1. Was the Korean War a successful effort at containing
communism?
2. How did it predict fiature U.S. involvemen~ in Asia?
3. What was its impact on the American commitment to fighting
the Co!d War?
.
KEY EVENTS OF THE KOREAN WAR
Event
IDate
Korea divided between North !September
and South
1945
Soviets & Americans
1949
withdraw military
North Korea invades South
June 24,
Korea
1950
fruman orders air and naval
June 27,
support for South Korea &
1950
zalls for UN intervention
September
U.S. troops invade at Inchon
15, 1950
Pyongyang falls to UN forces October 19,
1950
Significance
Following Japanese surrender, Soviets maintained military presence in
the North with American troops in the South. Temporary border at 38th
~arallel established
A pro-Soviet puppet government is left in charge of North Korea with
a vastly superior army to U.S.-supported South
Whether North Koreans acted with Stalin’s approval is still debated
With the Soviet Union absent from the Security Council, the U.S. was
able to win agreement from UN to support South Korea. MacArthur
appointed to command UN operations
In surprise landing behind enemy lines, US forces push North Korean
army back north of the 38th parallel
North Korean capital now in UN control
With increased opposition, UN offensive stalls and then collapses.
November 4,
Chinese troops push UN forces back across 38th parallel and capture
1950
Southern capital of Seoul
MacArthur declares "There is
message to House Republican leader Martin, MacArthur expresses
March 1951 [n
no substitute for victory"
his frustration with the limited war U.S. is fighting against communists
Truman relieves MacArthur of April 11,
Following several warnings about insubordination, Truman angers
command
1951
public (69% support MacArthur) by firing the US commander
MacArthur addresses Congress
after being away from the U.S. April 19, ~ [n emotional speech, MacArthur declares "Old soldiers never die, they
1951
merely fade away".
since 1935
Negotiations begin at
Falks drag on until 1953 and war is settled with the establishment of a
July 1951
Panrnunjon
DMZ (demilitarized zone) on each side of the 38th parallel
Eisenhower pledges to go to Korea to end the war. VP candidate Nixon
Korea becomes campaign
SunLrner
icontends Democrats had caved in to communists in Korea and that
issue in 1952 presidential
1952
Democrat presidential candidate Stevenson should be called "Adlai the
election
Appeaser"
Chinese divisions enter
fighting
Armistice formally reestablished the division of
Korea
March 1953
Formal peace treaty never signed. Over 1,000,000 Koreans and 54,000
Americans ldlled in conflict plus thousands who die as prisoners of war
United Nations Peak Combat Strengths in Korea*
*as of July 1953
Republic of Korea-- 590,911
Turkey - 5,455
United Kingdom- 14,198
Canada - 6,146
France - Ll19
Australia - 3,382
Greece- 1,263
Colombia- 1,068 ~-
Ethiopia- 1,271
Thailand - 1,294
Netherlands - 819
Belgium/Luxemburg - 944
Philippines - 1,496
South Africa - 826
New Zealand - :!,389
United States Forces - 325~270
United States Ground Forces - 302,483
Harry S. Truman. Policy Statement, June 27, 1950. State Department
Bulletin, July 3, 1950.
In Korea, the Government forces, which were armed to prevent
border raids and to preserve internal security, were attacked by invading
forces from North Korea. The Security Council of the United Nations called
upon the invading troops to cease hostilities and to withdraw to the 38t~
Parallel. In these circumstances I have ordered United States air and sea
forces to give the Korean Governmer~t troops cover and support.
The attack upon Korea makes it plain is beyond doubt that
communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer
independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war. [as
instruments of national policy] italics added. It has defied the orders of the
Security Council to the United Nations...
Accordingly, I have ordered the Seventh Fleet to prevent any attack
on Formosa. The Seventh Fleet ~vill see that this is done. The United
States will continue to uphold the rule of law.
Dean Acheson. Speech to American Newspaper Guild. June 29, 1950.
...Sunday afternoon [June 24t~]--it was just before daybreak of Sunday
morning in Korea--without warning and without provocation, Communist
forces of the north launched a coordinated full-scale assault on the
Republic of Korea.
Ambassador Muccio’s cable reached the State Department code
room at 9:26 Saturday night, having crossed an inquiry the Department
had sent to him a few minutes before, based on the first flash of action.
Within a matter of minutes, the message was decoded and the
Department was alerted for action.
During Sunday night and early Monday morning, actions flowing
from the conference with the" President were set in motion. General
MacArthur was authorized to respond at once to urgent appeals from the
Government of Korea for additional supplies of ammunition and in a
matter of hours was flying into Korea loaded transport planes with fighter
protection to assure their safe arrival. At the same time the Seventh Fleet
with all men aboard was steaming north out of Subic Bay, to be on hand
m case of need...
