdone ever
himself. however. since the out
break of the Korean conflict.
The drama of his defiance
during this latter period has
played itself out in a prologue
and four acts-up to now.
Prologue
The curtain rose on the pro-
logue early in August, when Mac
Arthur flew to Formosa, last
precarious foothold of the Chi.
nese Nationalist regime of Gen.
eralissirno Chang Kai-shek, tt
discuss plans for the island'l
defense.
The military dispositions which
Macarthur made are still off1cia
secrets. In addition to making
these arrangements. however, thu
general also did two other thing
which, far from remaining secret
attracted worldwide and not alto
gether indulgent notice:
He. kissed Mime. Chiang's han,
Notwithstanding the fact tina
the hand was gloved at the time
and he uttered spirited and mar
tial sentiments about Formosa
the Chinese civil war. comnlu
nism and world policy in general
The Chinese NationaliSts ex
plotted these statements to tn
utmost. They also intimatet
that Macarthur had gone mucl
further, in secret conversations
and had promised them supper
above and beyond any contem
plated by American policy.
This all caused some unease il
Washington, and it caused ever
greater unease among America
friends and allies.
The United States had U. N
sanction, and it had allies, i,
what it was doing in Korea, blu
it had neither in what It wa
doing in Formosa. There, Amer
lea was alone. Its allies, indeed
heartily disapproved of America
China policy. The United State
might completely isolate itsel
in the world if it did what Mac
Arthur seemed to propose shoul,
be done.
President Truman decided ther
was some danger that Macarthur
might have mistaken what Amer
ican national policy was. Accord
ingly, he sent w. Averell Harri
man, special White House advise
on foreign affairs, on a mission
to explain matters to the general
Mr.. Hartman returned t,
Washington, in due course, full o
assurances. All was in order, h
said. Macarthur understood wha
policy was and would, OF course
respect it. The general is sol
dier, said Mr.. Hartman; he vii
do what he is told.
The prologue of the drama endet
on this tranquillizing note.
Hardly were Mr.. Hartman
shirts back from the laundry, how
ever, when Gen. Macarthur dem
onstrated that he could not hav,
paid too close attention to wl1a
the White House emissary ha.
said. For the curtain now ros
on the generals first virtually opel
defiance of the President.