Politics of the Korean War
The political situation during the Korean War was infused with the awareness that Stalin possessed the atomic bomb, though his means of deploying it was limited. Nonetheless the UN keenly wanted to keep the Russians from entering the conflict with its military. War with the UN in Korea was likely to lead to war with the Allies in Europe, especially in Germany, and the UN wanted to prevent the Korean War from expanding. For that reason, despite the knowledge that Russian pilots were engaged in the air war over Korea, the UN Forces leaders looked the other way.
The firing of MacArthur was considered to be over political issues by many, and although politics was certainly involved MacArthur was fired for other reasons. MacArthur wanted to expand the war into China and believed that the Chinese nationalists under Chiang Kai Shek would aid in overthrowing the communists there. In testimony which at the time was kept secret from the American public, the Joint Chiefs of Staff informed the Senate that the Chinese Nationalists then on Formosa (now Taiwan) were incapable of providing much aid and that MacArthur’s military grasp of the situation was incorrect.
MacArthur’s firing remains one of the most controversial events of the Korean War and much of what the public knows of what led to it is incorrect. The secret testimony of the Joint Chiefs was declassified and released many years later. The Joint Chiefs provided the Congress with information regarding the Russian strength in the region, including the number of submarines which they could deploy to the Pacific. They also pointed out that nearly 85% of the tactical strength of the US Air Force was already engaged in the Korean War. They unanimously agreed that invading China would bring Russia into the war.
When MacArthur continued to advocate for widening the war and made policy announcements which contradicted his orders Truman was advised by all of the Joint Chiefs, including Omar Bradley, that he should be fired. They advised the Congress that the Chinese were actually fighting a limited war in North Korea, and that if there was an expansion of the war into China the Chinese would certainly attack American support bases in Japan, supported by the Soviet Union. After MacArthur was fired by Truman advocates for expanding the war lost much of their support in Congress, as did MacArthur.
Firing MacArthur and the loss of public support likely caused Truman to decline to run for a second elected term as President and when Eisenhower entered the office in 1953 he replaced the Joint Chiefs, whose support of Truman led them to be seen as more political than military. Eisenhower did what Truman did not and went to Korea to see for himself the situation there, which by then had become a stalemate. In Truman’s defense, Eisenhower was experienced with major military command of an international force and Truman was not.