Opening
  • "1941 was not the worst, oh no. And 1945 was not the end. All we went through together was meaningless. Those desperate, brutal battles against the fascists in the long first summer of the war, the bitter cold outside Moscow and Stalingrad, and our heroic march to Berlin- none of it mattered. Everyone thought we had escaped it. Everyone thought we were heroes, and that we had secured our Motherland for eternity. Yes, the Americans had the Bomb but so did we. And there was nothing we could not do after beating the Hitlerites. So we had seven years of peace. Almost like a dream. Seven years to live, rebuild, love play, take pride in all we had done, dream of a future... which never came. All that time, we were in limbo. Just waiting for the axe to fall. Was it inevitable? I do not know. That is not for my generation to determine. It is for those youngsters who survived when my boys did not. When I look back on what's left of this country of ours, though, I can only draw one conclusion.

    History will forget the crimes of the Hitlerites. They will remember ours as the historic omnicide."

    -Interview with an anonymous Russian, 2003

    ***

    I’m scared.

    EISENHOWER WARNS CHINESE: RETREAT!

    Everything’s gone quiet all of a sudden. We’re just waiting now.

    CHINESE LEADER MAO: CHINESE PEOPLE WILL “NEVER BACK DOWN” TO “IMPERIALIST WEST”; STALIN VOICES SUPPORT!
    -The New York Times, 18 March 1953


    Here we are in our bases- the finest army in the world, so we’re told! So why are we so damned afraid? Why isn’t there a damned thing we can do except fight? Aren’t we smarter than this? Wasn’t twice enough?

    MULTIPLE NUDETS OF UNCONFIRMED STRENGTH ALONG YALU RIVER LINE
    -The Boston Globe, 25 March 1953

    LARGEST NUCLEAR ATTACK IN HISTORY- TEN TIMES THE FORCE OF HIROSHIMA BOMB!
    -The San Francisco Examiner, 25 March 1953


    IMPERIALISTS STRIKE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA WITH ATOMIC WEAPONS; MEASURES FOR COLLECTIVE SECURITY ALREADY UNDERWAY!
    -Pravda, 25 March 1953

    Birthday's only two months away. But I know I won’t live to see it.

    SOVIET UNION BEGINS MOBILIZATION; PENTAGON ORDERS UNITS: BE VIGILANT!
    -Stars and Stripes, 29 March 1953


    We’re heading off the cliff once again. Last time my brother didn’t come home from a field just north of here. Guess it’s my turn now… they always said we were inseparable. Heh.

    PYONGYANG OBLITERATED; US BOMBERS CONDUCT UNARMED FLIGHT OVER CHINESE AIRSPACE!
    -The New York Times, 13 April 1953


    Who ever heard of Korea anyway? Is it really worth throwing everything we have on the pyre just for the sake of some silly little yellow bastards about whom no-one cares? Guess so. And what the hell does it have to do with here in Germany?

    SOVIET FORCES POUR INTO YUGOSLAVIA; TITO VOWS RESISTANCE!
    -Associated Press, 17 April 1953

    One way or another, I guess we’re about to find out. Damnit.

    EISENHOWER ISSUES FINAL ULTIMATUM TO CHINESE WITH CONSEQUENCES "THE WORLD HAS NEVER SEEN!"
    -
    The Boston Globe, 20 April 1953

    TITO: YUGOSLAVIA NEEDS ARMS, NOT EXILE!
    -
    The Wall Street Journal, 24 April 1953


    Holy Mary, mother of God...

    "MASSIVE" ATOMIC BOMBING OF RED CHINESE POSITIONS ON THE COAST- CASUALTIES "UNTHINKABLE!"- EISENHOWER TO ADDRESS NATION!
    -The New York Times, 27 April 1953

    "If the imperialists wish to commit genocide they will soon find how vulnerable they are... The Soviet Union is a nuclear power too, and we will use all means available to defend our socialist brethren."

    AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 1025 SHOT DOWN OVER TEMPELHOF AIRPORT!
    -Stars and Stripes, 19 May 1953


    Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death… whenever that might be.

    EISENHOWER ISSUES ULTIMATUM TO KREMLIN WITH 24-HOUR DEADLINE
    -The New York Times, 21 May 1953

    COMRADE STALIN DENOUNCES AMERICAN IMPERIALISM IN KOREA, EUROPE
    -Pravda, 22 May 1953


    So from all of us here in Germany- everyone in the entire world- I guess it’s good night.

    ***WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM***
    “... already the forces of the Soviet Union and the wider Communist bloc have engaged those of the United States. Soviet forces have killed American soldiers and officers…”

    At least I’ll be in good company when I go.

    SOVIET ARMY POURS ACROSS NORTH GERMAN PLAIN, FULDA GAP
    -Daily Mail, 24 May 1953


    “...This morning, at 0500 hours local time, the Soviet Union attacked our forces, and those of our Allies, in West Germany. At 0825 hours local time, Soviet forces crossed the Iranian and Turkish borders…”

    The whole world’s going to hell… and maybe I’ll follow it there.

    “...Soviet nuclear forces have attacked Frankfurt, Mannheim, Bonn, Cologne, Essen, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Seoul, and Busan…”

    W. GERMAN GOVERNMENT SEEMINGLY DECAPITATED- ADENAUER MISSING
    -Associated Press, 25 May 1953


    “Such premeditated aggression dwarfs the crime of Pearl Harbor. It dwarfs the Nazi invasion of twelve years prior, which the Soviets so cynically claim we wish to repeat.”

    Let no one ever say I didn’t die in a good cause.

    "My fellow Americans..."

    Untitled presentation.png

    "...we are at war."
     
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    One- Background
  • One- Background

    Like all historical tragedies, the Third World War has its roots in miscalculation fortified by arrogance. Endless amounts of time and effort have been spent over the past sixty years asking why it happened, and whether or not it was inevitable. The question remains academic, almost more philosophical than geopolitical or historical. Is it inherent in man’s nature to self-destruct? The events of Spring 1953, leading up to the nuclear exchange of 26 May, argue yes, yes it is. Nations were destroyed, millions were killed, Europe was polluted beyond repair, and the global economy shattered. But the greatest casualty of all was man’s self-esteem. Humanity in 1945 was traumatised but determined to recover. Humanity in 1961 knew the damage was beyond its ability to fix.

    This is that story.

    "Aah, the Fifties. The GOOD Fifties, that is. Three great years, and five great ones before that. It was..." Chuckles. "How do I even explain it to youse guys? People were happy all the time, near enough. Everyone knew each other, liked each other, loved their country- 'less they was a Red sucker, of course. But we'd beat the fascists, done all that, and thought- now what can't we do? Maybe, we thought, we coulda taken all that energy we put into killing Germans and Japs, and use it to make this country- even the world- better." Grows sombre. "Or maybe the hell not, as it turned out. And, y'know, maybe it's our own fault. Maybe in the good years between the wars we got so lazy and elected such dumb fu- uh, such cretins, they made it inevitable." Sighs. "But yeah. The gravy train came to an end on May 24, 1953, and none o' youse guys born after can even imagine."

    The roots of World War Three stretch back to the division of the Korean Peninsula in 1945. The northern half, occupied by Soviet troops, became a Communist republic while the latter, occupied by the Americans, came under a military junta. Communism’s inherent expansionism lead the North to invade the South on 25 June 1950. From that day on, East and West traded shots until the Allied ceasefire with the USSR a decade later.

    Dictator Kim Il-Sung had banked on a quick unification like his comrade Mao Zedong in China. He had instead found himself in a quagmire. The prospect of Communist armies evicting the West from their one foothold on the Asian mainland was too much for the Americans. Under the auspices of the United Nations, Allied forces landed and quickly threw Kim's armies back to their start line. Unwilling to leave his regime intact, they pushed north, taking Pyongyang and surging to the Chinese border. Only a few mountainous square miles remained in Communist hands. Had the Allies quickly crushed these remnants, the War would never have begun. MacArthur's failure to do so is thus perhaps the single greatest missed opportunity of the Twentieth Century, rivaling even the Allied failure to invade Nazi Germany in the autumn of 1939.

    The Allies had by this time crossed a red line. North Korea protected Communist China and the Maritime Provinces of the USSR. Neither felt comfortable with Allied forces on their border and on 25 October 1950 Chinese forces rushed to save the North Koreans. This, too, is a possible start date for the War. Back-and-forth fighting throughout 1951 eventually settled the frontline at approximately the prewar border. Koreans became a sideshow in their own war as hundreds of thousands of Allied troops stared at millions of Chinese (and a few Soviet pilots and technical advisers). Neither side had the strength to push on without escalating the war, so the Allies turned to strategic bombing. North Korea, a tiny country of 46,000 square miles, received more bombardment than Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan over a comparable time period. Yet neither side was willing to blink, and thus Korea remained a bloody stalemate.

    Then came the American Presidential Election.

    The Democratic Party had been in power for twenty years as of November 1952. Elected to arrest the Great Depression, they had become the “Party of Roosevelt”- unchallengeable during the war years. Yet Harry Truman was not his predecessor. No one had voted the man into power and his victory in 1948 had come as a shock. Four years later, the American public had had enough. People blamed the Democrats for a sluggish economy, perceived weakness against Communism, and- perhaps most importantly- failure in Korea. They thus turned to the charismatic Republican candidate.

