The Korean War and Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy

Background to war in Korea

Japan had dominated/abused Korea for decades

Soviets advance to the 38th parallel and stop

Americans later occupy the south – no plans

Efforts to unify the country prove fruitless

The outbreak of fighting, June 1950 (Phase One – North Korea attacks)

Provocations were many and often, 1948-on. Kim wants to attack. Stalin holds him back.(US had atomic bombs, Stalin didn’t) Finally given the go-ahead in 1950 (Stalin got atomic bomb)

China had fallen to communists in October 1949. The US did not intervene. Why would they here?

North Korea overruns most of the south. South loses half of its army. Seoul falls.

Untold numbers of civilians perish

Phase Two: America to the Rescue

UN Security Council condemns the attack. Russians should have vetoed – but screw up by boycotting! Truman commits American troops under MacArthur’s command. 15 nations will participate. Some other forces are elite. Still 90% of the allied troops are either American or South Korean. Americans hang on to the Pusan Perimeter. With the aid of air power, they stabilize the front. MacArthur (surprise) lands at Inchon, September 19, 1950. His greatest moment as a military commander? (or very lucky …). North Koreans caught by complete surprise. Supply lines cut.

Seoul liberated within 72 hours

North Koreans driven back into their homeland

Invading the North (Sep-Nov 1950)

Initial UN Resolution called for restoring South Korea and deterring aggression

War aims change with the euphoria of victory

General Assembly calls for a “unified, independent and democratic” Korea. Provides enough green light … MacArthur pushed into the North. China warns us. Two forces, one advancing along each coast. MacArthur Met Truman at Wake Island (weird …) Told Truman China would not intervene. Told Truman they would be crushed if they did

Phase Three, Chinese Counterattack November 1950 – January 1951

Communist China, Mao Tse-Tung, cannot stomach a unified, western Korea. There were plenty of warnings. Drive the Allies South. Retake Seoul on NY Eve. 80% of American casualties come after China's entry. Blizzard conditions, terrain, worsen plight of troops

Chosin Reservoir

1st Marine Division fights for 14 days in below freezing temperatures against 120,000 Chinese. Marines fight their way back along a one-lane dirt road through mountains to evacuation ports. 17 Medals of Honor, the most of any US battle. Fend off Chinese human wave attacks. Kill ~40,000 at a cost of 7000 Marine casualties (1700 KIA). (See the Korean War Memorial in Washington)

Truman vs. MacArthur

MacArthur rejects the idea of “limited war”. Wants to bomb Chinese cities, invade the mainland. Truman rightly more worried about/focused on Europe

MacArthur relieved in April, 1951.Gave his famous “Old Soldiers Never Die” speech

Joint Chiefs wholly support Truman. MacArthur scaled the heights of insubordination. And he was just plain wrong. Truman had every right to can him. Pretty soon that sank in with the public

Phase Four:The M*A*S*H* Period (1951-1953)

Matthew Ridgeway’s forces halt the Chinese advance.Slowly advances back up the peninsula (Battles for Heartbreak Hill, Iron Triangle, etc.)

South Korean army molded into an effective fighting force (Under American command!). Reaches a stalemate by 1952. Seoul liberated once more (fourth time)

Cease fire talks begin, but drag on into 1953

M*A*S*H* became the most popular TV show of the 1970’s. Ostensibly about a Korean War field hospital. Actually, it’s lessons are more about Vietnam

Korea gets lost between World War Two and Vietnam

Dwight Eisenhower

Supreme Commander in World War Two in Europe. Kept Monty and Patton separated and supplied. Made the key decision to invade on June 6, 1944. Pres of Columbia University for a time after

Elected President 1952-1960. Moderate Republican.

Promised to end the War in Korea. Stalled over prisoner of war questions

Threatened China with nuclear weapons (bluffing). Catches a break when Stalin dies in 1953. Russia will mellow under Nikita Khrushchev. China agrees to peace, but remains hardline under Mao.

Ike Kept Us Out of War for the next 7 years. Remarkable achievement. Pursued Containment through establishing alliances

Balanced the budget, even while building the interstates via the Federal Highway Act of 1956!

Consequences for/from Korea

Relations with China frozen until Nixon (1973)

Korea remains divided at the 38th parallel

US 2nd Division stationed there ever since

South Korea becomes a successful modern nation

Kim Il-Sung Rules the north until 1994!

Kim Jong Il follows, 1997-2011

Kim Jong Un there now, since 2011.

The First “Limited War”

Limited in a variety of military ways (Goals, Weapons employed, Geographic restrictions). No Home Front Mobilization, Very little impact on the civilian population, No victory gardens, scrap drives, bond programs, etc.

