The Copious Calamities

 

This unit of our class on policy taught us about the different processes government goes through to pass things into law. Beginning with the legislative branch where we learned what it meant to make a bill into law and how recent and old policies can be connected to one another to analyze how patterns can be made throughout the history of our democracy. Now in the second Unit of the Executive branch, we have learned about all positions of the cabinet and why each one of them is crucial to have to run the country. We met with some outstanding guests this term including Troy LaRaviere who is president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association and just recently Tessine Murji who is an organizer at the Illinois chapter of Sierra Club. This project called on us to analyze a war from American history and give our takes on whether or not the conflict was just. My research had me dive deep into the Korean War, what some know as the ¨Forgotten War¨.

The Korean war happened between the years 1950 and 1953, it was after the second world war, Korea had been freed from Japanese control, and left from the battle were soviet soldiers in the north part of Korea and US soldiers in the south. As time went on the two ends of the country began to adopt the practices of both a communist and capitalist way of life, eventually, by 1948 the country had been split completely in half at the 38th parallel above South Korea´s capital. Friction had already existed between the two groups but both wanted to take back the nation fully to have it ruled as one. On June 25th, the leader of North Korea Kim Il-Sung waged an attack on South Korea and the fighting officially began. The United States heard of it just two days later and joined in. Many more than just the two sides of Korea and The United States was involved. Together with the UN, a combined army of sixteen different countries joined the fight against North Korea. When American soldiers first got to the shores of South Korea they had already been backed into the lower right corner where they were holding off until support came. Weapons such as bazookas, rocket launchers, and tanks were all staples of Korean War artillery but none as much as the impact planes and fighter jets had on the battlefield. Soviet troops may have had the upper hand blasting away ground support with T-34-85s as the tanks were called but once troops were depleted to all but the 82nd airborne they became an immense help. 

The way I see the war, if the fear of the president and people had not been acted on the state of South Korea would be in a way worse position than it is now. While learning of the war and how many died but also how North Korea was governing itself I believe the war was just not just because of fear of it spreading across the globe, but because of the downward spiral communism would´ve led the country into.

After the first battle, the US secretary of state and other representatives got the news during the night as a rumor that there had been attacks on South Korea. It was not until June 27th when a police action was issued that stated forces were to be moved overseas as quickly as possible. As an executive action from the president to send troops into battle there was no approval from Congress of any kind. Fear from the second world war about the spread of communist ideas was starting to have the people of The United States on edge for what could happen next and their concern was proven right. Congress was realistically pushed to the side when it came to the decision of the Korean War, and after that Congress had lost some of its power to declare war skipping out on the duty more than a few times. 

There were many attempts at peace throughout the war that North Korea had just decided to ignore. A significant policy that was carried out throughout all the Cold War eras was the Containment policy. Before the war in 1947 George F. Kennan, an American diplomat at the time proposed a strategy to try the best they could to contain communism and eradicate any danger it held to other allied countries. It reached Truman eventually and was inducted into the Truman Doctrine. This during the war gave the nation a stand on the conflict and they would go on with the fight definitively. 

The strategies used weren't all already published though, throughout the time of war it was very common to see bombs being dropped onto enemy territory by The US but the plan the general of the army at the time General McArthur pushed for months was to turn the war with Korea nuclear. After countless attempts of persuasion from McArthur led President Truman to dismiss the general and appoint a new one, Mr. Matthew Ridgway. The general wasn´t all that was new, The Korean War was the first time ever where we got to see the plane on plane combat. United States fighter jets would disguise themselves to look like Chinese carriers only to then attack what the other planes thought were their allies. The rollback strategy was also well implemented throughout the fighting, entailing taking the fight and stepping back to its last known positive state for that side, it worked so well in regaining lost strength that it called for more Chinese troops to be called in for backup while not months before the Chinese were the ones overpowering South Korea.

A policy saying that all countries ¨all countries not under the communist rule we will protect you and try our hardest to divert and contain all possible threat of communism¨ I think was to be expected at the time. I see nothing wrong with America trying to keep their and other people´s personal freedoms secure from a rule of what was posing as democratic socialism but was actually practicing brutal authoritarianism. It wasn´t the worst policy but had the US allied with some world leaders they didn't completely see eye to eye with for the sake of taking down communism. It was a long three years of bombing, shooting, and killing but after the long discussions and denial of peace from North Korea, at the 38th parallel an armistice was signed after Dwight D. Eisenhower took office in January on July 27th, 1953. 

The Superfortress aircraft delivering 10 tons of bombs over North Korean territory-

Smithsonian- 2022

While the prior paragraphs gave a clearer picture of context during the war now is to think if all of that sacrifice was worth it and a good decision at the moment. Of course, war is not a positive thing to wage in any scenario but to put yourself in the shoes of President Truman you will understand that if not for the effort, and the successful effort at that that the war was able to keep the spread of communism at bay from South Korea and some other parts of the world we would be living in a completely different reality today. It's not whether we officially won the war that calls it successful but what it did for the country afterward. Putting it into perspective, South Korea is one of the most economically booming countries in the world and on a worldwide scale has the 10th largest GDP. Taken from the book The Korean War by Lloyd C. Gardner, an analysis of President Truman´s state of mind during the war stated ¨His concern, apart from the tough decision to commit American troops in a desperate fight,  was that his greatest hope - to be the world´s foremost leader in working for real and lasting peace - might be blasted¨. President Truman felt horrible about sending people to war but also feared more than anything else what this would mean for the chances of world peace. The government of North Korea wasn´t looking for peace they were looking to take over all space available to have wider spread power. 

It is tough to announce your opinion on any war, but for a conflict such as this one, I found that the answer came to me quite clearly. The Korean War was just not because the fear of the Americans was understandable but because of the worse condition, the whole country of Korea would be in today.

All Sources Cited:

“Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State (1953).” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/armistice-agreement-restoration-south-korean-state. 

“Bria 17 3 b Truman, MacArthur, and the Korean War.” Constitutional Rights Foundation, https://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-17-3-b-truman-macarthur-and-the-korean-war.html#:~:text=Moving%20quickly%2C%20and%20without%20seeking,rapidly%20collapsing%20South%20Korean%20Army.

Gardner, L. C., & Leviero, A. (1972). How The President Makes Decisions. In The Korean War (p. 118). essay, Quadrangle Books.

Magazine, Smithsonian. “How the Korean War Almost Went Nuclear.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 July 2015, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/how-korean-war-almost-went-nuclear-180955324/.

Pike, John. “Military.” Cold War - Rollback, https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/cold-war-rollback.htm.

“The Korea War Powers Precedent.” Lawfare, 25 July 2020, https://www.lawfareblog.com/korea-war-powers-precedent.