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 been read into Congressional Record. As it turned out, it was not MacArthur who was relieved, but Johnson. Truman had become irritated with Johnson's conflict with Secretary of State Acheson, and although he had said that Johnson would remain his Secretary of Defense for "as long as I am President," he asked Johnson for his resignation. Publicly, Johnson received much of the blame for the defense cuts that had led to the lack of preparedness and consequent early defeats in Korea. He was replaced by General of the Army George Marshall. MacArthur held that his military objective was the destruction