Many people had good reason to be upset at MacArthur’s dismissal. MacArthur was undoubtedly an American hero; he had contributed greatly in the Second World War, and had also devised the landing at Inchon that helped turn the Korean War around. However, MacArthur’s later actions proved that he was willing to defy orders and jeopardize peace plans and national security in order to further his own beliefs and interests. His actions showed that he was unreliable, and thus his dismissal was justified.
An unreliable leader who acts rashly and makes decisions behind the backs of his superiors cannot be trusted with so large a responsibility. While General MacArthur had no doubt made a huge contribution to the US in World War II and the Korean War, his bad decisions in the later stages of the war made him more of a liability than an asset, and thus President Harry S. Truman’s decision to remove General Douglas MacArthur as the US military commander was justified.