On October 15, 1950, U.S. President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

and General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...

met on

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of To ...

to confer about the progress of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. Truman decided he would meet MacArthur at Wake Island, "so that General MacArthur would not have to be away from the troops in the field for long." The conference was to be the only time that Truman and MacArthur would ever meet face to face. During the conference Truman presented MacArthur with his fifth and final

Army Distinguished Service Medal The Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a military decoration of the United States Army that is presented to soldiers who have distinguished themselves by exceptionally meritorious service to the government in a duty of great responsibility. Th ...

. MacArthur's record of being awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal five times has been equaled only by

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

. Truman and MacArthur met privately at the conference and, therefore, there is no record of their conversation. Although the antagonism between the two men is now well known, it is not known what effect, if any, the conference had on their relationship. On October 30, 1950, MacArthur wrote to Truman:

"I left the Wake Island conference with a distinct sense of satisfaction that the country's interests had been well served through the better mutual understanding and exchange of views which it afforded. I hope it will result in building a strong defense against future efforts of those who seek for one reason or another (none of them worthy) to breach the understanding between us."

Despite the understanding achieved between Truman and MacArthur on Wake Island, their agreement would be short lived. They would quickly regress into disagreement with each other over policy in Korea, ultimately resulting in Truman's dismissal of MacArthur.

References

External links

Wake Island Meeting President Truman and General MacArthur from Truman Presidential Library
* ttp://www.trumanlibrary.org/exhibit_documents/index.php?tldate=1951-10-25&groupid=3413&pagenumber=1&collectionid=firem Personal memo of Harry S. Truman, November 25, 1950 on the Wake Island Conference 1950 in the United States Douglas MacArthur Korean War Presidency of Harry S. Truman Wake Island 1950 conferences October 1950 events in the United States {{Korea-War-stub

See also

References

External links