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Harry Truman, the only US President (or anybody) who ever dropped an atomic bomb in the heat of war, was confronted with the Korean crisis only a few years after the end of the Second World War. One of the best-regarded of the generals who led the US forces to its final victory was General Douglas MacArthur, a brilliant tactician and a sometimes ruthless field commander. It was MacArthur who conceived and carried out the landing at Inchon, and essentially cut the North Korean Army in two, opening a wedge that within a matter of a couple of months, carried the US and UN forces to within sight of the Chosin Reservoir on the Yalu River, which divided the Korean Peninsula from the Chinese mainland. Just beyond the Yalu, lay tens of thousands Chinese troops. MacArthur recognized the threat, and wanted to use atomic weaponry to halt the impending invasion by the Chinese.

The Chinese did enter the war, and drove the joint US and UN forces back to a point near the present Demilitarized Zone. The US Air Force offered to use conventional weapons to bomb North Korean targets, but MacArthur still felt that atomic weapons would carry a much stronger message.

This troubled Truman so much he finally fired MacArthur in April 1951, for even suggesting such a course of action. But the unease between the two men had been festering for some time, and Truman was personally offended by the very presence of MacArthur.

If MacArthur had carried the day, it is very likely that there would be no North Korean problem such as we face today.