Yesterday--4 days after the fighting began--the fall of Seoul was
confirmed, but American air and sea support for Korean Government
troops was beginning to make itself felt, and peace-loving nations the
world over were able to hope that this act of brutal, unprovoked, and
naked aggression would not be allowed to succeed.
Douglas MacArthur, ~Military Situation in the Far East." He~trings
Part I0 Senate, Committee On The Armed Services pp.39-44.
GENERAL OF TIlE ARMY DOUGLAS MACARTHUR:
~If that is the concept [limited warfare] of a continued and indefinite
campaign in Korea, with no definite purpose of stopping it until the enemy
gets tired or you yield to his terms, I think that introduces into the
military sphere a political control such as I have never known in my life or
have studied."
SENATOR SALTONSTALL:
In other words, you feel the Korean situation, having gone into an
armed conflict, it should be brought to an end in the quickest possible
way through a military victory.
GENERAL MACARTHUR:
I do, Senator, exactly; and I believe ff you do not do that, ff you hit
soft, if you practice appeasement in the use of force, you are doomed to
disaster.
I believe that if you continue that way, you are inviting the very things
that you desire to stop---the spread of the conflict ....
Omar Bradley, "Military Situation in the Far East," Hearings, Part II,
Senate, Armed Services Committee. Pp. 730-734.
The fundamental military issue that has arisen is whether to
increase the risk of a global war by taking additional measures that are
open to the United States and its allies. We now have a localized conflict
in Korea. Some of the military measures under discussion might well
place the United States in the position of responsibility for broadening the
war and at the same time losing most if not all of our allies.
General MacArthur has stated that there are certain additional
measures which can and should be taken, and that by so doing no
unacceptable increased risk of global war will result.
As long as the conflict within its present scope, we are holding to a
minimum
The forces we must commit and tie down..
From a military viewpoint, appeasement occurs when you give up
something, which is rightfully free, to an aggressor without putting up a
struggle, or making him pay a price.
Stephen B. Oates. Portrait of America.. Volume II, p.298
His decision (Truman’s) to go into Korea in June was the most
difficult of his presidency, he said. And he felt it was the most important
decision of his presidency--more difficult and important than the decision
to use the atomic bomb, because he feared he might be taking the country
into another war still more horrible world war, a nuclear war. Yet at the
time, it was a very popular decision, a p.oint often forgotten. The country
was waiting for the President to say we would go the rescue of the South
Korean’s, who were being overrun by the Communist North Korean
blitzkrieg .... He was applauded by the press across the country. It was
only later that summer of 1950 when the war went sour that it became
"Truman’s War."
James T. Patterson, Grand Expectations The US 1945-1971. New York:
Oxford Book Company, 1996. Pp 206-242.
Professor James T. Patterson of Brown University made these salient
observations about the Korean conflict in his award winning book.
)~ One writer called this conflict, The Forgotten War
~ National amnesia over Korea pitted the American and allied troops
against North Korean...seemed inconsequential compared to two world
wars
~ The war had lasting diplomatic, economic, and domestic consequences,
For a police action, it was a brutal, bloody conflict ...that inflicted 4
million casualties.
~ The Korean war was rooted in WW II.
~ The coming of the Cold War dashed any hope of reunification.
~ It now seems that American leaders mis-read Stalin’s role in the
invasion.
~ The North Korean onslaught.in the darkness of June 25 was wellorganized, smashing offensive, with T-34 tanks, and 90,000 camflouged
soldiers...battle hardened as %olunteers" from Mao’s Chinese Civil War.
~ Truman was forced to act under the pressure of time
~ Truman’s decisions angered some congressional leaders such as Sen.
Taft
~ The war went badly for the US in the early stages until MacArthur led
the Inchon landing. MacArthur drove them back to Chinese border and
then advocated ~unrestricted open warfare."
~ The impressive record of achievement gave MacArthur an almost
legendary reputation. Many observers...hailed him as the American
Caesar.
~ Truman fired MacArthur, which has left a lasting debate upon the
record.
> Both sides--North and South Koreas--agreed on voluntary repatriation
of prisoners. The drew a peace-line roughly the same as when the war
began, raising the question, "What did we fight and die for?"
~ The War finally elevated the Red Scare to high tide. Truman was
powerless to stop the wave of xenophobia that endured throughout the
conflict.
> Well before the 1952 elections it was clear that the Korean War had
divided the nation and that a majority of the American people were ready
for a change in leadership.
~ ~lacArthur attack
Nov, 25, !950
The Shifting Front in Korea
July 27, [, 953
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