President Truman's relief of General Douglas MacArthur April. Bradley informed the President of the views of the Joint Chiefs, and Marshall added that he agreed with them. Truman wrote in his diary that "it is of unanimous opinion of all that MacArthur be relieved. All four so advise." Later, before Congress, the Joint Chiefs would insist that they had only "concurred" with the relief, not "recommended" it. On 11 April 1951, President Truman drafted an order to MacArthur, which was issued under Bradley's signature: In a 3 December 1973 article in "Time" magazine, Truman was quoted as saying in the early 1960s: Although Truman and Acheson accused
President Truman's relief of General Douglas MacArthur be read out aloud, in which he contradicted Truman's policy towards the island of Formosa, saying: "Nothing could be more fallacious than the threadbare argument by those who advocate appeasement and defeatism in the Pacific that if we defend Formosa we alienate continental Asia." Truman was infuriated by the word "appeasement," and discussed the possibility of relieving MacArthur with Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson. Johnson responded that MacArthur was "one of the greatest, if not the greatest generals of our generation." Truman told Johnson to send MacArthur an order withdrawing his statement, which he did; but it had already