Debate with Destiny

Never before in the history of modern parliaments had there been an examination of fundamentals so painstakingly searching in detail, so sweeping in scale. Military tactics and grand strategy, global diplomacy and the course of a great world struggle were the subjects. In a marble-paneled, high-ceilinged room, where every word was weighed for its value to an enemy, 25 Senators met to hear a five-star debate on the nation's destiny.

They met at a time when the nation was unhappily engaged in what Douglas MacArthur called "a war of large magnitude [in] a contracted sector," a war it did not seem able to win except at its foe's pleasure. It was restive and resentful under an unaccustomed restraint--a fear that using its full strength might bring a larger war in which there would be no victor.

It was a position no American relished. Had his present leaders a way out? Across the nation, there was doubt. Because of that doubt, and because a deposed commander had also doubted and said so, the great process of democracy had moved.

Before the Senators, Douglas MacArthur, a man of enormous certainty in a time of uncertainties, spread out his plan.

Another five-star general, wise and tired old George Marshall, disputed him doggedly, point by point.

In the first days, issues had already been clearly struck. One was really just a question of fact--whether the Joint Chiefs of Staff had or had not supported Douglas MacArthur's proposals for Korea. The basic military dispute was whether to widen the war against China. Would widening it win it? Would it bring World War III with Soviet Russia? Would it inflict a defeat that Russia couldn't counter? Finally there was a question of leadership in the comity of nations. Said Douglas MacArthur, who had shaped his life to the principle: lead, the rest will follow you. Cautioned Harry Truman, in his fashion and tradition: win friends, and hang on to them.

Either course invited misgivings: the nation anxiously waited to hear the argument out.

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