Echoes from the Past

The Writer's Almanac had this entry today:

It was on this day in 1950 that North Korea invaded South Korea, beginning the Korean War. At the end of World War II, Korea had been divided along the 38th
parallel. The Soviet Union controlled the North and the United States controlled the South. When North Korea tried to invade and take over South Korea on this day in 1950, President Harry Truman ordered a military police action to stop the invasion.

Douglas MacArthur led the United States Army, and he almost won the war in what he called his "home by Christmas" offensive. But near the end of November 1950, Chinese forces entered the war and drove MacArthur back to the 38th parallel. MacArthur asked for permission to attack China with nuclear weapons, but Truman refused. MacArthur took his case to the American public, and Truman fired him.

The war dragged on for months. Truce negotiations began the next year, and they were the longest truce negotiations in the history of warfare: They lasted two years and 17 days, with 575 meetings between the opposing sides. Dwight D. Eisenhower ran for president in 1952 on the platform that he would end the war, and when he was elected that's what he did.

The Korean War was the first war the United States had concluded without success. There were no celebrations when it ended. About 37,000 Americans and more than a million Koreans lost their lives.

I understand what the writer is saying, but it's not clear to me that the war "concluded without success." South Korea stayed independent, and eventually grew into a democracy and an economic powerhouse. North Korea, not so good. But the thing that caught my attention was "Dwight D. Eisenhower ran for president in 1952 on the platform that he would end the war...."

The sketch of George Orwell's life is also worth reading.