How America Could Have Won the Korean War: Nuclear Weapons?

Many people may not know it, but the United States came close to unleashing a nuclear attack on North Korea and China during the start of the Korean War in 1950.

At a press conference on November 30, 1950, President Truman confirmed that he had been actively considering using atomic bombs in Korea since the beginning of the war. The comments provoked a worldwide reaction, and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee rushed to Washington to express his concern.

The Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, when North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel, invading South Korea. North Korean leader Kim Il-sung launched the attack once he had received a promise of support from Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. 

In January 1950, US Secretary of State Dean Acheson delivered a misleading speech in which he said South Korea and Taiwan were not part of the American “defensive perimeter,” indicating that the US would stay out of a Korean conflict. Clearly, Stalin only agreed to support the invasion after being convinced the US would not get involved.

First US Troops Routed in Korean War

That’s when all hell broke loose. The US sent Task Force Smith to Korea. The occupation troops from Japan were under-equipped, poorly trained, and poorly led. On July 5, 1950, the troops were routed.

On August 1, 1950, the decision was made to send the 9th Bomb Wing to Guam as an atomic task force immediately. Ten B-29s, loaded with unarmed atomic bombs, set out for the Pacific. 

On August 5, one of the planes crashed during takeoff from Fairfield-Suisun Air Force base near San Francisco, killing a dozen people and scattering the mildly radioactive uranium of the bomb’s tamper around the airfield. The other planes reached Guam, where they went on standby duty.

UN troops were pushed to the Pusan perimeter, where Gen. Douglas MacArthur then instituted a brilliant amphibious landing at Inchon, and US troops began driving the North Koreans back toward China. His statement, “On to the Yalu,” the river that divides China from North Korea, angered President Truman and alarmed US allies. 

Truman and MacArthur met at Wake Island, where the President warned the general against drawing China and the USSR into a third world war. MacArthur foolishly stated that the war “would be terminated by Thanksgiving-they are thoroughly whipped, North Korea has no possibility of success.” 

“There would be the greatest slaughter if China tried to put ground troops across the Yalu. They would be destroyed”. However, tens of thousands of Chinese were already swarming across the Yalu.

MacArthur Wanted To Attack China With Nuclear Weapons

As thousands of Chinese troops swarmed across the border, UN troops were slammed backward in brutal winter conditions where temperatures dropped -20 degrees below zero. 

MacArthur wanted to bomb Manchuria with nuclear weapons. Speaking for the Air Force, General Hoyt Vandenberg suggested they were prepared to use it. 

MacArthur suggested a plan to use numerous bombs. The US had a stockpile of nearly 300 air-burst bombs, but only President Truman could order them to be used. MacArthur insisted he be given the sole right to use 50 bombs as he saw fit. He insisted on bombing the Yalu power plants with multiple strikes by B-29s. 

Suggestions came from all services, and every General offered his own plan. That’s when Truman announced the US was considering using nuclear weapons against North Korea. 

MacArthur planned to drop between 30 and 50 atomic bombs strung across the neck of Manchuria, from the Sea of Japan to the Yellow Sea. It was believed that with a belt of radioactive cobalt for at least 60 years, there would be no invasion of Korea from the North. The Russians, he claimed, would be intimidated by this and do nothing. He continued to seek authority to deploy the bomb strongly.

MacArthur had always wanted war with China, and this was the last straw for the President. Truman fired MacArthur over the radio before MacArthur could resign. “ I have decided that I must make a change in command in the Far East. I have, therefore, relieved General MacArthur of his command and have designated Lt. Gen. Matthew Ridgway as his replacement”.

Part of Operation Upshot-Knothole, was a 15-kiloton test fired from a 280-mm cannon on May 25, 1953 at the Nevada Proving Grounds. Frenchman’s Flat, Nevada – Atomic Cannon TestHistory’s first atomic artillery shell fired from the Army’s new 280-mm artillery gun. Hundreds of high ranking Armed Forces officers and members of Congress are present. The fireball ascending.

The war raged on, but Gen. Ridgway stabilized the lines, and the war became a stalemate pretty much along the lines from which it started. 

What Would Have Happened If The US Had Used Nukes

The first question that needs to be asked is, “Could the US have accessed Chinese airspace with B-29s to bomb Manchuria?” And that answer is yes. B-29s were delivering powerful airstrikes against Chinese and North Korean troop concentrations. 

However, the nuclear devices of 1950 weren’t nearly as powerful as the ones of today, and there remains some doubt as to whether they would have been effective enough to stop the infiltration of PLA forces. 

However, it would have caused a major escalation of the conflict. The Soviet Union, an ally of North Korea and China, would likely have responded in kind, potentially leading to a nuclear exchange between the US and the Soviet Union.

And if the US nuked major population centers such as Beijing or Shanghai? The use of nuclear weapons in Korea would likely have been met with strong criticism and opposition from the international community and within the United States itself. The propaganda value of the abject annihilation of hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians probably would have outweighed any military advantage gained by the United States.

And it likely wouldn’t have accomplished much in the prosecution of the war. It would probably have backfired on the US, as the use of nuclear weapons in a conventional war could have lowered the threshold for future nuclear conflicts, potentially making the world a more dangerous place.

The Russians would have found their use more palatable in proxy wars elsewhere, and the world would have been a much more dangerous place.

Eventually, the reasons for not using nuclear weapons among the civilian leadership were reinforced by a developing consensus in the military that the general deterrent value of atomic weapons unused far exceeded the benefits that might flow from their employment with indeterminate results on a remote battlefield.

About the Author: 

Steve Balestrieri is a 19FortyFive National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing for 19FortyFive, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications