Many biographies have been written about both Harry Truman and Douglas MacArthur, and a number of books have also focused on the escalating battle between a president and his general during the Korean War. What’s appealing about this one is that it’s both authoritative (the author is a respected historian) and accessible to the general reader.

For those less familiar with this period, THE GENERAL VS. THE PRESIDENT provides a welcome bridge between the familiar narratives of World War II and those leading into the Vietnam War. MacArthur --- in FDR’s words, “the most dangerous man in America,” and in Truman’s more ironic ones, “God’s right hand man” --- was in many ways a stand-in for an alternate vision of America, where the country needed no allies to overcome all enemies, and a strong military ran its strategy and even its diplomacy.

"[Brands] makes this corner of history --- and its principals --- come alive in a way that helps the reader understand how, regardless of their rank, decisions are made, and flouted, by very human people."

Beginning in 1945 with FDR’s death and the end of WWII, Brands describes MacArthur’s and Truman’s respective rises to power. For the few years when the former was directing the occupation of Japan and the latter was finding his way as an unelected president, their relationship was cordial (even though MacArthur allowed himself to be drafted as a candidate in the 1948 elections). But the Korean War changed all that. How MacArthur used his initial successes to argue for an expanded war that would pit the U.S. against China --- and then refused to take the blame when his battlefield strategy failed and his disagreements with the administration became public --- makes for riveting reading. Why Truman decided that MacArthur had to be relieved of his command, and how he orchestrated it, is outlined in vivid detail. The period between the onset of war in October 1950 and MacArthur’s recall in April 1951 was fraught with potential escalation of hostilities on all sides.

When he was in his element --- on the battlefield --- the country revered MacArthur. When Truman brought him back from Korea, the president risked his political capital. But both his party and, more importantly, the Joint Chiefs supported him, and the ensuing Congressional hearings exonerated him. In the end, that solidarity went a long way toward diminishing MacArthur’s legacy. Though he would have liked to have run again for president, his time had passed and Eisenhower easily won the nomination.

H. W. Brands has written many books on notable Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries, including a biography on FDR, TRAITOR TO HIS CLASS. He makes this corner of history --- and its principals --- come alive in a way that helps the reader understand how, regardless of their rank, decisions are made, and flouted, by very human people.