Today in History, April 11th
On April 11, 1951, President Truman relieved Gen. Douglas MacArthur of command in Korea. Plus the launch of Apollo 13.
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April 11 is best known for 1951, when President Harry Truman relieved Gen. Douglas MacArthur of his command in Korea. The date also saw Apollo 13 lift off for the Moon in 1970 and U.S. troops liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945.
The big story: Truman fires MacArthur (1951)
Douglas MacArthur was one of the most celebrated generals in America, and he did not like being told no. In Korea, he wanted to push north and destroy the communist forces outright. After Chinese troops poured into the war in late 1950, he pressed to bomb China itself and to bring in Nationalist Chinese troops from Taiwan. Truman refused, fearing a wider war, and the general’s disagreements with his commander in chief spilled into public view. On April 11, 1951, Truman relieved him of command and named Gen. Matthew Ridgway in his place. That night, the president told the nation that the fighting had to stay limited to Korea to avoid a third world war, and that there could be no confusion about who set U.S. policy. The public sided loudly with MacArthur, who came home to parades and a farewell speech to Congress. Truman never apologized. The firing set a lasting marker for civilian control of the military.
More events on April 11
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1803 | French Foreign Minister Talleyrand offered to sell the entire Louisiana Territory to the U.S. |
| 1814 | Under the Treaty of Fontainebleau, Napoleon gave up the French throne and was banished to the Mediterranean island of Elba. |
| 1898 | President William McKinley asked Congress to declare war on Spain. |
| 1921 | Pittsburgh radio station KDKA aired the first live sporting event on radio, a boxing match. |
| 1945 | The U.S. Third Army liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. |
| 1961 | Bob Dylan played his first major gig in New York City, opening for John Lee Hooker. |
| 1969 | The Beatles released “Get Back,” the only Beatles single to credit another artist, keyboardist Billy Preston. |
| 1970 | Apollo 13 launched toward the Moon. An oxygen tank explosion later forced the crew to abort the landing. |
| 1979 | Ugandan dictator Idi Amin fled Kampala as Tanzanian-led forces closed in, and his regime collapsed. |
| 2004 | Phil Mickelson won the Masters, his first major championship after nearly 12 years as a professional. |
| 2015 | Presidents Barack Obama and Raúl Castro met in Panama, the first such U.S.-Cuba meeting in more than 50 years. |
Born on April 11
- 1893: Dean Acheson, U.S. secretary of state from 1949 to 1953, born in Middletown, Connecticut.
- 1899: Percy Julian, chemist who made cortisone, hormones and other products from soybeans, born in Montgomery, Alabama.
- 1953: Andrew Wiles, mathematician who proved Fermat’s Last Theorem, born in Cambridge, England.
Keep reading
Sources
- Truman relieves MacArthur of duties in Korea, History.com
- This Day in History: April 11, History.com
- Napoleon exiled to Elba, History.com
- What happened on April 11, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Dean Acheson, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Percy Julian, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Andrew Wiles, Encyclopaedia Britannica
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