Korean war Queries

Could Truman (assuming his comander in the field did no think himself soem combination fo Napoleon, Alexander the Great and God) Have sent back chanel assurances to China that their soveriegnty would be respected and persuade them not to intervene

Would this make him a viable candidate in 1952?/

What would have happened had Truman asked Congress to declare war on North Korea?
 
Yes, Truman could have sent some kind of message to Mao. Don't know if that would have done anything. Theoretically, some kind of deal could have been negotiated that would cause Mao not to send troops. At the same time, Mao was in a very radical stage and euphoric over his victory in the Chinese Civil War. He might truly believe he can win a military victory. Truman might need to threaten that any Chinese intervention would definitely expand the war. If the Chinese intervene anyway, things might escalate even worse.

If the Korean War if quickly and successfully resolved, it certainly does a lot to boost Truman's popularity. Eisenhower will probably win the general election though.

I don't know what real practical changes would happen if Truman asked for a declaration of war if Congress voted for it. Was there any danger that Congress would not have done so?
 
Assuring China that we would not cross their border would not have changed anything; they were determined to preserve North Korea as a buffer state. (Given the current state of affairs you have to wonder if they regret that decision, but I digress.) They were sending troops into North Korea well before we approached their border; by the time we got that far their forces outnumbered ours.

Getting a declaration of war from Congress would have been difficult, given that neither the US nor an ally was threatened. (South Korea was an unofficial protectorate, not an ally.) What Truman did instead was to take his case to the UN and get them to pass a resolution condemning the North Korean invasion and authorising member nations to send troops to defend South Korea. (Technically in entering North Korean territory we were exceeding our mandate, but the only nation that would object was the Soviet Union, who had made the mistake of boycotting the proceedings instead of exercising their veto.)

Once the Chinese entered the war it essentially became unwinnable for both sides, barring the use of nuclear weapons. Given that and the fact that US unpreparedness stemmed from Truman's own austerity measures his loss in 1952 was virtually assured.
 
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