    250px-Put_Real_Men_in_Government%2C_No_More_Clowns%2C_Cut-ups%2C_or_Characters_-_Wisconsin_Historical_Museum_-_DSC03240.JPG
    Dwight D. Eisenhower promised change. The hero of Normandy Beach exuded confidence and commanded trust. If he had fought his way onto the European Continent to the heart of Nazi Germany, surely he could do a better job leading the American people than his rival? Best of all, he promised to “Go To Korea” and end the war. Thus, the American people granted Eisenhower four years in the White House.

    "Forty years ago now, I feel confident in asking: did you vote for, or at least approve of, President Eisenhower?"

    "Yes, sir. Yes I did vote for him and I am not ashamed to admit it. I was on Normandy Beach- oh, not the first wave, but near enough- and I have never been privileged to serve under a finer commanding officer. I thought to myself in the first days of June 1944: "I shall follow that man wherever he leads me." And I relied upon those same instincts in November 1952... And then I found out where "wherever" turned out to be." (Gestures towards stump where his right arm once was)

    "Yes I did, and may God have mercy on my soul for it. The madman started a war that killed all three o' my boys, all for the sake of some yellow people who we beat down good in the last war anyhow."

    "No, and I've been wondering why not ever since. Man was a fantastic leader- the best President since Lincoln. What he got us through, those first days of the War, no one else could have."
    (Smiles) Didn't vote for him in 1956 either- servicemen in England couldn't vote.

    ***

    Only weeks into his Presidency, Eisenhower demanded fresh negotiations to end the Korean War. He sought only to end the shooting. Forcing the Chinese to leave North Korea- or even ensuring that war could never return to the Peninsula- was impossible. Nor did Eisenhower plan to abandon the South. While most of the UN forces would head home, the Eighth Army would stay put. Korea would always be a flashpoint, but it could at least be a "cold" one.

    Eisenhower understood the UN had thus far fought the war “on the cheap”, with only 330,000 US soldiers on the Peninsula. By contrast, 110,000 Americans had fought at Iwo Jima alone. That was why the stalemate had been politically acceptable: it came at a relatively low cost. Having just escaped the privations of the Second World War, the American public had no stomach for more conflict. As the commander of Operation Overlord and a career military officer, Eisenhower was hardly sensitive to casualties (something he would soon amply demonstrate). Yet he was well aware of his obligation to preserve the lives of as many US servicemen as possible. Letting the war drag on without progress at a cost in American lives would, he believed, constitute a dereliction of duty. Besides, as he knew too well, Gold Star families voted. If he brought the men home now, they would thank him at the ballot box.

    Eisenhower's subsequent actions were, without question, the most heavily debated policy decisions of the Twentieth Century. Nearly seventy years of academic, military, and "armchair" opinions have covered everything from full-chested support to inane conspiracy theories. The central dilemma is this: why, if the President sought to make peace, did he escalate the quasi-war with China? Lurking in the background is, of course, an immense trauma from not only a war, in the words of one historian, "very much more total" than that against the Nazis, but from having brought total destruction to so much of the world. Had March 1953 been properly handled the human race would be better off by almost any imaginable metric- not least of which, it would be far more numerous. Those who saw the world crumble in 1953 look back and wonder if it could have been avoided; those born after the War wonder what their lives could have been. Small wonder Eisenhower's genuinely benign, if short-sighted, interests are grossly distorted.


    ***

    In March 1953, several squadrons of B-29s made a much-publicized move to Iwo Jima, some 1330 miles from Pyongyang. Truman had made similar deployments earlier in the war to intimidate the Chinese, yet their nuclear weapons had been incomplete. Now, however, the United States possessed the means to conduct a nuclear attack on North Korea or China at the stroke of a pen. Eisenhower also reached out to Chiang Kai-shek, still holed up on Taiwan. If the war escalated and Chiang attacked the Mainland, he would enjoy American support.

    Eisenhower didn’t anticipate any of this coming to pass. Launching a nuclear attack that would kill millions of civilians was, in fact, the last thing he wanted to do. He sought to contain Communism at the Thirty-Eighth Parallel, not crush it under a weight of kilotons. The goal was not to spark an all-out war with China but to scare it into backing down. Unable to respond to an American nuclear strike, and with Stalin unwilling to risk World War Three, Mao Zedong would agree to peace. (1)

    Appeasement hadn’t worked against Nazi Germany; Eisenhower was not about to make the same mistake as Chamberlain.

