Image:The President and his daughter, Margaret, board the U.S.S. Williamsburg, June 30, 1950. Photograph: Naval Photo Center, Paul Begley. Source: Truman Library Aboard U.S.S. Williamsburg I was up and about shortly after 8 o'clock, the hour at which the ship was scheduled to leave the navy yard. . . . A little later I had a chat with him [President Truman], alone, standing at the "fantail." I commented that it was just a week since we took off on the trip to Independence, Mo., and that it had been a crowded week. I said I felt that the chronology of events during the week should be recorded if only for historical reasons, and he agreed. He said he had [Administrative Assistant to the President] George Elsey at work on it and had had him sitting in on some of the conferences . . . . On the way through the canal [Press Secretary to the President Charles] Ross and I were with the president on the sun deck outside of his cabin. He talked with us at length about the Korean situation and about General [Douglas] MacArthur, for whom the president has little regard or respect. He feels, as do most others, that MacArthur is a supreme egotist who regards himself as something of a god. The president commented on MacArthur's departure from Manila and Corregidor when the Japanese besieged the Philippines early in the war, and his escape to Australia, leaving General Wainwright to be captured. Wainwright has never recovered from the experience while MacArthur has become a hero and dictator in Japan. The president said we should have heard [Consultant to the Secretary of State] John Foster Dulles and what he had to say to the president about MacArthur when he came in to see him this week after returning from Tokyo where, as a state department adviser, he had visited MacArthur. Dulles told him that when word came to Tokyo of the outbreak in Korea, MacArthur knew nothing of it, and [Dulles] was unable to get any of the general's staff to call MacArthur. All of them were afraid to. So Dulles did it himself. Dulles, the president indicated, would like to have MacArthur hauled back to the United States, but the president pointed out to him that the general is involved politically in this country - where he has from time to time been mentioned as a possible Republican presidential candidate - and that he could not recall MacArthur without causing a tremendous reaction in this country where he has been built up to a heroic stature. Dulles agreed, he said. . . . Assistant Press Secretary Eben Ayers Diary entry, July 1, 1950 Papers of Eben A. Ayers           I had a talk with [State Department Consultant and leading Republican John Foster Dulles] . . . right after he returned to this country and he said he was speechless in admiration of what had been done. He felt the administration had made the United Nations a living vital force in the world and he strongly applauded the whole aspect of collective security. Special Assistant to the Secretary of State Lucius Battle Truman Library Institute conference comment, May 1975 The Korean War: A 25-year Perspective (The Regents Press of Kansas, 1976) Image: General Douglas MacArthur and John Foster Dulles in Tokyo, June 21, 1950. Dulles, on a Far East fact-finding mission, had just left Korea, and was in Tokyo when the first reports of the invasion arrived. Photograph: U.S. Army. Source: Truman Library Go to June 30, 1950    Back to Week of Decision

Back to Week of Decision Go to June 30, 1950 Document links July 1, 1950 See the record from which the decisions were made Presidential calendar of appointments for July 1, 1950. Papers of Harry S. Truman: Matthew Connelly Files.(1 page) Classified message, dated July 1, 1950, from the Joint Chiefs of Staff authorizing General Douglas MacArthur to take certain steps to implement a naval blockade of the entire Korean coast. Papers of George M. Elsey (1 page)