MacArthur Page #8

struck in great strength

across the boundary

at the 38th parallel.

In great strength?

Yes, sir.

Assemble the staff.

I'll be there presently.

Why, General, what's happened?

One last gift to an old warrior.

My fellow Americans,

tonight we face

a serious situation.

On the advice of the best

military minds I could muster,

I have decided to commit United States

ground forces to the Korean peninsula.

We are not at war.

Acting in concert with our

United Nations allies,

we are engaged

in a police action

to counteract a bandit

raid into South Korea

by North Korean Communists.

Would you like to

use my binoculars, sir?

No, thank you.

I've seen all I have to see.

General, what happens next, sir?

My father was asked

that same question

when he found himself

surrounded in the Civil War.

He said, "The situation is

simple and apparent.

"The enemy is closing

on me from three sides,

"and my plan is

to fight like hell."

Now with the threat of

annihilation temporarily forestalled,

MacArthur pays a worried visit to

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek,

leader of the Nationalist

Chinese on Formosa.

Son of a b*tch, that's

a goose step they're doing.

Here it is felt the foundation

is being constructed

for Sino-American

military cooperation.

Damn it!

Didn't we send MacArthur

to Formosa to do

just the opposite?

Call off Chiang and tell him he couldn't

send his troops into mainland China

or anywhere else?

We didn't send him over there to

forge his own personal alliances.

Hell, that sounds like

we're concluding

some kind of

mutual defense treaty.

Mr. Secretary, I want you to radio a

message to His Majesty MacArthur.

What's the matter with them back there?

Have they lost their nerve?

I know all about Chiang.

If he had two horns and a tail,

we should use him

as long as he's anticommunist.

We can reform him later.

It's my destiny to

defeat Communism,

and only God or those

Washington politicians

will keep me from doing it.

You didn't read

this one, did you?

It's a letter to

the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

"Nothing could be more fallacious

than the threadbare argument

"by those who advocate appeasement

and defeatism in the Pacific

"that if we defend Formosa,

we alienate continental Asia."

Signed, Douglas MacArthur.

You hear that? "Appeasement, defeatism."

That's me he's talking about.

Alvin, can you explain

why he's done this?

No, Mr. President,

I'm afraid I can't.

Well, did any of you

know in advance

this letter was

gonna be printed?

I want it withdrawn right now.

Good morning, General.

Whitney.

I haven't seen that

pipe in a long time.

In looking over your positions

this morning, General Walker,

I saw that plans are afoot to

conduct retrograde movements

and abandon the perimeter.

Effective immediately,

these plans will be scrapped.

The present line will be held.

We don't have

any perimeters, General.

Just a few scattered

strong points.

As soon as I put out one fire,

another two get started.

I know that you're

outnumbered in this thing,

but sending you more troops

so you can hang on to this

little corner of Korea

is not good enough.

Well, I'll settle for

a regimental combat team.

Can't do it, Walt. We

need every man we've got.

General Shepherd

is putting together

an overwhelming amphibious

assault on Inchon.

Inchon?

One stroke, it'll cut

across the enemy's rear,

sever his supply lines, and isolate

all of his forces south of Seoul.

Without munitions,

supplies, communications,

the North Koreans

will be paralyzed.

Inchon is the worst...

Then you can break out of that corner,

move north and overpower them.

I think that Inchon will

finish the North Koreans.

What?

It'll never be approved.

Inchon has some of the

highest tides in the world,

but only once a month do they

reach a height sufficient

for our largest

landing craft to go in.

There are maybe two

three-hour periods

when MacArthur

can put troops ashore.

Which is not enough time for

a major amphibious landing.

Exactly. This is little more

than a trench in the mud flats.

If every possible handicap were

listed, Inchon has them all.

However, gentlemen,

MacArthur claims

that these very handicaps

are what he's counting on.

He feels that the enemy

won't believe that anyone

would try to surmount

such obstacles.

The element of surprise will

be his most valuable ally.

What do you think of

His Majesty's plan?

It's daring, it's brilliant,

and it's dangerous.

Court, you remember I once said,

"The bullet has not yet been

cast with my name on it?"

I certainly do.

Inchon could be that bullet.

There's 70,000 men out there

waiting to hit Inchon.

As of this moment,

the president has not

personally approved

this mission.

The last communication I had

from the Joint Chiefs

said that

he'd been "informed."

He vacillated, delayed.

Finally gave begrudging

permission to proceed here.

Powerful enemies, Court.

Who advised Truman

that I was insubordinate

when I visited

Chiang Kai-shek?

Who persuaded him to force me

to withdraw my letters

to the Veterans of Foreign Wars?

Who are those who seek to humiliate

me and undermine my authority?

The Communists and their fellow travelers

in the British Foreign Office.

If Inchon fails,

they will have a jubilee.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff

approved this invasion

because your

arguments were valid.

Yes, they were valid,

but if the enemy is ready

with a superior force,

we will not be able to disengage

without suffering

enormous losses.

We could lose this entire fleet.

This date could be marked as one

of the greatest military tragedies

in American history.

General,

I don't think for one...

Are you surprised, Court?

I'm sharing my doubts with

you after all these years.

Did you think

I was invulnerable?

It just came in.

We've got Wolmido Island.

What?

Wolmido is ours.

It took my boys 58 minutes.

Good work,

General Shepherd. Good work.

I'll be the first to admit it.

He did a hell of a job,

and here's to him.

Hear, hear.

What's the matter, Alvin? Don't

you like the taste of victory?

Bourbon's not bad, either.

Yes, Inchon is a masterstroke.

Damn right it is. Now that's

what I call "generalling."

I've heard that

the North Koreans

have turned tail and are running for home.

Lickety toot.

It's not the North Koreans

I'm worried about.

Mr. Panika, the Indian

ambassador to Peking,

informs us that any American

troops above the 38th parallel

will provoke an intervention

by the Chinese.

Yesterday, we monitored this very

same warning over Radio Peking.

Yeah, well, we've heard that sort

of thing before, haven't we?

Now, how serious are they?

Frankly, we don't know.

Well, what's MacArthur say about it?

He's not worried.

He's calling it

political blackmail.

Well, he's probably right.

Mr. President,

let's watch our step.

If we expand the war in

Korea to include Red China,

we're up against the

Soviets, A-bomb and all.

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