MacArthur Page #9

Alvin, you go on ahead to Wake Island.

Make the usual preparations.

I think it's time I had a

talk with General MacArthur.

I never met the man.

Yes, sir.

Wake Island,

Mr. President.

By golly,

that was quick.

How about one of you

fellas radio on ahead?

See if the big general's there.

The president should be greeted.

He shouldn't be the greeter.

I don't see him,

Mr. President.

They probably had

a little trouble

getting him down off his cross.

Wait a minute.

There he is.

That son of a b*tch isn't in

uniform, he's in costume.

I don't know why it is

an old man like that,

and a five-star general to

boot, has to run around

dressed up like a 19-year-old

second lieutenant.

I'll tell you one thing, if he

was an officer in my outfit,

I'd bust him so fast he

wouldn't know what happened.

And making me wait.

He can do that to Harry Truman,

but not to his

commander in chief.

General, I've been

a long time meeting you.

I hope it won't be

so long next time.

Why, so do I.

General Bradley.

MacArthur.

Oh, yeah. Bess sent along a

plum cake for the missus.

How very thoughtful.

Thank you, sir.

And how are Mrs. Truman

and your daughter?

Oh, they're fine.

Just fine, thank you.

General,

I've read a little

military history, and it's a

pleasure to congratulate you

on your success at Inchon.

Now, that was the work

of a master strategist.

Thank you, Mr. President. Coming

from you, that's a real tribute.

And I'd like to apologize for any

misunderstanding raised by my trip to Formosa.

Oh, don't think anything more about that.

I understand your feelings.

I was a captain in Battery

D in World War I,

and, well, that was the center

of the whole war effort for me.

Well, perhaps you should have

stayed in the army.

Nope, I don't think so.

I've heard it's a bad idea for

army men to dabble in politics.

Mr. President, you know that I'm not

involved in politics in any way.

I did let the politicians make a chump

out of me in the '48 elections.

If a general is going

to be running against you,

his name will be

Eisenhower, not MacArthur.

Eisenhower?

That man doesn't know as much about

politics as a pig does about Sunday.

General, I came over here

to listen to your ideas

on the rehabilitation

of postwar Korea.

Mind if I smoke,

Mr. President?

No, I suppose

I've had more smoke

blown in my face

than any man alive.

The formal resistance,

I believe,

should end in Korea

by Thanksgiving.

And now that we've authorized

military operations

above the parallel,

do you include North

Korea in that estimate?

Yes, I do.

By the time I'm finished, we should have

the entire peninsula under control.

General, you do

understand the limitations

on your directive from

the Joint Chiefs of Staff?

No military operations beyond

the Chinese and Soviet borders,

and no American troops

near those borders.

Yes, I believe I understand

that directive fully,

and our boys should be home

by Christmas, Mr. President,

provided that Red China

stays out of the conflict.

Well, I'm glad

to hear that, General.

I've got the whole

United Nations on my back.

Now, a couple dozen members have

got troops under you in Korea,

and the whole bunch

of them are scared stiff

that we're pushing them

into World War III.

Now, there's no doubt that

Stalin's pact with Mao Tse-tung

pledges that the Soviet

A-bomb backs the Chinese

if we should tangle with them.

You mentioned Chinese

intervention now.

Is there any chance

of that, do you think?

Mr. President,

you must have

more complete intelligence

on that matter than I have.

Anything that I would say

would be purely speculative.

Of course.

And I'm sure that

you also realize

that any question

involving China

requires a political evaluation,

not simply a military one.

Our intelligence on the

Chinese is limited.

They're believed to have about

300,000 men in Manchuria,

but I doubt they could get more

than 50,000 across the Yalu River.

They'd be highly vulnerable

to our air attacks.

So in my opinion, the chances of

Red intervention are minimal.

And if they were to try to

get down to the parallel,

they'd be walking into

disaster, a crushing defeat.

Well, I've never had

a more satisfactory conference

since I've been President.

General MacArthur is a member of the

government of the United States,

and he's loyal to that government

and to the United Nations,

and he's loyal to the president

and his foreign policy,

and he's confident that the fighting

in Korea will soon be over.

That's what he said.

Hey!

What the hell is this?

Turkey! Real turkey!

What'd you expect,

shithead? It's Thanksgiving.

Best thing about Thanksgiving

is eating white meat.

I tell you, if I had my way...

General Bradley called me

at 6:
15 this morning

with a message from

General MacArthur.

He says there are 260,000

Chinese out there against him.

He says he's stymied.

Says he has to go

over on the defensive.

It isn't a matter

of a few volunteers.

The Chinese have

jumped in with both feet.

Well, what are they saying

about me in Washington?

Sir, to be candid about it,

they think you walked

into a Chinese trap.

That was a deliberate

misunderstanding.

The defeat of the North

Koreans was decisive.

In the face of this victory, the

Chinese Communists have committed

the most offensive act of

international lawlessness in history.

We are now facing a new,

fresh, highly-trained army.

What does Truman mean by calling

this a "police action"?

Isn't it a fact that the

casualties are mounting daily?

This "police action" has almost

destroyed the Korean nation.

For what?

Guess I've seen as much

blood and disaster

as any man now living.

Every time I come out of here,

I could just be sick.

It curdles my stomach.

Does he intend

to let this go on?

By what sophistry of reason?

Sir, he has the Russians to

consider, and our allies.

General Bradley

feels the same way.

He says that a war with China

would be the wrong war

at the wrong time, in the wrong

place and with the wrong enemy.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff.

I requested permission to bomb the

Chinese airfields in Manchuria.

The request was denied.

I requested permission for hot

pursuit of enemy aircraft

into their privileged

sanctuary above the Yalu.

That request was denied.

I requested permission

to bomb the Yalu bridges

to keep the Chinese

out of Korea.

They said, "You might bomb the

southern half of the bridges only."

In my 50 years of

military service,

I have never learned

how to bomb half a bridge.

It's the most imbecilic order ever

given to a commander in the field.

This is appeasement.

Unless some positive and

immediate action can be taken,

we should withdraw

our forces to Japan.

Forgive me, sir, but...

There are some of those back home

who believe that it's possible

to regain

the offensive without...

Well, without danger

of widening the war.

Without widening the war?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes