The next day MacArthur told Ridgway, who had come to replace him, that he had been fired because Truman was mentally unstable. He knew this, he said, because he had close friends who knew Truman’s doctor. The President, MacArthur claimed, would not live more than six months. Ridgway found the conversation a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a supreme egotist: In the world according to MacArthur, it was Truman who was irrational.
