14. MacArthur’s Histrionics
With his judgment proven catastrophically wrong, and his forces chased down the Korean Peninsula by the Chinese faster than they had raced up in pursuit of the North Koreans, a humiliated MacArthur reacted with histrionics. He demanded that China be nuked. MacArthur’s plan was to drop up to 50 atomic bombs in Manchuria on Chinese cities, military concentrations, and communication centers. He sought to seal off the Korean Peninsula from China with a radioactive belt across Manchuria, stretching from the Sea of Japan to the Yellow Sea.
President Truman, whom MacArthur had assured only weeks earlier that China would do nothing if his forces marched up to its border, balked. Truman was especially wary of MacArthur’s further confident assurances that the Soviets would do nothing if America dropped dozens of nukes on their Chinese ally. When MacArthur publicly contradicted Truman, he was ordered to clear any further statements on the subject with the State Department first. MacArthur violated those orders, and again challenged Truman publicly on the use of atomic weapons. Truman fired him.