Show WASHING i i i T FI t xii The Midnight Statement I TT IT T WAS not until about 11 1115 15 Tuesday Tuesday Tuesday Tues- Tues day night that President Truman Truman Truman Tru Tru- man actually decided to issue his 1 am a.m. statement firing General MacArthur The decision to make this momentous momentous mo mo- step had already been taken but the timing was set for Friday not Tuesday midnight And the reason for the sudden nocturnal nocturnal nal press announcement was a telephone telephone tele tele- phone call from rom Secretary of the Army Pace in Tokyo tipping off ot Truman that MacArthur planned to jump the the- gun and get out his own statement first The President was still smarting from an incident around March 24 wh when n MacArthur had jumped the gun on him so naturally he was leery He had sent MacArthur a i policy st statement for his perusal and personal reaction reaction-a a policy which I the White House planned to announce announce an an- as a peace feeler to China But MacArthur without notifying Washington issued the statement himself So when Secretary Pace called from Tokyo Tuesday night intimating that MacArthur MacArthur MacAr MacAr- thur might rush into print again the President called Secretary Secretary Sec See of ot State Acheson and Deputy Undersecretary Dean Rusk to the White House where they prepared the MacArthur press release Prior to that late on Monday afternoon the joint chiefs of stat staff held a highly secret session at which there was unanimous sentiment sentiment senti scull ment that MacArthur must go Bradley Gets Hot Gen Omar Bradley chairman of the joint chiefs of sta staff and a most mild mild mannered mannered man was hottest under the collar against MacArthur Adm Forrest Sherman chief of naval operations and reported by some as favoring MacArthurs MacArthur's strategy against China actually threw his weight behind Bradley Though MacArthurs MacArthur's tactics Included included In in- eluded a naval operation against China Admiral Sherman argued that we cant can't afford to get involved in a war with China and that if you go into China just a little bit bitas bitas bitas bit bit- as In bombing bases you bases you have to tobe tobe tobe be ready to go in all the way Only I military man who dragged his feet on MacArthur's MacArthurs MacArthurs MacArthur's MacAr MacAr- thurs thur's ouster was Secretary of ot Defense Marshall who has hask k known MacArthur a long time Ume is 70 years old against MacArthur's MacArthurs MacArthurs MacArthur's MacArthurs MacArthur's MacAr MacAr- thurs thur's 71 and who was In France as a a. World War I captain captain cap cap- tain thin when MacArthur was a brigadier general Ridgway Can Hold One highly significant exchange of information made between the pentagon and Gen Matthew Ridgway in Tokyo was a cable from Ridgway stating that no matter matter matter mat mat- ter what happened his troops could hold out for 60 days Regardless Regard Regard- less of ot what was thrown at him Ridgway Informed the joint chiefs of staff he could hold for two months This cable was In reply to White WhiteHouse WhiteHouse WhiteHouse House fears that following MacArthur's MacArthurs MacArthurs MacArthur's MacArthurs MacArthur's Mac- Mac Arthurs Arthur's removal there might be bea a Chinese attack and a series serles of American defeats for which Truman Truman Truman Tru Tru- man having removed the supreme commander would get the blame ULI u I narry President Truman's usual peppery peppery peppery pep pep- pery remarks have not been In evidence during the MacArthur controversy not controversy not even to his personal personal personal per per- advisers The nearest he came to pepper was at last weeks week's cabinet meeting just after ex- ex speaker Joe Martin released the MacArthur letter Its time to show the MacArthurs Mac- Mac Arthurs the Time Life people and the Scripps-Howard Scripps newspapers who is running American foreign policy he observed tartly Day after MacArthur was relieved relieved re re- re- re however Truman received re re- re a call from ex congress man Maury laury Maverick of ot Texas who congratulated him What you have done will make sure bure that my grandchildren dren will be free and that civilian government will continue continue con con- in the United States IUa Maverick verick said The President was neither cocky nor apologetic He looked a little sad as if it he had made a terrifically terrifically cally hard decision and knew that a terrible storm was going to break over his head Thank you Maury he replied And he wept just a little I do domy domy domy my best I have to follow the con con- Rayburn's Ghost Troops What Speaker Sam Rayburn had hadIn hadIn hadin in mind when he told congress that non non Chinese Chinese troops were in Manchuria Manchuria Manchuria Man Man- churia was not Russian troops but four divisions of trained Russian Japanese troops there has long been seen a small contingent of Russian troops In Manchuria used for purposes purposes purposes pur pur- poses of turning Russian equipment over to the Chinese But there have never been any Russian combat troops in Manchuria Much more dangerous are arc the Red divisions massed around Siberia |