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Truman Names MacArthur to Head U.N. Force in KoreaBy WALTER H. WAGGONNERSpecial to The New York Times July 8, 1950Washington, July 8 -- President Truman today named Gen. Douglas MacArthur as commander of all United Nations military forces fighting in defense of the Republic of Korea. The President's action complied with a request by the United Nations Security Council, contained in a resolution adopted yesterday, that the United States name the commander general of the combined land, air and naval units now battling the invading North Korean forces on the divided peninsula. Now holding, as a United States general, the command of occupation forces in Japan, the 70-year-old General MacArthur will become in his new role the first leader of military forces fighting, under a United Nations' sanction, against an action defined by the world organization as an act of aggression. In his statement this morning that named General MacArthur, President Truman also authorized the general to fly the pale blue and white flag of the United Nations with the flags of the nations whose forces are taking part in the Korean campaign. This move also had been authorized by the Security Council resolution of yesterday, which said that the United Nations' banner should be flown by the unified command "at its discretion." Although the President appeared to be doing nothing that the United Nations had not authorized him to do, it is known that United States officials had been pressing for some time for just such as decision as the Security Council made. Numerous conferences between the United States and other members of the United Nations here and at Lake Success preceded yesterday's action by the Security Council. The purpose of the conversations was to identify the campaign now being waged against the North Korean Communist invaders more clearly as a United Nations action. There was general agreement among the participants in these talks that the authorization of a single commanding general by the Security Council and the use of the United Nations flag would contribute significantly to the United Nations character of the defense of Korea. Canada was among the leaders of the move to strengthen the link between the forces defending Korea and the United Nations, and Canadian Ambassador Hume Wrong discussed it on two occasions last week with John D. Hickerson, Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs. During the course of all the preliminary discussions, it was a foregone conclusion that, should the Security Council ask the United States to name a commander in chief, General MacArthur would be the choice. This, according to diplomatic sources, had the full approval of all the United Nations members who would be taking part actively in the Korean campaign. The selection of a United Nations commander and the use of the United Nations flag were being accepted here as a workable compromise with the demand of many for an outright United Nations police force. Under the present system, United States troops, at the direction of the President and their commander in chief, are engaging in police work for the United Nations. They are, nevertheless, United States troops; to use them otherwise, it has been pointed out, would in all probability require legislative action. The President's announcement, released at the White House shortly before noon, noted that the military forces of the United Nations were being employed to repel "the unprovoked armed attack" against the Republic of Korea. This was one of the phrases used by Secretary of State Dean Acheson at his news conference on Wednesday in describing the North Korean invasion. Secretary Acheson spent nearly an hour with the President just prior to the issuance of the announcement this morning, and it was assumed that he had helped draft the statement that placed an American general in charge of an international policing action for the first time in history. |
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