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KOREA FALLS
From 1910, until 1945, Korea was part of the Japanese empire. The
victorious World War II allies agreed that Korea should be made an
independent country, but until negotiations could take place, the U.S.
took charge of the area south of the 38th parallel, while the Soviets
occupied the northern half. Plans to establish a unified Korean
government failed, and in 1948, rival governments were established: the
Communist government of Kim Il Sung in the North, and the pro-Western
government under Syngman Rhee in the South.
An officers training school, and a small arms plant was set up by the
United States. They gave the country $100,000,000 worth of military
hardware to arm the 96,000 soldiers of the South Korean armed forces. On
July 17, 1949, Owen Lattimore said: "The thing to do is let South Korea
fall, but not to let it look as if we pushed it." In a memo to the State
Department, he wrote: "The United States should disembarrass itself as
quickly as possible from its entanglements in South Korea." In 1949, the
American troops were withdrawn from South Korea, and in a January 12,
1950 speech, U.S. Secretary of State, Dean G. Acheson publicly stated
that South Korea was "outside of (the U.S.) defense perimeter."
The North Koreans, heavily equipped by the Russians, considered
Acheson's statement an invitation to attack, in order to unify the
country under communism. Gen. Douglas MacArthur had received military
intelligence reports from Gen. Charles A. Willoughby, that North Korea
was preparing for an invasion, and John Foster Dulles of the State
Department went to 'investigate,' and covered up the activity he viewed
at the 38th parallel.
On June 24, 1950, the North Koreans swarmed across the 38th parallel,
and proceeded to overrun the country. Rhee appealed to the United
States, and the United Nations for help, as the communists closed in on
the South Korean capital of Seoul.
Truman called for an immediate meeting of the United Nations Security
Council, who convened the next day, and called the attack a "breach of
the peace," ordering the North Koreans to withdraw to the border. Two
days later, the Security Council called upon the UN members to furnish
assistance. Immediately the U.S. sent in ground troops and began air
strikes. On July 7, the Security Council urged 15 of the countries to
put their troops at the disposal of the United States, under the UN
command of Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
With the UN being involved in the war, all U.S. battle plans had to be
submitted for approval, in advance, to the Under Secretary for Political
and Security Council Affairs. Due to a secret agreement made by
Secretary of State Edward Stettinius in 1945, this position was to
always be filled by a Communist from an eastern European country. During
the war, it was filled by Russia's General Constantine Zinchenko. It was
later revealed, that Russian military advisors were actually directing
the North Korean war effort, and one of those advisors, Lt. Gen.
Alexandre Vasiliev, actually gave the order to attack. Vasiliev was the
Chairman of the UN Military Staff Committee, who along with the Under
Secretary for Political and Security Council Affairs, was responsible
for all UN military action. Vasliliev had to take a leave of absence
from his position, to command the communist troops. So, what it boiled
down to, was that the Communists were controlling both sides of the war,
and Russia was able to receive vital information concerning all troop
movements within the UN forces in Korea, which was passed on to the
North Koreans and Chinese.
General MacArthur realized what was happening and planned one of the
most daring military assaults in the history of modern warfare. To
execute the engagement he hand-picked a group of trusted and loyal
officers so the initial stages would be kept a secret. MacArthur did not
submit the strategy to General Zinchenko. The resulting amphibious
assault on September 15, 1950, at Inchon Bay, turned the tide of the war
by enabling UN forces to recapture Seoul, destroyed large supply dumps,
and began to push the North Koreans back across the border. In October,
they captured the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, and many communists
retreated into Manchuria and Russia.
The Taiwan government was planning to move against China, and Truman
warned Chiang Kai-shek not to make an attempt to recapture his homeland.
Truman ordered the American Seventh Fleet into the Strait of Formosa to
prevent any type of invasion. This freed the Red China army to enter the
Korean War. The Chinese, with the excuse that they were protecting the
security of their country, stormed across the border on November 26,
1950, and stopped the UN army at the Yalu River. Chiang then offered to
send an advance force of 33,000 troops into North Korea, but the State
Department refused. They were a member of the UN, yet the United States
would not let them fight.
The Korean War, Korean Conflict, or Police Action, as it is sometimes
called, developed into a stalemate of broken cease-fire agreements, and
MacArthur made plans for a massive retaliation against China. He wanted
to bomb the ammunition and fuel dumps, the supply bases, and
communication lines to China (bridges across the Yalu River), and to
post a blockade around the Chinese coast. However, on December 5, 1950,
Truman and other Administration officials decided that this sort of
action would bring Russia into the conflict, and possibly initiate World
War III. MacArthur was ordered not to proceed with any of his plans. The
Joint Chiefs of Staff said: "We felt the action urged by Gen. MacArthur
would hazard this safety (of the U.S.) without promising any certain
proportionate gain." A letter written to a Congressman, by MacArthur,
was read on the floor of the House, giving them the full story of how
much the Red Chinese were involved. Still, nothing was done. Gen. Lin
Piao, the Red Chinese commander, said later: "I would never have made
the attack and risked my men and military reputation if I had not been
assured that Washington would restrain General MacArthur from taking
adequate retaliatory measures against my lines of supply and
communication."
