Cold War

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Important Date :

~1950

Korean War begins

U.S. forces land at InchonMacArthur retakes South KoreaChinese troops force MacArthur back to Seoul

~1951

Truman fires MacArthur

~1952

Korean War ends with signing of armistice

Key People :

Harry S Truman

33rd U.S. president; was commander and chief during most of Korean War

Dean Acheson

Secretary of state during Truman's second term; announced in 1950 that Korea was outside the U.S. defense perimeter

Douglas MacArthur

34th U.S president; elected in 1952 after serving as general in World War ll and as supreme commander of NATO; secured cease-fire in Korea

Key Places and Times :

North and South Korea

With Hitler and Mussolini defeated in Europe in 1945 , the United States and Soviet Union turned to fighting Japan later in the year . After Japanese forces surrendered to General Douglas MacArthur , the United States and the USSR shared control of the neighboring Korean Peninsula , which had been under Japanese control since the turn of the century . They divided Korea at the 38th Parallel, with the Soviet Union Taking control in the north and the United States in the south . Both sides also armed the Koreans and erected new governments friendly to each respective superpower .

The Start of the Korean War

It seemed that Korea might become a flash point in the Cold War, but then Truman's secretary of state, Dean Acheson, effectively announced in 1950 that the United States had no interest in Korea because it had no geopolitical significance . The