(2) The proximate cause of the expansion of the federal government in the 1960s was LBJ’s landslide election victory in 1964 against Goldwater. The large Democratic majority gave LBJ the power to override opposition within his party and from the much diminished GOP contingent.
(3) MacArthur’s war plan against China does not seem to have gone beyond taking all of Korea up to the Yalu River, nuclear bombardment of major Chinese air bases, and a naval blockade. It would have required US war mobilization and its attendant costs, risked blanketing Japan with fallout, and still would not have been enough to procure suitable terms from the Chinese.
(4) Chiang merited US support on Taiwan but his well-demonstrated defects made him implausible as a liberator of the Chinese mainland. For most of the Chinese people, he offered nothing but more of the stagnation, poverty, and brutal oppression of traditional China.
Did the well wishes extend to an outright endorsement ? I would think Ike would strongly prefer the left-wing ex-San Francisco Mayor George Christopher in the primary, who had all the establishment support (and who would've promptly lost to Pat Brown).
"The proximate cause of the expansion of the federal government in the 1960s was LBJ’s landslide election victory in 1964 against Goldwater. The large Democratic majority gave LBJ the power to override opposition within his party and from the much diminished GOP contingent."
True, but had Ike given strong assistance to Nixon in 1960, this all need not have happened.
"MacArthur’s war plan against China does not seem to have gone beyond taking all of Korea up to the Yalu River, nuclear bombardment of major Chinese air bases, and a naval blockade. It would have required US war mobilization and its attendant costs, risked blanketing Japan with fallout, and still would not have been enough to procure suitable terms from the Chinese."
If the end result was the full liberation of Korea and a weakened China, it was worth pursuing.
"Chiang merited US support on Taiwan but his well-demonstrated defects made him implausible as a liberator of the Chinese mainland. For most of the Chinese people, he offered nothing but more of the stagnation, poverty, and brutal oppression of traditional China."
And yet, that would pale in comparison to the tens of millions murdered by Mao.