Korea: MacArthur's War with Truman1946-1952The film starts out with a pretty good background on the whole Korean War. It tells of how after World War II, Korea, then ruled as a colony of Japan, was divided along the 38th parallel. With the Russians controlling North Korea and the US supporting South Korea. Both the US and the USSR chose the leaders of the two countries to be more governors than presidents of the two nations. MacArthur, although in many ways a failed general as he lost many troops and strategic strong points, was still a popular “hero” of World War II. Although it depends on who you talk to. My great grandfather was the USS Colorado and everyone in the Pacific through the years thought MacArthur was a horrible leader and commander. MacArthur tended to make his own choices about US foreign policy. MacArthur wanted to take troops to the Yule River on the border between Korea and China. Truman hated MacArthur for this, absolutely hated him. Truman believed that MacArthur's audacity had unduly escalated the war. China was now involved and Truman feared that Russia would follow. Even though Russia was considered a friend at the time, Truman knew that another world war was only one major conflict away. MacArthur wanted to engage Chinese Nationalists from Thailand in the war and attack mainland China. MacArthur even went so far as to fly to Thailand and meet with nationalist leaders to discuss it. MacArthur even suggested using up to 20 atomic bombs on strategic Chinese positions. He didn't want his soldiers to die from a stalemate, he wanted total victory. Both Truman and the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff (a collection of high-ranking officers from all the armed forces) disapproved of MacArthur's actions, but were reluctant to do so. do anything due to its huge popularity. In Tokyo, MacArthur met with Spanish and Portuguese diplomats and made it clear that he wanted war with China. Diplomats reported this to their national governments in cables intercepted by the NSA (National Security Agency). This was reported to Truman and he knew that MacArthur needed to be fired. The problem was that Truman could not report that the United States had listened to the secret communications of other countries. So Truman was forced to wait until there was another reason to let MacArthur go, one that could be published and not embarrass the U.S...