Opinion: Cold Copy: The Times on Truman and MacArthur

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Below is an image of a Times editorial from April 12, 1951, the day after President Harry Truman announced he had fired his top commander in the Korean War, Army Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur. Commentators have made comparisons between the Truman-MacArthur dust-up and the conflict between the top commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, and top officials in the Obama administration.

The Times’ editorial board wrote today that McChrystal’s comments do not rise to the level of insubordination that left Truman with no choice but to fire MacArthur. In 1951, however, The Times sided decisively with MacArthur, going so far as to declare, ‘Asia apparently will be surrendered to Communism.’