Download or read book President Truman's Dismissal of General MacArthur: A Case Study in Bureaucratic Politics written by and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 23 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: President Harry Truman's dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur from Korea in 1951 occurred as a result of bureaucratic politics. For 40 years, historians have portrayed this decision as a straight-forward conflict between two strong-willed individuals. In reality, the President's decision was a result of a breakdown in communication due to misconceptions, inadequate third party advice, and partisan politics. In this paper, the decision to dismiss General MacArthur is analyzed using Graham T. Allison's Governmental Politics Paradigm. The model views government decisions as products of "compromise, conflict, and confusion of officials with diverse interests and unequal power." Using the bureaucratic politics paradigm, the paper will examine the President's decision by presenting the players' positions, perceptions, motivations, preferences, compromises, and actions that resulted in General MacArthur's dismissal.