He sought to negotiate a solution with them and insisted that there is no wider war. MacArthur's going public in arguing for war with China- General MacArthur insisted the U.S was fighting the Chinese and that it should attack China either by an invasion or a bombing of the border. He was warned by Truman more than once to keep his objections to himself. However in March 1951, he wrote a letter to House Republican leader Joseph W. Martin stating “There is no substitute for victory”. Shortly after he was relieved of command which caused a huge public outrage.
This was called the domino theory. As a result of the policy of containment, in 1950 Truman needed a crisis to sell the NSC 68 program which said the US needed to increase its conventional armed forces significantly to put them in par with those of the SU. In addition one of the assumptions in the USA of the early Cold War was that the SU controlled all communist movements and parties throughout the world and that any manifestation of communist aggression must have been inspired and assisted by Moscow. So strong was the American belief in the existence of a monolithic communist block, that the NKs were assumed to have been acting on orders from Stalin. In consequence, the USA intervened in the Korean war, not only to defend the independence of SK but also to deny the SU a victory in the Cold War.
Additionally the conflict in Korea allowed the USA to demonstrate its military capabilities to the world, and help to increase UN credibility. However, despite US concession to accept containment as an accomplishment, North Korea remaining communist can be seen as an American failure. In 1950, the US made the decision to invade North Korea. This switch to rollback policy shows that their goals were higher than just containment. They were defeated by Chinese ‘dragon’ attacks, which in December 1950 caused the most humiliating retreat in US history, totalling 300 miles.
Bryan Byers 4/29/12 8-202 S.S. 8th 1) On September 1949 the Communists defeated the Nationalists and Mao Zedong became head of the state but instead he fled to the island Taiwan. 2) Many Americans were shocked by the fall of the Nationalist government and viewed it as a part of a Communist plot to government. 3) In June of 1950, North Korean forces crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea starting the conflict known as the Korean War. 4) The United States appealed to the UN to stop Communism move into South Korea, so U.S troops made up most of the force and did most of the fighting. 5) The infamous
Finally, the largest controversy surrounded his public outcries to invade Japan against the orders of President Truman. Many believe that this would enter the Soviet Union into the war and would instigate a nuclear war. However, others think that the Soviets were not yet done perfecting a nuclear bomb and by hitting them hard early as well as China, that the Cold War as well as communism could have both been diminished. Regardless, it is hard to play Monday-morning quarterback and place yourself in MacArthur’s position on the battlefield. He had a completely different perspective than those officials sitting atop Capitol Hill will watchful eyes on all global situations.
lock in Korea, inflation, White House scandal, Republicans nominated Eisenhower (Ike – who was extremely popular), Truman did not make the Democrats look good by 1952, and he refused to seek another term anyway; plus, he fired MacArthur (even though the Am public eventually appreciated that decision) Richard Nixon was selected as Dwight David Eisenhower’s VP running mate in 1952 as a concession to – hard-line anti-communists (b/c of HUAC, blacklisting, the Alger Hiss case, etc… This is why he can visit China & the USSR in 1972, b/c of strong anti-communist credentials) During 1952 presidential campaign, Republican candidate Eisenhower declared he would personally go to Korea to help end the {“police action”} war Politics
The cold war was full of many difficult decisions; one of the more significant outcomes due to those decisions was based around the feud between President Truman and General MacArthur. Macarthur had a strong passion for a war with China, which basically would result in WW3. While Truman only wanted to help South Korea win their independence and help defeat communism. A large portion of historians, would agree that Macarthur’s battle strategy would today be considered as “over kill”. His plan to dispose of a large amount of the United States’ military equipment, the idea of pointlessly sending thousands of men into a meaningless war, and the insane proposal for the practical start of a third World War, are just a few of the obvious reasons
This could be noted with the US not joining the League of Nations. So on September 1931 Japan invaded Manchuria and renamed it Manchuko, establishing a puppet government. Even though the League of Nations is set up to take action against barefaced assault they did nothing except give Japan a slap on the wrist with passing a resolution condemning Japan for its actions. With this failure to do anything it showed this the League of Nations problem with trying to keep peace, it’s nearly impossible without the world’s super power. This showed the world that the actions of this group should not be taken seriously.
At this time Kim Il Sung's made a national address in which he stated "The war which we are forced to wage is a just war for the unification and independence of the motherland and for freedom and democracy." The Americans took this act as a sign that Kim II Sung was utilising a communist take-over, thus in October of the same year America, with UN sanction, invaded North Korea. The Korean War became the first American war ever waged solely as an ideological war. "For the first time in the nations history Americans were asked to fight and die to contain an idea". The Korean War was extremely popular domestically because it was part of the Cold War.
On 25th June 1950, ninety thousand North Korean soldiers invaded South Koreas border defences, The Korean war had begun. This small scale civil war would escalate into an international conflict. Historically, Korea had once been a united country, under Japanese rule for between 1905 and 1945 however, the Japanese were unruly and did not treat the Koreans well. At the end of the Second World War it was decided that the country would be divided along the 38th parallel and occupied by soviet troops in the North and American troops in the South. Syngman Rhee, who had spent some years exiled in America, became the president of South Korea in 1948, while Kim Il Sung, having fought for the Russian red army during the war became leader of the People’s Democratic Republic (Communist) in North Korea.