Question

What did president Truman want during the Korean War?

Answer 1

To address General MacArthur and the war in Korea it is true he wanted to expand the war. The European Nations were the driving force behind NOT expanding the war due to their concern of Soviet invasion from Eastern Europe (as presented to President Truman by British PM Clement Attlee). However, initially President Truman agreed with MacArthur on the expansion (and this is a very well documented fact). They (MacArthur/Truman) would butt heads on this when President Truman decided against the expansion (following his conversations of Western European Nations leaders); ultimately MacArthur would lose. One thing that President Truman did do was sign each and every condolence letter to the families that lost service members in the Korean War (he would end up signing about 53,000 of these). I always thought this was quite amazing given the fact that neither FDR during WW II nor LBJ during the Viet Nam War had the time or ability to provide this personalized affection for the families. This one act of President Truman is what I consider to be his most giving act while in office (following WW II). His decision to fire General MacArthur did back fire on him and he would spend the remainder of his life (unfortunately) defending his actions.
Hope this helps(: