A COLD WAR

MacArthur is gone but he isn’t going quietly. He thinks he can rally his support into a run for the POTUS job. He is gravely mistaken.

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By April 1951, MacArthur wanted to nuke China. But Truman had had enough of his giant ego. It was time for him to go.

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Ridgway thought there was no reason for the US army to abandon the Korean peninsula. They just needed to do a better job of digging themselves in. The transformation of Eighth Army after the coming of its new commander astonished and profoundly impressed all those who witnessed it. Meanwhile, MacArthur’s relationship with the Joint Chiefs, and Truman, just became worse and worse. And China conducted its withdrawal methodically, giving the US a chance to back down and save face before it was too late.

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General Matthew Bunker Ridgway, “The Soldier’s General”, takes over command of the 8th Army and his “back to basics” approach was exactly what was needed.

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By early Feb 1951, it became evident that a military disaster for the UN in Korea wasn’t likely. Under the new command of Ridgway, after Walker had died in a jeep accident, the 8th army were holding on. Meanwhile in China… They also thought they could win the entire Korean Peninsula. So weren’t really trying hard to negotiate a peaceful settlement with two Koreas. But then… On 15 March 1951, MacArthur, who heard that Truman was going to push for peace, gave a press interview…. in breach of Truman’s orders to keep his mouth shut.

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In December 1950, MacArthur and Truman are both threatening the use of atomic weapons against China and North Korea. Meanwhile, the British are trying to talk them into making peace with China, while Truman struggles with massive unpopularity back home.

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While Cam is in the USA, the lads sit down to have a lazy chat about the highlights of the last six years of talking about the Cold War.

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The big question for the Pentagon was why the US collapsed so quickly. They could blame the winter and the mountains - but the Chinese had to contend with those as well. And the US wasn’t sure what their next move was. Truman wanted a quick settlement, but MacArthur wanted escalation.

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As they are swiftly kicked out of Korea by Mao’s forces in December 1950, everyone seems to be angry at America. The Chinese, the North Koreans, the South Koreans, the British… even the Americans are angry at themselves. Because, like Mexico, they didn’t send their best people.

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Today we're talking to Katharine Gregorio, author of "The Double Life of Katharine Clark, The Untold Story of the American Journalist Who Brought the Truth about Communism to the West". Clark was her great-aunt, a foreign correspondent who, while posted in Belgrade in the mid-1950s, befriended Milovan Djilas, the former heir apparent to Tito in Yugoslavia and author of the classic "Conversations with Stalin", which Clark helped get published in the West, at great risk to herself and her husband.

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