    Eisenhower submitted his demands to Beijing via the Indian Embassy on March 10. POW exchanges- with Chinese and Korean prisoners given the right to determine their future- were to be followed by a ceasefire. Chinese troops would retreat north of the Yalu River. UN peacekeepers would remain, defending US interests under the guise of ‘mediation’. Failure to meet these demands, the note warned, would lead to American use of nuclear weapons. Eisenhower waited for the Chinese to blink.

    Millions would die before he got his answer.

    (1) This is the PoD. Stalin doesn't die in March 1953, so there is no impetus in the Kremlin to end the Korean War. This causes Mao to call Eisenhower's nuclear bluff in spring 1953.... and things go from bad to worse.
     
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    Two- Vyshinsky's Blank Cheque
  • Two- Vyshinsky’s Blank Cheque

    Interviewer: To what extent, do you think, does the build up to the Third World War recall the July Crisis?

    Tuchman
    : Now there, that there is the question historians will ponder for the next five hundred years. And the answer is, sadly, both are far too similar. Judgment was clouded by fear, a lack of information, and a belief that "the Other" sought, above all, your demise. But more than anything else, though, the relationship between Soviet Russia and the... I hesitate to say 'the Chinese government', but... the Maoist government... it parallels that between the Dual Monarchy and the German Empire. Both made guarantees which seemed plain and simple. Whatever you do with the Serbian problem, we will support you. If the Americans use atomic weapons on your cities, we will come to your defense. But Wilhelm's Germany ignored what the Russians would do, then that the Tsar and France were allied, so he had a two-front war, and by then the situation was out of control entirely. And... and the Soviet government had the same problem.

    Interviewer: Sorry to side-track you, but this has always fascinated me, and I think our viewers would love to know: when you say 'the Soviet government', who do you mean? Stalin? His underlings? Who... who was really calling the shots in spring 1953?

    Tuchman: (looks directly at the camera): I don't know. Even- and I devote a whole chapter in my book to this problem- even after all our research, all we've done, no one really knows how much say Stalin had in all this, or which subordinates were more powerful, or anything like that. (Smiles) One more reason for historians to look poorly on the Strategic Air Command, I suppose.

    Interviewer: I see. Do go on.

    Tuchman: But getting back to the point, so Imperial Germany completely failed to see the ramifications of its blank check to Austria-Hungary. And neither did the Soviets understand what they were starting when they promised to support Mao. They soon found out.

    -Interview with Barbara Tuchman for the release of her 1983 magnum opus The War. Over seven hundred pages long, it drew criticism for depicting World War III as the product of avoidable mistakes by both sides, rather than the conventional wisdom of Stalin as a second Hitler whom the Allies were bound to nobly resist.

    ***​

    Eisenhower's ultimatum met with mixed reactions in Beijing. In some ways, the ultimatum was convenient, as it offered a chance to end a seemingly unwinnable war. Whatever casualty records existed were doubtless destroyed during the War, but tens of thousands of Chinese (including his own son An-ching) had come home in body bags. Having barely finished its own civil war, Communist China needed time to rest and focus on domestic reconstruction. If, as some have postulated, Mao hoped to use the Korean War to convince Stalin to let him access Soviet nuclear technology, he had failed there too. (1) Eisenhower's ultimatum had been delivered in a secret enough manner that relatively few knew of it. Mao could thus accept without losing face or fear of being seen as having cowed to the "US imperialists". (2)

    Despite all his public bravado, Mao had to have known how much more powerful the Americans truly were. Hiroshima and Nagasaki proved the Americans would use their atomic weapons to avoid an excessively bloody battle. Would Eisenhower take two Chinese cities off the map if it would save tens of thousands of Americans? If he did, there was no way to save him. Communist China's already minimal air force had largely been shot down over Korea; the troops there relied on Soviet pilots for cover. Though infamously uncaring about the lives of his own people (3), Mao knew a nuclear strike of sufficient size could destroy his regime.

    What would have happened had Mao ended the war is one of the great "what-ifs" of our time. Instead, as with everything else, he forwarded it to Moscow.

    The telegram from Beijing reached Ambassador Zhang Wentian at two AM Moscow time on 13 March. Stalin’s health, however, derailed everything. The Vozhd had suffered a minor stroke only hours before the telegram arrived, and his doctor was preparing for emergency surgery. The operation went well enough, but Stalin had to be kept in a coma for a few days, hooked up to breathing and feeding tubes. He would probably live, the doctors agreed, but this was no time for him to do anything.

    Just as a major crisis was unfolding, the Soviet Union was practically leaderless.

