For that, we have Harry Truman to thank.
After a GOP member of Congress publicly revealed a letter from Gen. Douglas MacArthur, then commanding U.S. and UN forces in Korea, that stated, “There is no substitute for victory,” President Harry Truman on April 11, 1951, fired MacArthur for repeatedly voicing opinions that differed from Truman’s war policy. MacArthur, after China entered the war in October-November 1950, felt that he and his forces were unfairly and dangerously being restricted from waging successful war against Chinese forces. “Why, my soldiers asked of me, surrender military advantages to an enemy in the field? I could not answer,” the general memorably told Congress after his removal from command. More U.S. troops died in Korea after than before MacArthur was fired. And the only way we ended the Korean War was to threaten, as MacArthur suggested, to widen the war and possibly use nuclear weapons — both Truman and Eisenhower did that. We didn’t win the Korean War. We lost the Vietnam War. We won the brief Gulf War in 1991, but lost the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In America’s wars, thanks to Harry Truman, there are always substitutes for victory.
