Why didn’t the Korean War turn into a nuclear war? China decided not to enter the war because it was an ally of the Soviet Union. General Douglas MacArthur was against the use of nuclear weapons. President Truman refused to bomb China because he believed it could lead to war with the Soviet Union. North Korea agreed to a cease fire when the United States threatened to bomb China.
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FLASHPOINTS
What If the United States had Used the Bomb in Korea?
Cooler heads prevailed in the end, but nuclear use was a real possibility in the Korean War.
Robert Farley
By Robert Farley
January 05, 2016
What If the United States had Used the Bomb in Korea?
Credit: U.S. Department of Defense/Wikimedia Commons
This article is part of mini-series focused on key historical counterfactuals in the Asia-Pacific. See the first post here: “What if the Kuomintang Had Won the Chinese Civil War?”
As the magnitude of the Chinese counter-offensive of November 1950 became clear, U.S. commanders, in particular General Douglas MacArthur, sought the authority to conduct attacks against People’s Liberation Army (PLA) staging areas in Manchuria. MacArthur believed that air and sea attacks could help stall the momentum of the Chinese assault, hopefully saving the U.S. position in Korea. Although MacArthur never formally requested the authority to use nuclear weapons, many in the government (including President Truman) believed that he wanted such authority. Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) began transferring nuclear components to Guam, in contingency preparation for a potential nuclear assault.