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"I Strongly Recommend." Since the war, said MacArthur, the U.S.'s strategic frontier has shifted to embrace the whole Pacific. It now runs along an island chain held by the U.S. and its allies from the Aleutians to the Marianas. "Any major breach of that line . . . would render vulnerable io determined attack every other major segment . . . This is a military estimate as to which I have yet to find a military leader who will take exception. For that reason, I have strongly recommended in the past . . . that under no circumstances must Formosa fall under Communist control." Republicans applauded wildly. On the Democratic side, members were stolidly silent.
Then Douglas MacArthur turned to the crucial issue of Korea. "While I was not consulted prior to the President's decision to intervene in support of the Republic of Korea," he said, "that decision, from a military standpoint, proved a sound one." The enemy was hurled back, and victory was complete when Red China intervened. "This created a new war and an entirely new situation . . . which called for new decisions in the diplomatic sphere." Such decisions, said MacArthur bitterly, "have not been forthcoming."
MacArthur flung down his challenge and his program. "While no man in his right mind would advocate sending our ground forces into continental China ... I felt that military necessity in the conduct of the war made necessary i) intensification of our economic blockade against China; 2) imposition of a naval blockade against the China coast; 3) removal of restrictions on air reconnaissance of China's coastal area and of Manchuria; 4) removal of restrictions on the [Chinese Nationalists] on Formosa, with logistical support to contribute to their effective operations against the Chinese mainland.
"For entertaining these views, all professionally designed to support our forces committed to Korea and to bring hostilities to an end with the least possible delay and at a saving of countless American and allied lives, I have been severely criticized in lay circles, principally abroad, despite my understanding that from a military standpoint the above views have been fully shared in the past by practically every military leader concerned with the Korean campaign including our own Joint Chiefs of Staff." The Republicans rose as a man and cheered. Democrats sat in unhappy silence.
MacArthur went on with his scorching indictment. "I called for reinforcements, but was informed that reinforcements were not available. I made clear that if not permitted to destroy the enemy-built-up bases north of the Yalu, if not permitted to utilize the friendly Chinese force of some 600,000 men on Formosa, if not permitted to blockade the China coast to prevent the Chinese Reds from getting succor from without, and if there were to be no hope of major reinforcements, the position of the command from the military standpoint forbade victory."