Hierarchy Archives - Page 3 of 6

Wholehearted Support

On April 5, 1951, Representative Joseph Martin read a letter from General Douglas MacArthur on the floor of the House. MacArthur disagreed publicly with the administration’s limited war in Korea. “There is no substitute for victory,” he wrote.

On April 11 President Truman relieved him. The statement said that MacArthur “is unable to give his wholehearted support to the policies of the United States Government and of the United Nations.” It also said: “Full and vigorous debate on matters of national policy is a vital element in the constitutional system.”

The Vocabulary of Commitment

Speak now or forever hold your peace. At a wedding, objections are asked for once. After that, silence is consent.

Get on board. The decision is made, and it is time to support it.

That ship has sailed. It is too late to change this.

Let’s not relitigate this. The argument is over, and reopening it is unwelcome.

Monday-morning quarterback. A person who criticizes a decision after the game, when it no longer costs anything.

For No Cause

In 1884 the Supreme Court of Tennessee decided Payne v. Western & Atlantic Railroad. It held that employers “may dismiss their employees at will, be they many or few, for good cause, for no cause or even for cause morally wrong, without being thereby guilty of legal wrong.”

Montana has changed this by law. Its Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act of 1987 makes a dismissal wrongful when “the discharge was not for good cause and the employee had completed the employer’s probationary period of employment.” Montana is described as “the only U.S. state that has chosen to statutorily modify the employment at-will rule.”

The Unlucky Group

On December 1, 2021, Vishal Garg, the chief executive of the mortgage company Better.com, held a Zoom call with about 900 employees, about 15 percent of the company. “If you’re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off.”

A week later he apologized in a letter: “I own the decision to do the layoffs, but in communicating it I blundered the execution.” He apologized for the manner, not for the decision.

The Saturday Night Massacre

On October 20, 1973, President Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor investigating Watergate. Richardson refused and resigned. His deputy, William Ruckelshaus, also refused. He resigned, although some accounts say he was fired. The Solicitor General, Robert Bork, carried out the order.

Loss of Confidence

In 2023 the US Navy relieved 16 commanding officers. Fourteen were relieved for “loss of confidence” in their ability to command. The other two left for medical reasons. The Navy typically cites only that phrase.

Those With Whom He Cannot Work

On June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court decided Trump v. Slaughter by a vote of 6 to 3. The Court upheld the President’s firing of Rebecca Slaughter, a member of the Federal Trade Commission. Chief Justice Roberts wrote that “neither Congress nor the courts may saddle him with those with whom he cannot work.”

The Court also overruled what remained of Humphrey’s Executor, a decision of 1935: “If anything more is left of Humphrey’s, we overrule it.” Justice Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson.

The Vocabulary of Dismissal

Pink slip. Merriam-Webster defines it as “a notice from an employer that a recipient’s employment is being terminated.” Its first known use is 1904.

We’re going to have to let you go. The standard sentence. The decision has been made, and it is not open for discussion.

Clear out your desk. Leave today. The cardboard box of belongings is part of the picture.

Serves at the pleasure of the President. A senior official can be removed whenever the President chooses.

No Confidence

On March 15, 2005, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard voted on a motion that “the Faculty lacks confidence in the leadership of Lawrence H. Summers.” The motion passed, 218 to 185, with 18 abstentions. Summers remained president of the university.

A second motion was scheduled for February 28, 2006. On February 21, Summers announced his resignation. “I believe, therefore, that it is best for the University to have new leadership.”

Fired From His Own Company

In 1985 Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, tried to remove the chief executive John Sculley. Apple’s board backed Sculley. Jobs lost control of the Macintosh division in May. In September he left to found a new computer company, NeXT.

He later said: “It turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.”