- By April 1950 → US defensive perimeter → was effectively expanding.
- US → was changing position to oppose any attempt to spread communism in Asia
- US state department → drew up → top secret report → known as National Security Council Paper No. 68 (NSC-68)
- Set out a more assertive + aggressive US foreign policy → to deal with communist threat.
- Report → prove decisive for Korea → as situation was becoming more dangerous → with rising tensions and clashes → between troops across the border.
- US policy before → was simply → let North and South Korea → fight it out → if war broke out between them.
- With drafting of NSC-68 → Truman would have been inclined to intervene if war broke out
- he could not risk → possibility of victory by North Korea → which would be triumph for communism + humiliation for US.