<P> I fired him because he wouldn't respect the authority of the President . I didn't fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that's not against the law for generals . If it was, half to three - quarters of them would be in jail . </P> <P> The relief of the famous general by the unpopular politician for communicating with Congress led to a constitutional crisis, and a storm of public controversy . Polls showed that the majority of the public disapproved of the decision to relieve MacArthur . By February 1952, almost nine months later, Truman's approval rating had fallen to 22 percent . As of 2014, that remains the lowest Gallup Poll approval rating recorded by any serving president . As the increasingly unpopular war in Korea dragged on, Truman's administration was beset with a series of corruption scandals, and he eventually decided not to run for re-election . Beginning on May 3, 1951, a Joint Senate Committee--chaired by Democrat Richard Russell, Jr.--investigated MacArthur's removal . It concluded that "the removal of General MacArthur was within the constitutional powers of the President but the circumstances were a shock to national pride ." </P> <P> A day after his arrival in San Francisco from Korea on April 18, 1951, MacArthur had flown with his family to Washington, D.C. where he was scheduled to address a joint session of Congress . It was his and Jean's first visit to the continental United States since 1937, when they had been married; Arthur IV, now aged 13, had never been to the U.S. And, on April 19, 1951, MacArthur made his last official appearance in a farewell address to the U.S. Congress presenting and defending his side of his disagreement with Truman over the conduct of the Korean War . During his speech, he was interrupted by fifty ovations . MacArthur ended the address saying: </P> <P> I am closing my 52 years of military service . When I joined the Army, even before the turn of the century, it was the fulfillment of all of my boyish hopes and dreams . The world has turned over many times since I took the oath on the plain at West Point, and the hopes and dreams have long since vanished, but I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day which proclaimed most proudly that "old soldiers never die; they just fade away ." </P>

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