President Harry S. Truman found himself entrenched in a major dilemma as the Korean War unfolded. The consensus among most political leaders in the United States was that the Soviet Union was intending to export communism to the rest of the world. This consensus formed the basis of the American foreign policy with the goal being to contain communism at home and abroad. In Europe, this policy was characterized by the Marshall Plan but, in Asia, this policy became identified by the United States' participation in the Korean War.
Korea had been divided at the end of the Second World War into two halves. This division had occurred as a result of the Soviet Union having invaded Korea during the War and the Japanese subsequently surrendering to the Soviets. The United States, fearing that the Soviet Union might try to establish a communist government on the entire peninsula moved troops into southern Korea toward the end of the War. Subsequently, the United States and the Soviet Union peacefully agreed to divide Korea at the 38th parallel. In the North a communist government was organized while a rival government was established in the South. Unfortunately, each government was intent on uniting the nation under its own principles which created an unstable condition.
Despite this situation the Truman administration had adopted a position of withdrawal from Korea. The State Department had argued that Korea lay outside the United States' defense perimeter and that they had no intention of defending South Korea from any potential attack from North Korea. Several World events, however, caused the United States to reconsider its position. First, the news that the Soviet Union had exploded an atomic bomb caused great concern as America's monopoly on the weapon was now eliminated. Additionally, the Soviet Union began to intervene in political affairs in both Greece and Turkey. Finally, in China, a communist government under the leadership of Mao Tse Tong was established. This series of events caused the Truman administration to re-evaluate its position so that when the North Koreans invaded the South Truman determined that he needed to take action to protect the democratic South Korean...
Post War Iraq: A Paradox in the Making: Legitimacy vs. legality The regulations pertaining to the application of force in International Law has transformed greatly from the culmination of the Second World War, and again in the new circumstances confronting the world in the aftermath of the end of the Cold War. Novel establishments have been formed, old ones have withered away and an equally enormous quantity of intellectual writing has
limited and total war, and the factors leading to either type of wars. States will escalate a limited war to total warfare only in cases where they do not have certain limitations. Key discussion areas: A definition and a discussion of limited and total wars A discussion of the Koreas war and how major world powers (the Soviet Union and the United States ) were fighting their own proxy wars in the conflict A
His flexibility in this regard as an expert communicator is amply demonstrated by the wide range of high-level leadership positions over the course of his lengthy military career. According to Grandstaff (2007), "Army General Douglas MacArthur is a prime candidate for the study of leadership. The son of Army General Arthur MacArthur, he spent more than 70 years serving in a variety of leadership positions, including Superintendent of West
North Korea's provocation to the U.S., South Korea and Japan with the help of their nuclear weapons, media and foreign policy. "The most critical thing in the war of North Korea is to teach everyone of our nation to hate U.S. imperialism, or else, all of us will be unable to defeat them who are boating about their technological superiority." These are the famous words of the leader of North
In spite of the setbacks of Operation Blueheart, MacArthur was admirable in his courageous "promptitude to act," in the words of Winston Churchill (cited by Starling 1998, p. 298). After Blueheart's execution proved inconceivable, MacArthur immediately proceeded to draft the plans for the similar Operation Chromite. Operation Chromite, like Operation Blueheart, would rally the support of various branches of the military in a sweeping amphibious counteroffensive. MacArthur hoped to achieve
The First Nuclear Test Of course, the first nuclear test occurred before the 1950s and was part of the United States' effort to develop an atomic weapon during World War II. This test occurred at 5:30 A.M. On July 16, 1945, at a missile range outside of Alamogordo, New Mexico. Even that test was enough to convince a large group of scientists that the atomic weapon was a dangerous and powerful
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