[dsc]

“He didn’t fail to have his troops ready for the North Korean invasion of South Korea?”

Cutbacks in defense spending were so severe that he was not given the funds for training.

His chief intelligence officer had staked everything on his analysis holding that the NKs would not attack. He deceived McA.

Yes, I agree that these things were ultimately his responsibility, but consideration of the reasons for these failings can be illuminating.

[fso301]

Cutbacks in defense spending were so severe that he was not given the funds for training.

I agree. That wasn't Mac's fault.

His chief intelligence officer had staked everything on his analysis holding that the NKs would not attack. He deceived McA.

Yes but there had been so many prior feints by the Norks at invading the South that their actions began being interpreted as bluster.

[jpsb]

"Secretary of State Dean G. Acheson's speech at the National Press Club on 12 January 1950 was among the most important and controversial US policy statements in the early history of the Cold War in East Asia. In it, he defined the American "defensive perimeter" in the Pacific as a line running through Japan, the Ryukyus, and the Philippines. This denied a guarantee of US military protection to the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan. Less than six months later, North Korea launched a military offensive across the 38th parallel" ........

"There were two primary motivating factors behind Acheson's delivery of the National Press Club speech. First, the Truman administration was trying to implement a new China policy after the victory of the Communists in the Chinese Civil War. By late 1949, Truman and Acheson had decided that the People's Republic of China (PRC) would launch an invasion of Taiwan in the near future to destroy the last remnants of Jiang Jieshi's government.1 The president announced his determination to remain uninvolved in the Chinese Civil War on 5 January 1950, explaining that while the United States would continue economic aid to Taiwan, US military aid and advice would cease. Such an approach, Truman insisted, proved that the United States had no predatory designs on Chinese territory and sought no specific privileges or military bases."

http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/jcs/article/view/366/578

Truman ordered all US forces out of Korea in 1948. Truman's SoS declared Korea outside of a US defensive zone. Korea was outside of MacArthur assigned area. He had zero to do with Korea by order of the President! Blaming MacArthur in any fashion is Marxist revisionist history. MacArthur was dumbfounded went Truman ordered him to defend Korea, he could not believe it.