    Foreign Minister Andrey Vyshinsky visited Zhang at noon on the sixteenth with Deputy Chairman Georgy Malenkov in tow. Both men were in a conundrum. They took Eisenhower’s nuclear threat seriously and doubted anything good would ever come out of Korea, even if Chinese armies marched all the way to Busan. Had it been up to them, they would have told Zhang to back down. Yet both were petrified of what the Vozhd would say. Stalin was comatose now, but he would wake up in a few days. Malenkov and Vyshinsky were, strictly speaking, not even supposed to converse with one another without his approval. If Stalin found out they had been speaking in his name to foreign ambassadors while he was unconscious, he would assume they were plotting against him. They would then spend the brief remainder of their lives in the Gulag.

    Vyshinsky and Malenkov had to tell Zhang what Stalin wanted them to say, not what made good sense.


    The two men responsible for (mis)managing Eisenhower's threats
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    The two met in Malenkov’s office at midday on 13 March. Both men knew the office was bugged, so they wrote their true thoughts on paper- namely, that this was dangerous and pointless. In a blessing to historians, Malenkov kept these documents in a briefcase with his personal effects, where they survived the war. Unaware that Mao didn’t care whether or not the Americans bombed China, they tried to figure out a diplomatically acceptable way to ask the Chinese to risk millions of civilian lives. The two finished their work around six PM and retired, agreeing to meet Zhang at dawn the next day.

    Zhang was already in his office when Vyshinsky and Malenkov called. Speaking "in the name of Comrade Stalin", they urged the Chinese to ignore Eisenhower's ultimatum. The Americans had refrained from using atomic bombs during the Berlin Crisis four years prior. Why, if they had been unwilling to start the Third World War over the heart of Europe, where their armies directly stood off against those of the Soviets, would they do so over a small East Asian peninsula? Eisenhower was bluffing to prove himself in his new role and appease his supporters. Better to call his bluff and "teach him his place".

    Vyshinsky also sought to downplay the true threat to China. Soviet Air Force units already provided cover on the Korean Peninsula; defending Manchuria or Beijing from atomic attacks would be easy. And if the Americans did attack, "proportionate measures" would be taken in retaliation. Article I of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of 1950 declared any attack on China an act of war against the Soviet Union. China's leaders had pushed for the Treaty because they knew how vulnerable they really were, and without it they likely would not have entered Korea. If the Chinese needed them, Vyshinsky promised, the USSR would be there.

    "Vyshinsky's blank cheque", as it was dubbed after the war, is frequently compared to the German promise of unconditional support for Austria-Hungary in the summer of 1914. Guarantees of support from a stronger power led Vienna to overplay its hand and spark a war with Russia forty years prior. Now, Vyshinsky had just convinced Zhang that even if the war went nuclear, the Communists would still win. This played perfectly into the shared belief in the Communist hierarchy of Chinese invincibility.

    Zhang's comments have not been recorded, and we can only guess how much he knew. He was certainly aware of Stalin's latest stroke, but only the inner circle knew how weak the Vozhd really was. Had Zhang realized that Stalin had just signed away millions of his countrymen? Did he wonder just how bad things could get for his homeland? Or did he- like Mao- believe Eisenhower was bluffing, and that in any case, the Revolution was strong enough to survive whatever its enemies threw at it? Or- far more likely- did he suppress any lingering doubts beneath Vyshinsky's guarantees? It made no difference either way. Nothing Zhang could have said would have changed Mao's mind, and no one dared question Stalin. He telegraphed the Soviet instructions to Beijing that same day.

    And so another opportunity to save mankind from itself was lost.

    (1) Mao: The Unknown Story obviously doesn't get written ITTL- the fates of its authors are unknown but grisly- but conspiracy theories surrounding Mao still persist.
    (2) Which he did IOTL because the new men in the USSR would back him. Here it has to go by Stalin...
    (3) The Great Leap Forward never happens ITTL, so the most obvious evidence for this isn't there. Instead we get something which makes the GLF look like a minor round of shortages.
     
    Three- Preparing to Escalate
  • I must step in here to say that this TL is not dead- school, work, relationships, etc, have conspired to place it on the bottom of my list of priorities in a way that wasn't true for Place In the Sun. Alas, further delays between updates will be the norm. But there will be more! I must also thank all of you for your incredible feedback. Besides giving me valuable information it's a great motivator and I'll address comments when I get a chance.

    And below we have the next update.

    Three- Preparing To Escalate

    Mao Zedong's personal reaction to "Vyshinsky's blank check" is, alas, unknown. Nearly all written records- which Mao seldom kept in any case- were destroyed during the Atomic attacks. No one thus knows what the Chinese leader said, when, or to whom.

