AH Chain mk 1. The Korean War

Does Dewey intervene, and what is the result?


  • Total voters
    27
  • Poll closed .

HueyLong

Banned
Discuss and vote. Give a vote of acclamation as to whether MacArthur still has command issues; those votes will be considered if Direct Intervention is chosen.

I will tally the two categories (No Direct Intervention and Direct Intervention) Whichever category gets more total votes will be the winner, with the biggest one in that category winning.

Here's the main discussion thread:

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=94100

Your options are "No Direct Intervention, South Korea falls"; "No Direct Intervention- South Korea Stands" [1] "Direct Intervention- Pushed into the Sea" [2], "Direct Intervention- OTL end", "Direct- Intervention- North Korea Falls" [3] and "Direct Intervention- Push into China".

[1] Assume due to arms deals and the like.
[2] Chinese forces participate
[3] No Chinese intervention

Poll closes June 5.
 
Not to be a spoilsport, but shouldn't we first ascertain what happens in China and Dewey's overall Asian/Soviet policy? For all we know the Korean War could start quite differently. If the USSR was at the Security Council at the time...
 

HueyLong

Banned
Not to be a spoilsport, but shouldn't we first ascertain what happens in China and Dewey's overall Asian/Soviet policy? For all we know the Korean War could start quite differently. If the USSR was at the Security Council at the time...

Which will be considered as the reason behind non-intervention if that is chosen.

As for China, I have made the executive decision of Dewey moving the Fleet in earlier than Truman and letting the Nationalists hold on to a bit of Hainan for a time.
 

HueyLong

Banned
"The policy towards the National government in China is [SIZE=-1]niggardly and faltering and inconsistent and blundering to the point of tragedy."- Thomas E. Dewey, 1948
[/SIZE]
 

HueyLong

Banned
Some quotes from said article:

Korea, in Dewey's itinerary, is certainly not set down as a "Truman war," the gibing phrase of isolationist Republicans, although the governor feels that weak U.S. Asiatic policy encouraged the Communist attack. By grasshopper plane, he hopped across the ridge-backed front, talking with U.S. officers and men. He is "deeply convinced" of the Tightness of the Korean war: it is the safeguard of all free Asia.

Formosa, in Dewey's opinion, must be held against the Reds. "Whatever its defects, the army on Formosa is the largest in the Pacific on the side of freedom . . . Its potential is important for the future and for possible guerrilla action sooner; meanwhile, it holds this invaluable island fortress in our defense structure."

With British officials, the touring American had a strong difference of opinion: they justified British recognition of Red China as a recognition of the facts of life, however unpleasant. Dewey held stubbornly against shortsighted diplomacy favoring bloody conquerors.

In a few closing paragraphs, Dewey offers a policy to anchor the free world's security in the Pacific: "Within the structure of the United Nations, a total Pacific treaty of mutual defense . . . Wherever we have undertaken treaties assuring collective action in advance, there is no war . . . In the Pacific, we have done only patchwork jobs and that area is racked by . . . wars . . . For the sake of our own freedom, we should take action in the Pacific similar to that which we have taken in the Americas and in Western Europe. There will be many difficulties . . . but peace was never won by timidity or inertia . . ."
 
Judging from the speeches posted here and on the discussion thread, I'm going to have to assume Dewey would have pushed for a harder victory than Truman in Korea. However, I'm afraid he'd let MacArthur push into China, which is why I voted for that choice.
 
Would Dewey, with his strong China policy, be more canny about the possibility of PLA forces going into Korea? If the KMT have both Taiwan and Hainan, they could possibly use them as reinforcements in Korea. Unless, of course, that leads to the two islands rising up against Chiang.

I'm really unsure if Dewey would be willing to risk nuclear war. At the same time, though, he could make a mistake and accidentally risk it. Would he be more willing to use nukes in a tactical sense within Korea?
 
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Hnau

Banned
I want to see MacArthur's War go down CMW-style, definitely. It hasn't been done in detail yet, as far as I know.

Truman authorized the use of nuclear weapons in Manchuria, an attack on Shanghai and several more Chinese industrial centers, and four major North Korean cities. It would be bloody, that's for sure.
 
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I'm not sure it would come down to that. Maybe tactical nukes would be used against bases and troop formations. I don't think they would burn cities. And couldn't they use Taiwan and Hainan to launch a bunch of conventional bombing against mainland Chinese cities?

Additionally, while this may not matter too much, a stronger ROC means a slightly weaker PRC.
 
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