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- इसका हिस्सा Dean Acheson Papers, Princeton Seminars Files
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OCR Page 1 of 142/14/54, Reel 6, Track 1, Pa
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MR. HARRIMAN: I mentioned before this case, this question of replacing General Walker
with a. more experienced officer, as another indication of the willingness
of the Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Department to take issue with MacArthur.
I got the impression that both General (Collins and General Bradly ey a.greed
that General Walker was not as experienced as either General Ridgway or
General Van Fleet, but that they were concerned over the possible reaction
of replacing Walker on Geheral MacArthur. And I was, of course, very much up-
set. Because it seemed perfectly clear that Walker was not up to it. I
think I might also recall the fact that the Inchon landings were not an easy
grave
operation at all; there was great concern expressed by the Navy because of
membersof the
the very high tides the, as well as the other Chiefs of Staff, because if
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they got ashore and had some difficulty it the forces couldn't be reinforced
until a. new tide came. Remember -- I've forgotten - twenty feet or something,
wasn't it?
MR. ACHESON:
Yes.
it avas
MR. HARRIMAN: And the water receded to a point where thore were all mud flats. It was not
an easy decision; it was a very brilliant conceptions of General MacAr thur
every
and his staff, and of course it worked brilliantly. But I still feel that
and
there could
U.S.
if General Ridgway had been appointed at that time have been
a division of the command which occurred later when they broke through to
the north -- perhaps you discussed that yesterday -- which caused so much
the
difficulty in later stages of just prior to the Chinese attack. I've never
quite believed that General Ridgway would have been as unconcerned about
the possibility of the Chinese communist attack. It is one of those cases
where MacArthur made a. military decision based upon his guess of the Chinese
communist intentions and not their capabilities. From the little I know about
military affairs, it is basic axiom that one must act upon the enemy's
capabilities and not his intentions. I suppose you discussed yesterday
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