    (As an aside, this is not a problem exclusive to the Chinese. Prof. Adrian Rossman's Filling The Gaps: Historiography in the Absence of Evidence (1987) details three chapters to the lack of source material, especially in the Eastern Bloc, which historians of World War III have to work with.)

    It is highly unlikely that Mao ever considered disobeying Stalin's orders to keep the war going. This was due less to his much-publicised fidelity to the Kremlin than it was to his own perceived needs. China had entered the Korean War for three reasons. One, to secure North Korea as a buffer between themselves and the US military. Two, to bleed the Americans and dissuade them from interfering further in China's backyard. Three, to procure as much Soviet aid as possible under the guise of "war assistance", to rebuild their military and, hopefully, build an Atomic Bomb. The first goal was secure. The Americans wouldn't be able to destroy North Korea without escalating the war and inviting Soviet retaliation. War-weariness was not an issue for China. As Mao had frequently observed, their population could absorb anything- and for the first time in forty years, the country was united under an effective government. There would always be bodies to throw into the grinder, and if the Americans escalated, their own casualties would increase. No need to change anything there. As for Soviet aid, the longer the war lasted the more Beijing could extract. Making peace would remove his excuse for demanding aid. So the war would drag on.

    Never a skilled orator, Mao delegated the task of responding to Zhou Enlai. The Chinese premier, widely considered Mao's number-two man, was a skilled diplomat who had managed the regime's foreign relations throughout the wars against Japan and the Nationalists. He was a deeply committed Communist and enjoyed a high profile in both East and West. His speech was published in People's Daily and broadcast over Chinese radio. Communist-bloc media published and broadcast translations, but few in the West ever heard it. The Indian ambassador in Beijing was given a copy to send home; the American in New Delhi then passed it to Washington, DC. Taiwanese intelligence agents had beaten the ambassador to the punch, though. They'd heard it on their routine monitorings of Communist radio, and four hours later a transcript was on Eisenhower's desk.

    Greetings.

    The Chinese people's revolutionary enterprise remains embroiled in its struggle against forces of counterrevolution and their running dogs. As always the leading force in opposition is the United States. American bases act as centres of imperialism and counterrevolution. At the close of the war with Japan, US forces occupied that country, subjugated the people of Taiwan to the rule of the Kuomintang junta, subjected the people of Korea to the rule of the Rhee Syngman junta, and subjugated the oppressed peoples of Southeast Asia to continued rule by colonialist forces. Three years ago the Democratic People's Republic of Korea sought to liberate its brothers from the rule of the Rhee Syngman junta, after which the US imperialists defended their running dog. For two years now the Chinese people's revolutionary enterprise has been committed to the liberation of the Korean Peninsula. Now the US seeks to use its atom bomb to force a decision.

    The Chinese people will never back down to the imperialist west. The strength of the people is greater than the strength of the imperialist army and their atoms. If the US imperialists instigate a wider war the result will be suffering the likes of which the world has never seen, at the end of which the US imperialist project will be destroyed.

    I call upon the Chinese masses to resist this latest round of foreign bullying. I call upon the Korean masses to continue their struggle of liberation. And I call upon the leadership of the United States to reconsider their treacherous course.
    Eisenhower's initial comments have not been recorded but were doubtless both profane and sincere. He was the strongest man in the world! He had Atomic weapons, the world's largest military, and the world's largest economy, and this Communist still thumbed his nose at him. All hope for peace was now dead, and Eisenhower's first instinct was to punish Mao. "If Hitler had given this speech in 1936 over the Rhineland question", he told Vice-President Nixon, "and we had told him where to go, sixty-five million persons would be alive today." Yet Eisenhower's military background pushed him towards restraint, not action. Countless lives were at stake. Acting on emotion rather than reason could start a war that would make Hitler's seem trivial. Eisenhower did not fear war, but he was determined to analyse the situation and find a move which would get Mao to back down.

    Instead, the President set himself up for failure.

    Friday, March 19 was unseasonably chilly in Washington DC. The previous day Eisenhower had quietly reached out to his Cabinet, requesting their presence at the White House on a "matter of strategic significance". Little more was said lest the press get wind, but it didn't take a genius to draw a connection to Korea.

    Once the President entered the room the doors were locked and the curtains were drawn. "Gentlemen", he began, clearing his throat, "the situation on the Korean Peninsula has become very grave in recent days. Our enemies have lost all interest, it seems, in making peace, even though to do would bring them no loss. This simply cannot stand any longer, and I need to know how best to bring the Reds to the bargaining table. Your advice, gentlemen, is crucial."

