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During WW2 Korea had been under Japanese occupation, and the allies had agreed on the 38th degree as division-line of their landing troops. Although never intended, this line became a border, since the soviet-occupied North had turned into a people's republic, whereas the south remained free. But on June 25, 1950, North-Korean forces attacked the South, whose army had no chance to win.
Truman decided to draw a line, and not to tolerate the communistic aggression. He hoped that the Soviets only wanted to test the U.S. and not intended to provoke WW3, but he was sure, that a toleration of the North-Korean attack could be seen as invitation for other attacks in Europe or Asia. So he decided to help the South, but not without remarking sadly:
"Everything I've done in the past 5 years has been a try to avoid making a decision as I have to make tonight."
He declared his participation in the war a "UN-police mission" and asked Congress for additional 10$ billion to finance the war, which were granted. In the beginning, the U.S. troops rushed from defeat to defeat. They were outnumbered and had worse equipment than the North-Koreans but nevertheless Truman didn't seriously consider using an a-bomb. He asked for more money and sent more troops to Korea. In September, the situation changed after a large amphibious surprise attack of US-marines. By October, the American and South-Korean forces had reached the 38th parallel again.
If they would have stopped war at this point, the intervention in Korea would have been just another success in Truman's foreign politics, in a row with the Berlin airlift, the NATO and ERP. But instead he insisted on destroying to whole North-Korean army to avoid another war later on. The army crossed the border which made the Chinese join the war with several hundred thousands of infantry. But even more problems appeared.
In November, two Puerto Ricans tried to assassinate President Truman (they were shot by the Security, but not without killing one of Truman's personal bodyguards), and also his General in Korea, General MacArthur started becoming a problem. He insisted to broader the conflict and bomb the Chinese mainland with nuclear bombs. While the war turned more and more into an expensive disaster, MacArthur become convinced, that only he knew what to do.
In the end of the year 1950 Truman noticed in his diary, "it looks all very bad".
At home, the Republicans accused him of killing "our boys" in a resource-wasting war and his popularity fell to 26%. Truman had to expand the defensive budget to 50$ billion, which caused a great deficit in the budget. In April 1951 Truman decided to fire MacArthur, who had become unbearable, but still he was extremely popular in the US. The reaction was a wave of indignation in country and there was even talk of impeaching Harry Truman.
Historians later said, that he's decision might have been right, but he should have done it earlier. Now he had to face McCarthy's accusation of being a traitor and a communist, and when MacArthur arrived in NY at a ceremony, 7,5 million (!) Americans came to see him, their national hero. In the next weeks the Senate made hearings about the MacArthur case, and in these hearings, MacArthur turned out to be simple-minded, self-absorbed and oddly interested in global issues. When asked, whether he thought, bombing Chinese mainland would have provoked WW3, he answered "That's none of my business". He rapidly lost his popularity, but not without having damaged Truman's reputation either.
In July 1951 Truman started peace talks with the North Koreans, but without result. More than 13,000 American soldiers had lost their lives until than, and the war was still were it had started: at the 38th degree.
Truman didn't manage to end the war under his presidency and his successor Eisenhower only could make peace, after Stalin had died in March 1953.
The Korean war had been the biggest defeat in his carrier, but it's questioned, if anyone else would have handled it better. To enter into the war was definitely not a failure, since the Soviets respected only signs of strength and in the time, when there was the question whether to cross the line and attack North-Korea or not, the overwhelming majority of American backed his decision.
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