Truman and MacArthur met only once in their lives at the Wake Island conference on October 15, 1950 to discuss the progress of the Korean War. Their meeting was cordial, but this attitude toward each other would not last.
MacArthur felt that Truman did not understand the war he was fighting and thought that Truman was keeping him on too tight of a leash. As a die-hard Republican, MacArthur was also politically opposed to Truman because Truman was a Democrat.
Truman seems to have seen MacArthur as a brash and insubordinate commander. He privately disliked MacArthur, and once MacArthur started openly disagreeing with him about tactics in Korea, he was waiting for an opportunity to fire him. When fears had been raised that MacArthur might resign, Truman famously said, “The son of a bitch isn’t going to resign on me, I want him fired.”
Examine Truman and MacArthur’s body language in the photo above. What hints does their body language provide about their relationship?