Abstract
The Korean adventure brought immediate dividends for the Truman administration. The Republican attack temporarily lost momentum and the President’s ratings soared in the polls. The war was popular. There was little opposition when Truman began to implement the rearmament provisions of NSC-68 in July 1950.1 If Korea provided the ‘springboard for a US global build-up’, however, it also posed problems of priorities.2 The war was important as a symbol of US determination to draw the line against communism and as a means of mobilising the public behind rearmament. It was never intended, however, to place the main emphasis on containment in Asia. Korea was to serve the goals of global strategy, not to dictate its shape. Washington saw the war as an opportunity, ‘Not so much to build-up military strength in Asia … but to bolster the obviously inadequate defenses of Western Europe.’3 In September 1950, however, to maintain the initiative in the cold war and the domestic consensus for increased commitments to NATO, Truman authorised the invasion of North Korea. This brought China into the war, threatened a wider conflict in the Far East, and revived partisan debate about foreign policy.
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Notes and References
John E. Mueller, War, Presidents and Public Opinion (New York, 1973) pp. 48, 198–9; Caridi, pp. 68–70.
Memo of Conversation, 14 July 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 1, pp. 344–6.
Report to the NSC, 30 September 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 1, p. 400.
Samuel F. Wells Jnr, ‘The Origins of Massive Retaliation’, Political Science Quarterly (Spring, 1981) pp. 116–51.
Matthew B. Ridgway, The Korean War (New York, 1967) pp. 14–15.
Acheson to Truman, 11 September 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 7, pp. 721–2; Truman pp. 346–7, 383.
Roger Dingman, ‘Truman, Attlee and the Korean War Crisis’, International Studies (1982/1), International Centre for Economics and Related Disciplines, London School of Economics;
Elisabeth Barker, The British Between the Superpowers 1945–1950 (London, 1983) pp. 206–7.
Harry R. Borowski, The Hollow Threat, Strategic Air Power and Containment Before Korea (Westport, Conn. 1982).
Jon Halliday, ‘Anti-Communism and the Korean War (1950–1953)’, in Ralph Miliband, John Saville and Marcel Liebman (eds) Socialist Register 1984. The Uses Of Anti-Communism (London 1984) pp. 142–3.
James Cameron, Point of Departure (London, 1978) p. 110.
Halliday, pp. 142–3; John Gittings, ‘Talks, Bombs and Guns. Another Look at the Korean War’, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1975) pp. 205–17;
William F. Dean, General Dean’s Story (New York, 1954) pp. 84–5. On North Korean atrocities in Seoul see: Drumright to Dept, 29 June 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 7, pp. 240–1; Drumright to Dept, 19 October 1950, 695 A.95B26/10–1950, Box 3029, Dept of State Decimal File (hereafter DS), National Archives, Washington DC.
Alan Winnington, I Saw the Truth in Korea (London, 1950) p. 6.
Philip Deane, Captive in Korea (London, 1953) pp. 80–4.
Dean Hess, Battle Hymn (New York, 1956) pp. 132–3.
UNCURK, Report on Atrocities, 17 February 1951, FK1681/27, FO371/92848, PRO.
Acheson to Muccio, 22 August 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 7, pp. 630–1.
Marguerite Higgins, War in Korea (New York, 1951) pp. 162–6.
Acheson to Douglas, 28 July 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 6, pp. 396–8.
Bevin to Acheson, 15 July 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 7, pp. 396–9; Stairs, pp. 93–7.
Sarvepalli Gopal, Jawaharlal Nehru. A Biography, Vol. 2 (London, 1979) pp. 101–3.
MOD to Rickett, 21 July 1950, Clement Attlee Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford.
Truman to Acheson, 18 July 1950, Selected Records Relating to the Korean War, Box 6, Department of State, Neutralisation of Formosa 1, HSTL;
Acheson to Douglas, 28 July 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 6, pp. 396–8.
Statement by Truman, 19 July 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 7, pp. 383–4.
DS to British Embassy, 23 August 1950, FR1950, Vol. 6, pp. 444–6.
Memo of Conversation, 24 July 1950, SRRKW, Box 6, Neut. Formosa 1, HSTL;
Johnson to Acheson, 29 July 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 6, p. 401.
Acheson, p. 422; Strong to Acheson, 3 August 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 6, pp. 410–11.
Sebald to Acheson, 3 August 1950, ibid., p. 415.
Strong to Acheson, 3 August 1950, ibid., pp. 411–12.
Johnson to MacArthur, 4 August 1950, ibid., p. 423.
Memo by Harriman, 20 August 1950, ibid., pp. 427–30.
John W. Spanier, The Truman—MacArthur Controversy and the Korean War (New York, 1965) pp. 73–7.
Memos by Marchant, 28 and 29 August 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 6, pp. 464–8;
Memo by Bevin, 31 August 1950, CAB 129/41 CP(50) 194, PRO; Memo by Matthews, 31 August 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 6, 473–6.
Acheson to embassy, 14 August 1950, ibid., p. 438.
Johnson to Acheson, 11 September 1950, SRRKW, Neutrality of Formosa 3, Box 6, HSTL;
Acheson to Johnson, 13 September 1950, Ibid.
Report by NSC to the President, 9 September 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 7, 712–21.
Stueck, p. 219; ‘Position Paper for USUN, 19 September 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 7, pp. 736–7.
Marshall to MacArthur, 29 September 1950, ibid., p. 826.
Memo by Bancroft, 23 September 1950, ibid., pp. 759–62; Minutes of 6th mtg of US delegation to UN, 25 September 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 7, pp. 768–9; Spanier, pp. 101–2.
Stairs, pp. 121–2; Minutes of 6th mtg of UN Delegation to UN, 25 September 1950, FR1950, Vol. 7, pp. 768–9.
Memo by Marchant, 27 September 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 7, pp. 793–4;
Rusk to Webb, 28 September 1950, ibid., pp. 797–8.
Webb to Henderson, 28 September 1950, ibid., pp. 819–21.
Memo by Battle, 28 September 1950, ibid., pp. 811–12.
Holmes to Acheson, 3 October 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 7, p. 839.
Memo by Allison, 4 October 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 7, pp. 868–9.
Memo by Allison, 4 October 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 7, pp. 868–9.
David Rees, Korea: The Limited War (London, 1964) p. 100.
Report by NSC, 9 September 1950, FR 1950, Vol. 7, p. 720.
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© 1986 Callum A. MacDonald
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MacDonald, C.A. (1986). Across the Parallel. In: Korea: The War before Vietnam. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06332-1_3
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