Would this perhaps save Foresetall? He felt the country was collapsing along with his sanity.
He did a reasonably good job of hiding that fact OTL, and as the last two elections show, age isn't a deal breakerInterestingly, MacArthur would be the oldest President ever elected up until that point, by a huge margin. He'd be 72 in 1952.
On a similar note, if Mac gets rid of J Edgar Hoover, who might be a good replacement for FBI Director that's not just one of Hoover's cronies? Because I can't imagine the two getting along at all, but I haven't managed to find a replacement yet. Any ideas?Well Allen Dulles was not great but he was not a complete sycophant like Willoughby.
Would this perhaps save Foresetall? He felt the country was collapsing along with his sanity.
Yeah Forrestal is gone. I doubt Patton still being alive would change that.Didn't he top himself in 1949?
Its quite possible they wouldn't get along at all, but keep in mind J Edgar Hoover did absolutely have good instincts. I think its possible he would try to ally himself with MacArthur to try and use his administration as a vehicle towards targeting his enemies and cracking down on communism. Now I doubt their relationship would work very well or last very long, but I do suspect they would have a lot of common enemies at least when Mac first comes into officeOn a similar note, if Mac gets rid of J Edgar Hoover, who might be a good replacement for FBI Director that's not just one of Hoover's cronies? Because I can't imagine the two getting along at all, but I haven't managed to find a replacement yet. Any ideas?
- BNC
he would be subject to the same State Department & CIA intel assessments as macarthur(& as EUSA commander, subject to CINCFE directives/orders ), so it wouldn't be a matter of "try to copy OTL Macarthur and think he could defeat China".Would patton accept the Chinese ultimatum about the USA army no crossing the line or would just say NUTS and try to copy OTL Macarthur and think he could defeat China
bingo!The decision to cross the 38th Parallel was made by President Truman, with the approval of the other nations under the UN Command. It's a myth that MacArthur did it on his own authority. The intelligence failure to predict China's reaction was made in Washington, not in Tokyo. The intentions of foreign powers is the responsibility of the national command authority, Pentagon, CIA, NSA, NSC, and the White House. They all failed to predict the initial North Korean invasion, or the Chinese intervention. Popular history has shifted the blame for all of this to MacArthur, as Far East Commander. Everyone was flying blind in 1950.
just a couple places to startI'm interested in knowing about these- perhaps they could be good POD-s?
"The opinions held by the ranking members of the Eighth Army staff on the extent of Chinese intervention, capability, and intention seem to have varied. General Walker apparently shared the view held by Lt. Col. James C. Tarkenton, his G-2, that the Chinese in Korea numbered only a few divisions composed possibly of volunteers; that there were no organized CCF armies, as such, in Korea; and that China would not enter the war. [17] Colonel Dabney, Eighth Army G-3, was skeptical of this view. He arrived at the conclusion that the Chinese might well have crossed the Yalu River in great strength, but he too was still searching for final answers." https://history.army.mil/books/korea/20-2-1/sn39.htm Pg754Hate to burst your bubble, but Willoughby is still around. He works for Mac, while Patton fired whoever was Walker's G2 IOTL (I've yet to find a name despite looking for months!).
Patton is stuck wishing he could sack the bastard.
- BNC
Ike kept Dulles on a short leash.I'd rather him than Allen Dulles.
Not as short as it should have been. There were multiple occasions where Dulles disobeyed direct orders from the White House when it came to CIA operations. For instance, during the attempted CIA coup against Sukarno in Indonesia, Ike specifically ordered Dulles not to use Americans in operational roles. What does Dulles do? Have American pilots, flying American aircraft, from American bases conduct combat missions. One of those pilots got shot down by the Indonesian Air Force and captured while carrying his passport and a Clark Air Base Officer's Club membership card. The exact situation Ike had told Dulles he didn't want.Ike kept Dulles on a short leash.
The CIA has always been a law unto itself.Not as short as it should have been. There were multiple occasions where Dulles disobeyed direct orders from the White House when it came to CIA operations. For instance, during the attempted CIA coup against Sukarno in Indonesia, Ike specifically ordered Dulles not to use Americans in operational roles. What does Dulles do? Have American pilots, flying American aircraft, from American bases conduct combat missions. One of those pilots got shot down by the Indonesian Air Force and captured while carrying his passport and a Clark Air Base Officer's Club membership card. The exact situation Ike had told Dulles he didn't want.
he was commander of UNC & signed the armistice as it's representative.Hopefully as far away from Korea as possible.
Not the case ITTL.he was commander of UNC & signed the armistice as it's representative.
Seoul, Taejon and Pyongyang were all thoroughly wrecked (the first two by the urban battles fought there, Pyongyang by both a battle and lots of B29 raids), and just about everything north of the Walker Line was flattened by bombers. The rest of the country is still in reasonably good shape, and the traditional culture will have a larger presence in modern TTL Korea as a resultHow much of old Japanese infrastructure and traditional Korea architecture survive?
Surely Pusan to the Yalu is the only way to do Korea properlyHow big will this Korea be, and will China be much more cautious with a neighbor so close to Beijing?
It won't be for a while unfortunately. I've still got a couple books I'd like to read first (top of the list being Reminiscences), and planning this out the way I did Parts I-III will take some time too (not to mention, I do other stuff IRL too!). Number one thing for me is giving it enough time to be done properly So we'll see.Do you know when the next chapter will be released?