MacArthur And Truman Confer

On the Korean front. Superforts just arrived from the US take off from Okinawa to bomb North Korean targets. In Washington, President Truman makes his first major address to the nation since the conflict erupted. He says that Communist aggression must be stopped or all nations will be in jeopardy, and reminds the American public that free nations have learned from the 1930's that appeasement leads to all-out war. In the course of his speech, he asks for partial warime powers and an increase of $10 billion in defence appropriations, with a possible tax increase, saying "the cost of freedom is high".

Following Japan's refusal to submit to the ultimatum agreed on at the Potsdam Conference, President Truman warns Japan that its war-making capacity will be totally obliterated, and that it will be completely engulfed by sea and land forces.

President Truman's surprise announcement that Russia now possesses the atom bomb makes big headlines in the US. The electrifying news brings instant response from United nations delegates meeting at Flushing Meadows. Assembly President Romulo says the news means that the world now must strive harder for atomic controls. Meanwhile, at Hanford, Washington security measures are increased at the great plutonium plant.

When North Korean Troops cross the 38th parallel and invade South Korea, the United States is the only country to enter the area in force, American troops joining those minimal units of the international "police force" sent by the United Nations. With the entry of Chinese Communist troops into the action, the war takes a bad turn when the enemy forces a retreat of United Nations forces. American jet fighters engage in spectacular air battles with the Russian-made jets used by the invaders, but fail to prevent the capture of Seoul by Chinese forces.

Korea - The first films of the invasion by UN forces show the huge amphibious assault at Inchon and the drive on the capital city of Seoul. Marine assault forces awarm ashore at Wolmi Island following a pre-invasion bombardment by fleet units and planes. General MacArthur goes ashore soon after the landing to visit front lines and confer with his top military chiefs. Big "Patton" tanks spearhead th push on Seoul, vital bastion whose capture would seal off the escape route of North Korean Communist armies along the Pusan beachhead.

New York - Meeting at a time of decision for the United Nations and the world, a time when UN forces in Korea are fighting against an enemy using Soviet arms, the UN Assembly hears US Secretary of State Acheson plead for a moral peace and forthright action to save that peace for generations to come. Much of the UN debate will centre on whether UN forces will continue across the 38th parallel in Korea, and important issues on the agenda include the seating of Communist China and the overriding of the Soviet veto against censuring North Korea.

Fired from his post as UN Commander by President Truman, General Douglas MacArthur returns to the US for the first time in 14 years. At the San Francisco airport, he and his family are greeted by huge throngs. In Washington DC, MacArthur speaks to a jammed joint session of Congress, his touching valedictory made memorable by a quote from an old barracks ballad: "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away". Later, in Manhattan, millions of cheering New Yorkers give the returning Pacific commander a ticker-tape welcome in one of the most enthusiastic and impressive demonstrations ever seen in that city.

General MacArthur and his field commander Gneral Matthew Ridgway view the battle in Korea as UN ground forces drive north towards the 38th parallel. As they struggle to advance, the troops encounter miserable conditions ranging from the driving snow of the harsh Korean winter to deep mud in which men and tanks become mired. The Korean war is becoming increasingly costly and unpopular in 1951 as an exasperated America hovers dangerously close to a third world war.

President Eisenhower meets with the heads of 17 American nations in Panama, a 2 day President's Conference that culminates with a five point declaration of common ideals reaffirming the unity of the Western Hemisphere, and highlighted by Ike's proposal of