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Commander in Chief Far East General of the Army Douglas MacArthur.
Photo:
Department of the Army.
Source: Truman Library.
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On Monday, October 9, 1950, the President dispatched a message to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, USA (Commander in Chief,
United States Forces, Far Eastern Command, and Commander in Chief, United Nations Command), informing him that he urgently desired to
meet with him on either Saturday, October 14th, or Monday, October 16th. The President suggested Honolulu as the place for the meeting.
The President added that he realized the difficulty that faced General MacArthur with a new campaign starting, or in progress, and that if he
felt his presence in Japan or Korea was of critical importance, he, the President, would consider meeting him on Saturday morning, October 14th at
Wake Island.
On Tuesday, October 10th, General of the Army Omar N. Bradley, USA (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) arrived at the White House at 9:30 AM, to
brief the President on the military situation in Korea. At this time, General Bradley handed the President a copy of General MacArthur's reply, which
had been received at the Pentagon during the night. General MacArthur stated that if agreeable to the President, he would report to him at Wake Island
on Saturday morning, October 14th (West Longitude time).
The President informed his staff in a staff meeting at 10:00 o'clock that same morning, that he would leave Washington the next afternoon for Wake Island,
stopping overnight Wednesday, October 11th, at St. Louis, Missouri.
Assistant
Naval Aide to the President Lieutenant Commander
William Rigdon
Log of President Truman's Trip to Wake
Island: October 11-18, 1950
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The
idea for that trip [to the Pacific for
President Harry S. Truman to meet with the
Commander in Chief, Far East, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur]
originated with George Elsey [Administrative Assistant
to the President] . . . . And, so he talked to some
of the rest of us on the staff about it,
we in turn talked to President Truman
about it. I don't think he was ever enthusiastic
about it. But we persuaded him to go.
And I don't think he ever did really care
to go, to tell you the truth. But he went,
and George Elsey went out as the advance
man to Hawaii. George had been a lieutenant
in the Navy in World War II and when he
went out to Hawaii he was dealing with
naval people from Admiral [Arthur] Radford
[Commander in Chief Pacific] on down and
he would tell them what they had to do.
I think he got quite a kick out of it.
They did it up right.
Special
Counsel to the President Charles Murphy
Oral history interview, May 21, 1969
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Special Counsel Charles Murphy.
Photo: Democratic National Committee.
Source: Truman Library. |
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[The]
. . . Hawaiian trip [was] . . . first
considered [in] early Sept. by GME [George M. Elsey] et
al. . . . [and] talked about repeatedly[--]GME
pressing hardest. . . . [Special Assistant
to the President W. Averell] Harriman
[was] "sold" ca. 23 Sept. . . .
Harriman
& [Special Counsel Charles] Murphy put
it up to Pres[ident Truman] ca. 28 Sept.,
but [the decision to take the trip to
the Pacific was] not nailed down until
[October 6, aboard the U.S.S. Williamsburg]
. . . when talking about speeches & Pres[ident
Truman] seemed to have forgotten it .
. . . He then considered, quickly agreed
& got [Air Force Aide General Robert] Landry
to make up [the] schedule.
Administrative
Assistant to the President George Elsey
Handwritten note, no date
Papers of George M. Elsey
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Well,
the idea was that President Truman would
go out [to Hawaii] and confer with General
[Douglas] MacArthur about the progress
of the war [in Korea] and that he would meet him
between here and Korea so that General
MacArthur would not have to be away from
the troops in the field for long. I suppose
I would have to say candidly, that among
us on the White House staff, at any rate,
was the feeling that this would be good
public relations, and that, I think, is
probably why the President had some distaste
for it. He just had a distaste for public
relations stunts. He really did. . . .
Special
Counsel to the President Charles Murphy
Oral history interview, May 21, 1969
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This
was the President's decision. He felt
that under the circumstances that it was
fitting that he should go out into the
area where General MacArthur had the responsibility
for the discussion. There's no lack of
sense that he had the right to order General
MacArthur back; it was just that General
MacArthur had the responsibility for the
day-to-day management of the war, to bring
him back with the period of time that
would elapse just didn't seem appropriate
to the President.
Secretary
of the Army Frank Pace
Oral history interview February 17,
1972
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Well, my recollection is that this was decided on a weekend cruise on the Williamsburg with a number of White House staff members
on the cruise. It was very shortly before,
perhaps not more than a week before the
trip took place. . . .
[H]ere's
a note
which I drafted for [Special Counsel] Charles
Murphy to send to the President and which
Charlie did on October 9 and you see the
opening sentence, "It appears to me highly
desirable the following steps should be
taken as soon as possible if the President
meets the schedule as discussed on the Williamsburg."
We had been spending that weekend, preceding
weekend, on the Williamsburg talking about
this and here are the recommended Procedures
to be followed. At this point, you see,
General MacArthur hadn't even been consulted
yet. . . .
MacArthur
didn't even know, you see. Secretary of
Defense General [George C.] Marshall and
[Secretary of State Dean] Acheson were
to send a telegram, I was recommending,
and Murphy recommended, to the President
that the telegram be sent to MacArthur
expressing the President's desire to meet
MacArthur in Hawaii on Saturday the 14th,
but MacArthur, as we know from later,
in other reports, didn't want to go as
far as Hawaii, didn't like to fly at night,
only wanted to go fly as far as Wake because
he could make a daytime journey.
Administrative
Assistant to the President George Elsey
Oral history interview April 9, 1970
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Administrative Assistant
George Elsey.
Source: Truman Library.
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Well,
as I understand it, the President thought
that a personal meeting with General MacArthur
might be helpful in arriving at an understanding
between the two of them, and so he was
willing to take that trip because he felt
that he should not pull General MacArthur
out of the battle area for any great length
of time during this critical time in the
campaign. That is why he went all the
way to Wake Island instead of asking General
MacArthur to meet him half-way, for example;
and as I understand the President's visit
it was for the purpose of getting a better
understanding between the two of them.
Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Omar
Bradley
Congressional testimony, May 24, 1951
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The
only thing I need to say is that the question
was raised with me by the President whether
I should go to the Wake Island meeting.
I said that as I understood my duties,
it was dealing with foreign powers and
although MacArthur seemed often
to be such I didn't think he ought to
be recognized as that. . . . I had a vast
distate for the whole idea. It didn't
seem to be something which was directly
in my field of operations -- I didn't
want to have anything to do with it, didn't
go on it and wouldn't go on it. It wasn't
-- didn't seem possible for me to undo
the decision. Now all the consideration
that led to it I don't know. I presume
they had something to do with the elections
which were about to occur, something to
do with the whole attitude of the country
toward General MacArthur [who had recently
conducted the successful amphibious landing at
Inchon which appeared to guarantee victory], something to
do with the fracas that we'd had in August
of that same year about the message to
the Veterans of Foreign Wars [in which MacArthur
had appeared to contradict U.S. policy on Taiwan
(then called Formosa) prompting the President to
order withdrawal of the message] -- all of
these things probably entered into it.
But the matter, when it was decided, was
not discussed with me. I knew about it
when it was practically decided officially
. . . .
Secretary of State Dean Acheson
"Princeton Seminar" comment, February
13, 1954
Dean Acheson Papers
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Secretary
of State Dean Acheson
Source: Truman Library
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Well,
I first heard about it from General Marshall
who said that the President had discussed
with him who should go to Wake Island
and this historic meeting with General
MacArthur, and he told me that he had
recommended that I go. I was Secretary
of the Army; the Army had the main responsibility
in that area, and that he felt that as
the civilian head of the Army I should
go to Wake Island with President Truman.
. . .
I
assumed [Secretary of State Dean Acheson
did not participate in the Wake Island
Conference] for the same reason that General
Marshall didn't go. They felt that there
was enough prominence to the operation
by President Truman going. Also, General
Marshall didn't think very much of General
MacArthur, as you know, and vice versa.
I have an offhand guess that Dean Acheson
didn't think very much of General MacArthur.
They just felt that there was no reason
on something that historic to get into
personalities.
Secretary
of the Army Frank Pace
Oral history interview February 17,
1972
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On
October 9, 1950, Ambassador [at Large Philip C.] Jessup told
me very confidentially the President was
going to Wake Island to confer personally
with General of the Army Douglas MacArthur
and we were to assist in preparing background
documents for the historic meeting.
I thought this was a very unusual development.
I knew there were problems with respect
to the administration of the Korean conflict
and there had been some basic military
differences with the Supreme Commander
on widening the war. But for the President
to go midway in the Pacific to meet the
General was truly extraordinary. The following
day Ambassador Jessup informed me he had
been invited to be a member of the President's
party and asked me to accompany him. I
was overjoyed! Knowledge of the trip was
to be kept highly confidential for the
moment, he cautioned. . . .
Personal Secretary to the Ambassador
at Large Vernice Anderson
Oral
history interview, February 2, 1971
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Personal Secretary to the Ambassador at Large Vernice Anderson
Source: Truman Library
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I
didn't know the President was going to
Wake Island. I got a call from the Secret
Service. I was in New York for the weekend,
and they called me and I was closed in
by weather and I couldn't get a flight
back. I did get back the next morning,
the staff meeting was on and the President
discussed it and I said, "I think this
is a mistake."
He said, "Well, it's all settled. The
news is out."
So after the staff meeting broke up I
went back to him and I said, "I think
you're making a mistake."
He
said, "What do you mean?"
I said, "When does the king go to the
prince? I think this is a mistake."
He said, "Well it's done. Forget about
it. . . . ."
Appointments Secretary to the President
Matthew Connelly
Oral
history interview, August 21, 1968
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At
the time the conference at Wake Island
was proposed, the President first said
he wanted to take all of the Chiefs of
Staff. We thought it would be very bad
for all four of the Chiefs to be out of
Washington at one time, in one place,
with a war going on in Korea; so, after
we called this to the President's attention,
he agreed to let me go along as the representative
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and let
me report back to them.
Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Omar Bradley
Congressional testimony, May 22, 1951
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At
the time of the Wake Island meeting, as
Personal and Confidential Assistant to
Ambassador at Large Philip C. Jessup,
I was an employee of the Department of
State. . . . I was already well known
to the White House staff as I had served
in 1946-47 in the Truman White House as
Personal Assistant to Special Assistant
to the President Edwin A. Locke.
Personal Secretary to the Ambassador
at Large Vernice Anderson
Truman Memorabilia, December 12, 1984
Truman Library Miscellaneous Historical
Documents Collection.
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It
was a rare privilege, a challenging and
most rewarding experience, to have been
associated with Ambassador Jessup and
Secretary Acheson during that exciting
period. . . . I took many trips with Ambassador
and Mrs. Jessup to Europe, including several
to the Pacific. The one to the Far East
was actually around the world, from December
1949 to March 1950. . . .
Our first stop was Japan where we spent
ten days. While in Tokyo we were guests
of General Douglas M. MacArthur in his
guest apartments in the Embassy compound.
The Jessups had one apartment, I had an
adjoining one, in a building separate
from the Embassy residence. During our
stay we saw some of the General, of course,
and a good deal of his staff.
One night about 10 p.m., when returning
from dinner, my Army chauffeur by mistake
went to the General's personal residence.
When our car pulled-up, the M.P.'s at
the front door came to attention, clanking
their guns on the doorstep. I hurriedly
explained to the chauffeur that this was
not my residence, but that I lived in
the next building. I was horrified for
fear of awakening the General, who religiously
retired at 9 p.m. after an early dinner
and a nightly movie. We understood from
the local staff that the General never
deviated from this routine, that he never
dined with guests or stateside visitors,
despite their rank, and that he had never
broken bread with an Oriental. What is
more, they told us that the General knew
the name of every movie he had seen in
the last five years!
While
in the area, the General made available
to us his personal plane, the Bataan,
and his personal flight crew, headed by
Colonel Anthony Story (USAF).
Personal Secretary to the Ambassador
at Large Vernice Anderson
Oral history interview, February 2, 1971
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Early
in the week [Press Secretary Charles]
Ross announced that the President would
leave Wednesday by airplane for St. Louis,
where he planned to attend a ceremony
of the Order of the Eastern Star at which
his sister, Miss Mary Jane Truman, was
installed as the head of the order in
Missouri, and then would leave by airplane
for the Pacific to meet General MacArthur.
This created something of a sensation
and there was an immediate rush of newsmen
to go.
Assistant
Press Secretary to the President Eben
Ayers
Diary entry, October 9-14, 1950
Papers of Eben A. Ayers
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The
next day [October 11] Ambassador Jessup, returning
from a meeting with Mr. Ross and the White
House staff planning the trip, announced
other details--departure time, itinerary,
including the stopover in San Francisco
on the return for the President's report
to the Nation. Then he said, "Incidentally,
I understand from Charlie that you will
be the only lady on the trip. Does this
present a problem to you?" I responded
that, if it were not a problem to him
and the gentlemen making the trip, it
was not to me. He indicated I could be
most helpful in preparing the communiqué
and speech and that there were adequate
facilities on both Presidential planes
for all persons.
Personal
Secretary to the Ambassador at Large Vernice
Anderson
Oral history interview, February 2,
1971
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