Did save the South – the original goal

Did not unify the peninsula. North Korea still a problem

While World War Two victims came home to parades, and Vietnam veterans to scorn, Korean veterans got “meh?”

Forgotten war

The Interstate Highway System

building the interstates via the Federal Highway Act of 1956!. The largest public works program, ever. Justified to Congress as defense spending. Autobahns to move troops, and Emergency air strips!. Still left office with a budget surplus!

Done by eisenhower.

Eisenhower mistake

During World War Two, Iran was occupied by allied troops. (most successful Lend-Lease supply route) When we left, we left behind transportation infrastructure. Iranian economy dominated by Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq wants his people to have a greater share of the profits. Broke Britain not in the mood. Truman administration tried to get the British to compromise. Eisenhower comes in, pushing for alliances. Mossadeq does not want to ally with Britain!. They call him a communist for threatening to nationalize the oil company

Eisenhower gives the OK to stage a coup, ousting Mossadeq, in favor of the Shah - a king – who agrees to enter a Western alliance. Shah proves otherwise a complete jerk, rules as a tyrant for 25 years

Overthrown by Iranian religious leaders in 1979

Reason the Iranians hate the US to this day!

Nikita Khrushchev

comes to power in the Soviet Union. Stalin dies in 1953. Cold War Stalin’s fault?

called “Destalinization.” “Secret speech” to a closed 20th Party Congress session soon became widely known, actual text made public. Condemned in particular the crimes Stalin committed against the party – murders of innocent members during the purges. Likewise denounced the “cult of personality” and his incompetent leadership during the early stages of World War Two. Releases 7-9 million prisoners from the Gulag!

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

published in November, 1962

Describes life in Stalin’s concentration camps

Did not criticize the system which allowed Stalin to take power

(khrushchev)

Ike and Nikita

Eisenhower returns the friendly greetings

Strove to lower the risk of nuclear war

Eventually invited Khrushchev to come visit. They get along!

Three days at Camp David. Eighteen days total in 1959

Nikita spends a lot of time touring Midwestern farms

Was disappointed in not getting to see “American mouse”

Sputnik and NASA

Sputnik

Russians beat us into space, sort of

Sputnik 1 launched 4 October 1957. Could see it from American backyards

Eventually, Laika became the first creature to circle the planet in Sputnik 2

Eisenhower responds with the creation of NASA

Kennedy will later take this ball and run with it …

National Defense Education Act

Signed by Eisenhower, September 1958. Aiming to win the Sputnik/NASA competition, and more

Over a billion federal dollars invested in education – for the good of the country!

Focus on science, math, new “programming”

Saw the utility in foreign language studies, area studies programs (created under Title VI)

John F. Kennedy

Ran in 1960 as a Cold Warrior

Eisenhower not doing enough? Missile gap? Russians ahead???

Wins, barely. Good looks, LBJ, Mayor Daley, Nixon looks bad on TV?

Implements the half-baked CIA plan dubbed the Bay of Pigs

JFK Goes to West Berlin, tries to express solidarity with the people

Khrushchev responds by building the Berlin Wall (1961)

Khrushchev liked Eisenhower. He did not respect Kennedy. Too young?

the Bay of Pigs

idel Castro had seized power in Cuba. Initially, we cheered

As Castro buddies up to Khrushchev, and assails the rich and powerful within Cuba, we try (several times) to take him out

Many of Batista’s friends move to Miami. Want us to stop Castro.

CIA proposed landing exiles (trained by them in Honduras) in Cuba

We send 2000, and cancel their air support at the last minute

Captured. Paraded. Humiliated. Dumbest US “military” operation ever

The Cuban Missile Crisis

Oct. 1962. Khrushchev pushes his luck. Attempts to install nuclear weapons in Cuba

Revealed by a U-2 flight over the island, Biggest crisis of the Cold War?

Kennedy asks his cabinet for advice. Brother Bobby (Attorney General) provides the solution - blockade (Prevent the Soviets from completing their work)

Quietly call upon Khrushchev to withdraw the missiles. Kennedy’s finest hour – disaster averted?

Proved disastrous for Khrushchev (Ousted by hardline rivals in 1964 – though not executed. Leads Soviets to attempt to build-up their navy … and go broke later)

The Peace Corps

Seeing a need to combat communism in the Third World, JFK created the Peace Corps via executive order in March 1961

Counter Soviet influence via socio-economic development

Technical and financial development assistance for low-income countries

USAID

Congress followed his lead in creating the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that September

Brought scattered programs under a common umbrella. Subject to president/State Dept