Historical Examples of Strategic Leadership
This paper will examine the performance of three strategic leaders during the Korean War: President Harry Truman, General Douglas MacArthur, and Admiral C. Turner Joy. The paper will discuss the leadership environments occupied by each of these individuals and the performance of each within these levels.
Each of these three individuals operated in different environments of strategic leadership. Truman was the overall leader of the American response to the North Korean invasion of South Korea and of American foreign policy at that time. As such, he was responsible for providing the overall direction to American actions. General MacArthur was the theater commander in the Korean War; he was directly responsible for the overall military strategy in the war, although his strategic decisions required the endorsement of Truman. Admiral Joy was named the head of the United Nations negotiations team during the war. Thus, he was responsible for developing and implementing the overall negotiating strategies, although he too was answerable to Truman and required to follow Truman's directives.
As the strategic leader at the national level, Truman held the most awesome responsibilities of all the American leaders. He was the final arbiter of American foreign policy and was the one leader who could order American military forces into combat. Moreover, he was the only American leader who could order the use of nuclear weapons. Legally, all of the American military leaders were subject to Truman's command (within the restrictions of the Constitution) and could not engage in actions contrary to his commands. Indeed, Truman dismissed one strategic commander who did challenge his authority, General MacArthur.
On the other hand, Truman was not omnipotent as a strategic leader. Under the Constitution, he had to obtain the formal support of Congress in order to commit American forces to war....