WASHINGTON -- In a speech to the National Press Club in 1950, U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson drew a line in East Asia laying out the American defensive perimeter to prevent the spread of communism. It ran through the main islands of Japan, Okinawa and the Philippines but excluded South Korea and Taiwan. It was called the "Acheson Line."
Months later, North Korea launched a military offensive across the 38th parallel, with many historians pointing to the Acheson Line for emboldening the action.
