Dennis D. Wainstock - Truman, MacArthur and the Korean War: June 1950-July 1951

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Table of Contents

Enigma Books

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To Louis Wainstock
U. S. Army
3rd Infantry Division
1941 to 1945

Preface

This book is a general history of the first year of the Korean War. More specifically, it deals primarily with the period from June 1950 to April 1951, which defined the wars direction until General Mark Clark, the final United Nations commander in the Korean War, signed the armistice on July 27, 1953.

Although the study gives attention to the ever-changing military situation, its main focus is on policy-making and the developing conflicts between Truman and MacArthur over the wars direction.

The sheer quantity of the material I used was daunting, but it was filled with colorful and outstanding personalities, dramatic action, and momentous decisions that have influenced world events to the present day.

The study raised a number of questions. Were the disagreements between General Douglas MacArthur and President Harry S. Truman over Formosa and carrying the war to Red China as pronounced as commonly thought? How far apart on these issues were the Joint Chiefs of Staff and MacArthur? Just how great a role did the United Nations play in the Korean War? How wise was Trumans decision to cross the 38th parallel? Did MacArthur play a crucial role in it? Did intervention in the Korean War best serve Americas national self-interests?

My research owes much to the trail-breaking contributions by scholars who have written military studies, general histories, and monographs on the Korean War. I am also grateful to my colleagues and to the librarians, Phillis Freeman and Jackie Isaacs, at Salem-Teikyo University in Salem, West Virginia, for providing me with helpful advice and assistance during my research and writing.

There were many people who proved helpful to my project. These included Professor Wesley Bagby of West Virginia University and archivists Jim Zobel of the MacArthur Memorial Bureau of Archives, Dennis Bilger of the Harry S. Truman Library, Richard Sommers of the U.S. Army Military Institute, Tom Camden of the George C. Marshall Library, and John Taylor of the National Archives. Also, my thanks go to Barbara Allen, who cheerfully typed numerous versions of my manuscript.

Introduction

Background to the Korean War

KOREA

Sometimes called the land of the morning calm, Korea is a 600-mile-long mountainous peninsula jutting out from the Asian mainland. Squeezed between the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan, it varies from 90 to 200 miles in width, and is about the size of Utah and the shape of Florida. Koreas northern boundary with China extends for 500 miles along the Yalu and Tumen rivers, and the Soviet Union, for eleven miles along the lower reaches of the Tumen River.

Koreas climatic extremes and rugged terrain made modern warfare difficult for the fighting soldier. In the summer, the temperatures reach over 100 degrees, and in the winter they dip far below zero. The terrain includes barren, craggy hills, mountain ranges, and endless ridges. The Taebaek Mountains, running down the eastern side of the peninsula, virtually isolate a narrow east coast shelf from the rest of the country. With few roads across them, one battle was easily transformed into two independent ones. All the afflictions of the foot soldier are here, said General Matthew B. Ridgway, deep snows, vicious mud, very heavy summer rains, and bitter biting dust.

In 1950, about 30 million people lived in Korea: 9 million in North Korea and 21 million in South Korea. Most of the minerals, electric power, and heavy industry were located in the north, and the south was mainly agricultural. Consequently, North Korea was dependent on South Korea for its food.

Throughout Korea, transportation was primitive. Together, North and South Korea had only fifty miles of paved road. Major roads were gravel, which meant mud they were muddy in the winter and dusty in the summer. The only double-track rail line ran from South Koreas capital , Seoul, near the west coast, southeast to Pusan, the major port on the east coast. There were numerous single-track rail lines in North Korea.

Dominated by farming and Livestock, Korea was a poor country where peasants lived in small villages of thatched-roof cottages and worked their fields nearby. Pigs were the main livestock, and rice and cabbage were the major crops. The smells were intense. Village gutters were open sewers, and the peasants used excrement to fertilize their fields. Kimchi, a mixture of cabbage, garlic, peppers, and turnips, was the Koreans favorite dish. Eating it produced bad breath that had a devastating effect on Westerners.

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