Six months before President Harry S. Truman's dramatic recall of General Douglas MacArthur after the two disagreed about the future course of the Korean War, political cartoonist John Chase ridiculed the president's capacities as a military leader with this caricature of the commander-in- chief dwarfed by his general's outsized hat. In reference to his military success this cartoonist wanted to make truman look like a small child who didn't know what he was doing and all his success was thanks to his general.
MacArthur was during his time considered one of the greatest generals of the twentieth century. He was acknowledged as a hero in World War II. This was because of his overseeing in Japan’s surrender on the Battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, and essentially ruled Japan after the war. He was now in charge of US forces in Korea but wasn’t always following what the Truman administration ordered him to do. This meeting was set up to make sure everyone was on the same page.This meeting would be called "wake Island and would take place in New York.
After the meeting, Truman then flew to San Francisco and on October 17, 1950, announced the results of his meeting with General MacArthur at the War Memorial Opera House in that city. The cartoon from October 17 deals with that upcoming speech.
The consequence of all this was a "nonpolitical" train trip in May to the West Coast and back. On it Truman delivered 76 speeches, many at whistle stops, and the bulk of them extemporaneously. They were plain, earnest talks that expounded his domestic and foreign program, and they created a favorable impression. Indeed, even those Democrats who were considering drafting Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, because of his aura as a war leader, now warmed up to Truman. It is rumored that these speeches were puppeteer by others as represented in the cartoon.