    "Simple", barked the scowling Secretary of State. "They started this war, did they not? We all know how soft President Truman was on 'em. He just stood by as they entered China, and it looked for a moment as if he'd let them take Korea as well." Dulles raised his hands. "You gentlemen all know this of course, and my goal is not to degrade your predecessor, Mr. President. But the fact is the Reds think they're invincible. You, sir, told them the consequence for continuing the war would be nuclear attack. Back down from that and you will come across as even softer than Truman."

    "I concur", said the Secretary of Defense. "This war is costing us time, money, and lives, and yes I know the Reds are taking it just as bad. But that's not the point. Our atomic arsenal gives us more bang for the buck"- he chuckled under his breath- "and if we don't use it we're practically derelict. What we face, Mr. President, is a choice just like we did in 1945. Use the Bomb or take God only knows how many casualties."

    "Agreed." Eisenhower nodded slowly, sighing. "If it will end the war, it is worth doing. And, truth be told, had these weapons existed in the summer of 1944, I would have deployed them to save my men." He turned to the Chief of Staff, USAF. "Outline what we have to bring to bear on the Reds."

    "Yes, Mr. President." General Nathan F. Twining stood up and tapped a manila folder on the desk. He was a tall, square-jawed man who looked younger than his mid-sixties. "Per this- which many in this room were involved in crafting- we can hit them with everything in the envelope. I spoke with Generals LeMay and Powers earlier today." Twining sighed and looked Eisenhower straight in the eye. "I just need your permission, Mr. President, and I can have SAC on full alert. If our bombers on Okinawa stand-to, they can be in the air half an hour after you give the signal. We can plaster a dozen cities in North Korea- everything worth an atomic bomb- and many times that number in China. All we'd need is your approval."

    "Run me off the full list."

    Twining listed every major city in North Korea, Manchuria, and the Chinese East Coast. "And all that, Mr. President, would use up but a fraction of our atomic stockpile. SAC can end this war right here if you let it."

    Eisenhower massaged his cheeks, frowning. "Too much", he said finally. "How the hell many people would die if we did this? Don't give me a number", he said hurriedly. "The answer is too many just to make a point. If we kill so many Chinese civilians with the atom bomb, how are we any different from killing so many Germans and Japs with incendiaries and conventional munitions?" Every man in the room remembered the horror stories on the front page. Dresden. Tokyo. Hamburg. Did they want to add Beijing, Shanghai, Pyongyang to the list? "Tell me this, General. Of all the targets on that list... which ones will damage North Korea's immediate ability to make war without killing more men than the Nazis or sparking... or instigating a wider war?"

    "Well, Mr. President, the gooks are reliant upon the Chinese for nearly everything. It all comes"- he flipped through the folder until he found a map of North Korea- "across these border crossings here." General Twining pointed to Sinuiju, Kanggye, and Hesyan. "They also ship a lot in via Rason, Hamhung, Chongjin, and lesser ports on the Sea of Japan, as well as Chongju on the Yellow Sea. Take those out and you effectively cut them and their Chinese armies off from supplies made in China or the USSR. Throw in Pyongyang and you decapitate the regime. And that doesn't even count tactical targets behind the lines such as supply dumps."

    "Air cover will be heavy", the President observed. "Most of these places are in the north of their country, where Soviet pilots are most used to operating. What if- God forbid- one of our bombers is shot down?"

    "A valid concern, Mr. President, and something the men at SAC have put a lot of thought into. Suffice it to say that these would operate with the best cover we can give them- as many jet squadrons as you need- and they would drop from relatively high altitude to airburst. Accuracy is less of a concern when dealing with weapons of this magnitude for... obvious reasons." General Twining smiled. "Close counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and nowadays, atomic weapons."

    "Mmhm. Will this have more of an effect than our conventional strategic bombing has? If a nuclear explosion is like an ordinary explosion two or three orders of magnitude larger, what can SAC do to these towns that the conventional forces haven't?"

    "Mr. President, they'll fu- they'll pulverise the gooks, sir. Even relatively low-yield weapons will take these places off the map. Pyongyang- to give you an example, sir- Pyongyang's barely the size of, say, Baltimore. Big, but not big. And some of these little towns- Sinuiju is not even forty square miles." General Twining faced the Cabinet. "Anyone in here disagree? Secretary Dulles, is there anything I'm missing?" Dulles shook his head. No one else said a word aside from a few murmurs of assent.

    "Okay", breathed the President. "Put SAC on alert. We'll do this in stages. Give me that map." Twining handed him the manila folder. "Rason is out. Twenty miles from the Soviet border. It's not that I distrust SAC- but my God, can you imagine if this went wrong? If that bomb landed on the Soviet side of the border we will have World War Three, no way around it. Or the Soviets could mistake our bombers as heading to Vladivostok. No Pyongyang, either."

