THE NATIONS: Jubilation –& Foreboding

“The whole world stopped breathing for a moment over his fall,” said the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. It was journalistic hyperbole, but it caught, more vividly than any other seismograph, the tremor of emotion that ran around the globe as Douglas MacArthur was ordered down from his lofty post.

In the Communist world, jubilee was mostly high and unrestrained. “Victory for the Chinese and Korean people in the fight to resist American aggression,” crowed Radio Peking. Rome’s Red organ I’Unità echoed: “The criminal MacArthur fired because of the protest of the whole civilized world.” The satellite Budapest press chanted a litany of satisfaction over the dismissal of a “bloody-handed hangman, murderous, carnivorous fascist.” Only Moscow struck the suspicious as well as triumphant note. “Having removed the general who failed,” warned the Literary Gazette for the ears of the Communist faithful, “Wall Street does not intend to renounce his risky policy.”

In the free world, there was also jubilation—and foreboding. A vast sigh of relief rose from Europe and Britain, where MacArthur had long been the symbol of an American urge to get entangled in Asia, plunge into World War III. London’s House of Commons, apparently in full agreement with the British government’s policy of appeasement of the Chinese Reds, cheered when Foreign Secretary Herbert Morrison broke the news. Cried the News Chronicle: “Mr. Truman has taken the bull by the horns and pushed him out of the china shop.”

In Paris, over the hum of street traffic, a grinning gendarme yelled to a friend: “MacArthur s’en va” (MacArthur is leaving). “With all his merits,” said a complacent Dutch housewife, “he was a nuisance.” A veteran European diplomat snapped: “An abscess has been removed.” Nodded an Italian official: “Bureaucratically, it was the correct thing to do.” Milan’s Corriere della Sera voiced the underlying sentiment of all: “Europe’s victory against Asia in the competition for ‘most important place’ in general U.S. strategy.” Wrote the Vatican’s Osservatore Romano: “A decisive act, proclaiming a desire for peace . . . The President of the United States refused a policy that presented such a risk for the United States and the world.”

Only a few wondered if Europe’s gain might be short-lived, or illusory, in the indivisible struggle against Communism everywhere. “He was muy macho” (a brave fellow), shrugged a Spaniard. “He won a war of guns and lost a war of words.” “A whipping boy for many grievances,” admitted the London Economist, which had done its bit in the anti-MacArthur chorus. The Athens Kathimerini editorialized: “The sacking of an American military leader as a sacrifice-for the British lion does not bring about unity.” Hardheaded Turks talked about an Asian Munich.

Asia, like Europe, had mixed feelings, but there was more foreboding than joy. Indian and Indonesian leaders who had attacked MacArthur as an obstacle to a negotiated settlement in Korea, were visibly pleased. In Japan, it was as though a fatherly friend and mentor had departed. The Nippon Times said: “The Japanese people owe General MacArthur an eternal debt of gratitude.” The national Diet sent a letter: “Deepest gratitude . . . We shall remember you as our greatest benefactor.”

Free Koreans were stunned. The Chinese Nationalists on Formosa felt dashed in hope once more. “This is the greatest victory for Communism since the fall of China’s mainland,” they said. “There will be rejoicing in Moscow tonight.”

Australians, too, worried about the meaning of MacArthur’s departure.”What the democracies will want to know,” said the influential Sydney Daily Telegraph, “is whether any policy was decided which was clear-cut and positive, and where MacArthur defied or departed from that policy.” “We can never forget the day when every man and woman in Australia said ‘Thank God for MacArthur,'” said Prime Minister Robert Menzies.

Filipinos, who felt very close to MacArthur, were saddest of all. Sighed a Manila hack driver: “It is like being told that Uncle Sam is no more.” A smalltown storekeeper asked: “This man Truman doesn’t make sense. Why is it that he is tough and cruel to a brother American like MacArthur, yet is bashful to an enemy like Stalin?”