In the spring of 1951, we had the North Koreans and their Red Chinese allies on the run. Had President Truman not halted at the 38th Parallel, we would have eliminated this potentially existential threat to us.
Yes, short term gain, long term loss. And what of helping Russia so much that it was a race as to who would get to Berlin first (and get the atomic secrets). Etc. To this day we are fighting proxy wars.
Agree 100 percent with this. No Kim dynasties, no CPC dynasties, and the USSR would have been quite vulnerable if we were on their eastern borders. Never mind the multiple millions of deaths due to Asian communists that were preventable . . .