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Truman and MacArthur: Policy, Politics, and the Hunger for Honor and Renown. By Michael D. Pearlman. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-25335066-4. Maps. Notes. Selected bibliography. Index. Pp. xx, 352. $29.95.
"Only God or the Government of the United States can keep me from the fulfillment of my mission" (p. 169), proclaimed General Douglas MacArthur. This one sentence perfecdy reflects the hubris of this military figure during his period of fame from the Great Depression through the Korean War. That he linked himself to the highest powers speaks to the core problem President Harry Truman faced in firing him: MacArthur was above reproach. Fortunately, the heavens gave way to the state, to Truman's credit.
Michael Pearlman's definitive study sets the Truman-MacArthur conflict in the deepest political, diplomatic, and biographical frameworks so far undertaken by...