Truman keeps MacArthur

[Robespierre's Jaw]

What would have happened if President Harry S. Truman kept General Douglas MacArthur in charge of American/Allied forces in the Korean War? Would MacArthur have used nuclear weapons in the conflict and the possible bombing of communist China? Discuss.

[??????????]

What would have happened if President Harry S. Truman kept General Douglas MacArthur in charge of American/Allied forces in the Korean War? Would MacArthur have used nuclear weapons in the conflict and the possible bombing of communist China? Discuss.

We would have completed and won the Korean war like MacArthur had pretty much done before he was fired by an incompetent president.

[Lief 🗽]

MacArthur would have begun World War 3.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

MacArthur would have begun World War 3.

[gorkay]

What would have happened if President Harry S. Truman kept General Douglas MacArthur in charge of American/Allied forces in the Korean War? Would MacArthur have used nuclear weapons in the conflict and the possible bombing of communist China? Discuss.

We would have completed and won the Korean war like MacArthur had pretty much done before he was fired by an incompetent president.

Every time someone brings up MacArthur, you post something like this... your hero-worship of Dugout Doug is precious, but you really need to educate yourself about what he was really like.

[gorkay]

What would have happened if President Harry S. Truman kept General Douglas MacArthur in charge of American/Allied forces in the Korean War? Would MacArthur have used nuclear weapons in the conflict and the possible bombing of communist China? Discuss.

Even if Truman had kept MacArthur around, I presume that the president would have retained the sole power to make the decision about nuclear weapons. And since the only circumstance under which I can imagine Truman keeping MacArthur would have been if MacArthur had acknowledged that Truman was the one in charge, I would say that things would have ended up pretty much the same as they actually did.

[Frodo]

In all likelihood, the only difference would have been that the Korean War (the combat phase of it, that is -the war is still going on now, technically) would have lasted much longer, and everyone involved would have suffered still more casualties with a grinding stalemate being the only constant in the ongoing struggle.  There would still be a North and South Korea, though the borders may be a little altered from their current alignment.  Eventually, I think there would still be an Armistice ending combat, though it would have occurred much later than it actually did, perhaps towards the mid-to-late 1950s. 

And I agree with the earlier poster in this thread that only the President of the United States can authorize the use of nuclear weapons.

[??????????]

What would have happened if President Harry S. Truman kept General Douglas MacArthur in charge of American/Allied forces in the Korean War? Would MacArthur have used nuclear weapons in the conflict and the possible bombing of communist China? Discuss.

We would have completed and won the Korean war like MacArthur had pretty much done before he was fired by an incompetent president.

Every time someone brings up MacArthur, you post something like this... your hero-worship of Dugout Doug is precious, but you really need to educate yourself about what he was really like.

I have educated myself about what he "was really like" and that's why I fully support him.

[gorkay]

What would have happened if President Harry S. Truman kept General Douglas MacArthur in charge of American/Allied forces in the Korean War? Would MacArthur have used nuclear weapons in the conflict and the possible bombing of communist China? Discuss.

We would have completed and won the Korean war like MacArthur had pretty much done before he was fired by an incompetent president.

Every time someone brings up MacArthur, you post something like this... your hero-worship of Dugout Doug is precious, but you really need to educate yourself about what he was really like.

I have educated myself about what he "was really like" and that's why I fully support him.

Can you elaborate?

[Wakie]

MacArthur drops a nuke on Chinese military in Korea.  Mac finds out that there are more than just a few Chinamen in the world.  Koreans are horrified to learn that the US has used such a massively destructive force on THEIR soil.  Mao Zedong and Kim Il-Sung request that Stalin respond in kind.  Seeing the American willingness to use nuclear arms and recognizing that unless he responds in kind the US will have won the Cold War through a test of wills, Stalin makes the order.  Seoul is annihilated.

This leaves us at a crossroads.  I'm sure MacArthur will want to nuke the USSR.  Truman may step in though and end the war, turning South Korea over to the North.  If MacArthur is allowed to nuke the USSR though we're headed to WWIII.

If anyone sees it going differently I'd love to know what they think would happen differently.

[gorkay]

I think that had Truman kept McArthur, then Truman would have had a better chance at being re-elected. The firing of McArthur was what started Truman`s downard spiral in the polls.

You're right about that, but Truman was a man who put more value on doing what he thought was right and best for the country and the world than being popular or winning elections.

[StateBoiler]

Why didn't MacArthur run for President?

[gorkay]

Why didn't MacArthur run for President?

He did. In fact, he ran in both 1948 and 1952, but he didn't get far either time. In '48 he was still on active duty in the Pacific so he had to run his campaign by proxy. In '52 he mounted a more serious effort and got the support of some prominent Republicans, including Joe McCarthy, but he fared dismally in the primaries he entered. He was too imperious a character to have much voter appeal in the mass-media age, and he was not very popular with the ex-GIs who made up such a large percentage of the voting public back then.

[gorkay]

Had Truman kept McArthur, he probably would have run for reelection.

Honestly, if you look at a record of his approval polls, they really took a dip when he fired McArthur and they never went back up.

I'm not so sure about that. I'm sure you're right that his approval ratings would have been a lot better if he hadn't done it-- although if MacArthur had been allowed a free hand in Korea, the consequences may well have brought Truman's ratings even lower than they were after he fired Dugout Doug. But I've read that Truman was pretty much tired of politics and the Presidency by '52 and was ready for some peace and quiet again. Of course it's also possible that his poor prospects for re-election may have accounted for his feelings in that regard, and that if he had thought he had better chances he might have had more enthusiasm for continuing.

[J. J.]

I think MacArthur would have been the ultimate fall guy, had he stayed on.  He would shown that he was incapable of winning without nuclear weapons.  Truman would have looked brave via comparison, and Korea would have been "MacArthur's folly."

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I don't think Truman had any real intentions of staying on.

Even if he didn't think so, Bess certainly did.