After his narrow victory over Truman in 1948, President Dewey ordered a military build up and decided to keep US troops in South Korea. In 1950 there was a war scare when North Korea threatened to invade South Korea and expel the Americans from the peninsula with help from Communist China. Thanks to the efforts of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles the situation was resolved diplomatically. In retrospect, historians believe that the Korean Crisis had the potential to develop into a major war. How would Harry Truman have handled Korea if he had beaten Dewey in 1948?
 
It would be another chance for Macarthur to show what he's made of and he'll likely have an even bigger landslide when he runs for president than in OTL.
 
It would be another chance for Macarthur to show what he's made of and he'll likely have an even bigger landslide when he runs for president than in OTL.

I believe that came about as a result of a deadlocked Republican convention in 1956. Vice-President Warren and Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater couldn't get enough delegates, so MacArthur was put forward as a compromise candidate. Mac is usually judged as a mediocre President - he was successful in foreign affairs, but not so much on domestic policy. The bad economy caused him to lose the 1960 election to JFK.

As for Korea, there is a reason the US didn't intervene militarily - American troops would likely be bogged down in a quagmire and there was a real risk of WWIII. MacArthur's reputation might actually be worse off after such a war, likely butterflying away his presidency.
 
Eh, I don't know if there would be much of a difference. Everybody knew Kim's threat to call in Mao was as much a paper dragon as those costumes you see in San Fran in the Chinese New Year's parade, and Truman would be well-versed enough to call the bluff. The issue would be thrown back into the diplomatic arena just like IOTL, and the North would have been compelled to back down after the Soviets leave them in the lurch yet again in order to insure the unity elections weren't delayed in Vietnam.
 
Why would Truman have handled Korea any differently? He had a capable foreign policy team.

For one, Dewey's military build up and his decision to keep troops in Korea were both reversals of Truman's policies. So Truman would probably continue post-war demobilization and withdraw troops from South Korea. This would weaken America's diplomatic hand in negotiations with the Communists.
 
Who might be Truman's Secretary of State in his second term? Marshall was leaving in 1949 regardless of who won in 1948. Would his replacement perform as well as Dulles?
 
I think that Truman would have mishandled things and it would have started a war.

This isn't because I think Truman was a bad leader but because east asia was just one of his blindspots, Dewy for all of his faults had a better understanding and grasp of the region that said it was counterbalanced by his ignorance of the middle east which caused the misteps that led to Iran being conquered by the soviet union, and the imposition of one of the most brutal regiemes in Persian history.

So I think the better question is, would it be better to have a brutal war in korea or avoid having Amol create his infamous killing fields?
 
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