    "Sir?" General Twining and Dulles said it at the same time.

    "I want to end this war, not conduct a genocide", Eisenhower said. "Say Kim gets spooked after we do this, and Mao is afraid he'll be next. If we leave Kim alive in Pyongyang, there's a chance the North Korean government can ask for a cease-fire itself. I grant it is a lower order of probability, but it isn't an opportunity I'm willing to pass up. Besides", he smirked, "if I'm wrong we can always take Pyongyang off the map later. Far better than wishing there was a government left to surrender to us." Twining looked unconvinced but nodded. "So that gives us Sinuiju, Kanggye, Hyesan, Hamhung, Chongjin, and Chongju. How many casualties are we talking about?"

    "Not certain, sir, off the top of my head. But I can estimate." Twining dug around in the manila folder. "Taking Pyongyang off the list will spare a lot of civilians. I would say... between 100,000 and 200,000, both military and civilian."

    "Lot fewer than if we bombed Beijing. Alright, very good. Tell SAC to stand by. They started this war- we'll end it."

    "Mr. President, sir?" The Secretary of the Treasury raised his hand. "Not truly my field, I appreciate that, but.. what if this strike doesn't do it? What if this doesn't end the war?"

    "Well, Mr. Secretary, if that happens.... If that happens, East Asia is about to get a lot emptier. Let's hope we need not do that."


    ***
    Irving Leroy Jones- but it's "Captain" or "Sir" to you. Twenty-nine years old and already going places.
    They just weren't where he hoped... but he didn't know that yet.

    Georgia, Georgia,
    The whole day through
    Just an old sweet song
    Keeps Georgia on my mind


    Sweeet song, baby.” He chuckled and ran a finger along his collar. Only on leave for a few hours and everything was all right.

    I'm say Georgia
    Georgia
    A song of you
    (A song of you)


    “A sawng of you, girl.” He ran his hands through her thick black hair and along her brown cheek. She smiled up at him, eyes playful.

    “What you trying to tell me now… Captain?” She ran her slender hands across his shoulder boards, newly emblazoned with a captain’s insignia. Back to base in two weeks and he’d be the first black officer in the history of his air wing. But he had bigger priorities.

    “I’s trying to tell you, girl, there’s a song of you. Song of us. This is our home, girl, we knows it.” One hand on the steering wheel, one hand across her neck. They shared a long kiss.

    I said Georgia,
    Ooh Georgia, no peace I find
    Just an old sweet song
    Keeps Georgia on my mind


    “Ooh yeah, honey. This song here- this keeping you on my mind.” She turned a deep red. “And that’s how I like it.”

    “Likes it that way too. I mean”, she drawled exaggeratedly, “can be so hard for a girl. Having a man always out in that there fancy airplane, off in all corners o’ the world, when she be back here in Georgia all by her lonesome.” Her smile said everything. “We gotta make up for what we been missin’.” They edged closer, and he read her eyes. Laughing, he shook his head.

    “Not here, lovey. Tonight though.” The song ended, and he sat up. “Lemme change it.” He flicked the knob before finding sports. It was the peak of the Southeastern Conference and he was a Bulldog to his bones. “The University of Georgia team faces the University of North Carolina tomorrow in what is sure to be a riveting game. At this time the Tar Heels are slightly favored after Georgia point guard…” He switched the radio off and glared at his girlfriend. “Fu-I mean…” Embarrassed, he stroked his cheek. “Lemme tell you”, he continued, “we is the best state in this country at basketball- gotta be. We too good to be having these problems and if those damn Tar Heels get ahead of us I is not gonna be a happy man- y’hear me?”

    “Terrible man”, she said. “Here we is together and all you’s worried about is basketball. What kind of a Captain are ya?”

    He smiled and opened the door. “Sorry, madam.” He bowed low before getting out of the car. A moment later, he returned with a white rose in hand. “This better?” The kiss he got suggested yes, yes it was. Everything was all right.

    “Now lemme put that back on”, he said after a long while.

    “...and the Bulldogs are ahead with only ten minutes left in the game- going to be a good night by the looks of things- yes, yes Georgia has the ball, down the court, will he make it, will he- yes, yes I believe so-- AND IT’S IN!, yes, another close shot inside the line for Georgia bringing the score to 27-14…”

    “I knew it”, he said smugly. “Knew they wouldn’t let me down.”

    And it’s been intercepted, yes, going the right-” The game stopped. Static blared.

    “The hell?” He fiddled with the knobs. “Damn silly radio. What-”

    “We interrupt this program to bring you a message from the President of the United States regarding a matter of supreme national importance.” His stomach turned to ice. She grabbed him tightly.

    My fellow Americans…”
     
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