With MacArthur insisting that there was no substitute for victory and
that the war against Communism would be either won or lost in Korea, he
was relieved of his command, on April 11, 1951, by Gen. Matthew B.
Ridgeway, a member of the CFR.
Air Force Commander, Gen. George Stratemeyer said: "We had sufficient
air bombardment, fighters, reconnaissance so that I could have taken out
all those supplies, those airdromes on the other side of the Yalu; I
could have bombed the devils between there and Mukden, stopped the
railroad operating and the people of China that were fighting could not
have been supplied ... But we weren't permitted to do it. As a result, a
lot of American blood was spilled over there in Korea."
Gen. Stratemeyer testified before the Congress: "You get in war to win
it. You do not get in war to stand still and lose it and we were
required to lose it. We were not permitted to win." Gen. Matt Clark told
them: "I was not allowed to bomb the numerous bridges across the Yalu
River over which the enemy constantly poured his trucks, and his
munitions, and his killers."
MacArthur would later write:
"I was ... worried by a series of directives from Washington which were
greatly decreasing the potential of my air force. First I was forbidden
'hot' pursuit of enemy planes that attacked our own. Manchuria and
Siberia were sanctuaries of inviolate protection for all enemy forces
and for all enemy purposes, no matter what depredations or assaults
might come from there. Then I was denied the right to bomb the
hydroelectric plants along the Yalu River. This order was broadened to
include every plant in North Korea which was capable of furnishing
electric power to Manchuria and Siberia ... Most incomprehensible of all
was the refusal to let me bomb the important supply center at Racin,
which was not in Manchuria or Siberia, but many miles from the border .
(where) the Soviet Union forwarded supplies from Vladivostok for the
North Korean Army. I felt that step-by-step my weapons were being taken
away from me..."
That there was
some leak in intelligence was evident to everyone. (Brig. Gen. Walton)
Walker continually complained to me that operations were known to the
enemy in advance through sources in Washington ... information must have
been relayed to them assuring that the Yalu River bridges would continue
to enjoy sanctuary and that their bases would be left intact. They knew
they could swarm down across the Yalu River without having to worry
about bombers hitting their Manchurian supply lines ... I realized for
the first time that I had actually been denied the use of my full
military power to safeguard the lives of my soldiers and the safety of
my army."
Gen. Douglas MacArthur also said: "I am concerned for the security of
our great nation, not so much because of any threat from without, but
because of the insidious forces working from within."
Over 33,000 American lives were lost in a war that they were not allowed
to win. Instead, a truce was signed on July 27, 1953.
However, the Communists weren't giving up on Korea. With North Korea
being supported by China, Russia and the Eastern Europe communist bloc
countries, they built up their military strength, and made enormous
economic gains. During the late 1960's, they began a dialogue for the
reunification of Korea, and bilateral talks were held in 1972, which
further improved their relations, as the Communists attempted to take
over with diplomacy. A nonaggression pact was signed in December, 1991;
and in 2000 a summit meeting was held to explore the possibility of a
reconciliation.
As information about communist agents occupying high cabinet posts
surfaced, the American people took out their frustrations at the polls.
Eisenhower's slogan was: "Let's clean up the mess in Washington." He had
promised "peace with honor" in Korea, however, the truce allowed 400
soldiers to remain in communist prisons. Even though the 1952 Republican
Platform called the Truman Plan "ignominious bartering with our
enemies," in reality, Eisenhower's plan made even more concessions.
Eisenhower's tough rhetoric on communism ushered in a renewed patriotism
in America. People behind the Iron Curtain were inspired, and in the
fall of 1956, Hungarian freedom fighters forced the Russians to leave
their homeland, ending Soviet occupation. So what did the United States
do? According to the Congressional Record of August 31, 1960, the U.S.
State Department sent the Soviet Union a telegram which read: "The
Government of the United States does not look with favor upon
governments unfriendly to the Soviet Union on the borders of the Soviet
Union." Hours after receiving the telegram on November 4, 1956,
Khrushchev sent Russian troops back into Hungary to retake the country.
Soon Eisenhower initiated foreign aid programs to the communist
governments in Poland and Yugoslavia, who by 1961 received almost $3
billion in food, industrial machinery, jets, and other military
equipment.
In June, 1956, John Foster Dulles said that if the U.S. discontinued
their aid to Marshal Tito, Yugoslavia would be driven into the Soviet
fold. However, two weeks before, Tito said: "In peace as in war,
Yugoslavia must march shoulder to shoulder with the Soviet Union." On
September 17, Tito announced his full support of the Soviet foreign
policy. Meanwhile, U.S. aid continued, even after 1961, when Yugoslavia
began their own foreign aid programs to spread communism among the
world's underdeveloped nations.
When Eisenhower's two terms came to an end, the amount of economic and
military aid to communist and 'neutralist' countries came to $7 billion.
In the February 25, 1961 edition of People's World, and the March 10,
1961 issue of Time, Robert Welch, founder of the anti-communist John
Birch Society, charged that the Eisenhower Administration was a tool of
the communists.
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