Joe Biden/Dean Acheson

So how did the Korean War start? Was it that America was rattling its sabers? There is a view among historians that the fatal error was the opposite. It occurred when the President Truman’s state secretary, Dean Acheson, spoke about the defense of Japan. “I can assure you that there is no intention of any sort of abandoning or weakening the defenses of Japan, and that whatever arrangements are to be made, either through permanent settlement or otherwise, that defense must and shall be maintained,” the secretary said in remarks at the National Press Club. “This defensive perimeter runs along the Aleutians to Japan and then goes to the Ryukyus. We hold important defense positions in the Ryukyu Islands, and those we will continue to hold.”