Video: 'Korean War - PART 7, The First Weeks (June, July 1950) 6.25' (MacArthur named at 6:22)

(Saturday, July 8, 1950, 8:10 a.m. EDT; during the Korean War, part of the Cold War) — President Harry S. Truman today named Gen. Douglas MacArthur as commander of all United Nations military forces fighting in defense of the Republic of Korea.

Eleven days earlier, Truman announced that he had ordered United States air and naval forces to fight with South Korea’s Army, two days after Communist North Korea invaded South Korea.

MacArthur became the first leader of military forces fighting under a United Nations banner.