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US Involvement In The Korean War

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The Korean War is a unique war in the history of the world and it has been going on for over 60 years and was never resolved. Technically the U.S is still at war with North Korea. This unsettled conflict between a communist nation, North Korea, and a democratic nation, the U.S., could ultimately lead to World War 3. Most of the people do not know why the United States got involved in the Korean War in the first place. Even though the Korean war stopped the spread of communism in the 1950s, which was the United States’ main foreign goal, the conflict between communism and the West has raged on. Through the Korean war, the United States definitely got closer with South Korea and Asia, allowing the U.S. to develop a better relationship with South Korea. Americans had just finished World War …show more content…

Also, president Truman did not favor participating in the Korean War which could lead to World War 3 between communism and democracy, especially against the Soviet Union, the strongest communist nation at that time, which was also involved in the conflict. What made president Truman change his mind and intervene in the Korean War? The spread of communism in Eastern European countries made president Truman instill his policy, the containment of Communism, in earnest. Later when China became communist, Americans feared the spread of communism and worried that communism would spread out into the United States. These concerns led the American citizens to blame Truman for this possible encroachment. After North Korea attacked South Korea Truman urged the American public to utilize U.S forces to go after, and dispose of, the threat of a communist South Korea, not only for containment but to appease his reputation. Truman’s containment led to the U.S involvement in the Korean War, making Truman’s reputation better, but this extension of containment could lead another war with North Korea in the

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Voices from the Korean War describes the background of the war and how events unfolded that brought America into a war that was never expected to last

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China had recently become communist and entered the conflict on North Korea’s side. The war dragged on for three more years before ending on July 27th, 1953, close to the original borders at the 38th parallel. It is also stated in document C that, “The war caused more than two million deaths, including over 50,000 Americans.” The Korean War demonstrated the United States’ policy of containment because they had invaded Korea to the try to stop communism from being able to spread. They also were able to arm the people who wanted democracy to fight alongside

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“Why and in what ways did the United States change its foreign policy from 1918-1953?” Since World War I, the united states had always had a problem with forcing its foreign policy. Throughout the past 100 years, the foreign policy has changed depending on public opinion and what was going on in other parts of the world. One of the largest changes in the foreign policy occurred from the end of World War I (1918) up until the ending of the Korean War (1953). Essentially the U.S foreign policy evolved from isolationist “prevention of war” to interventionism “protective containment of communism”.

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After World War II, the world changed, especially for some of the biggest nations like the United States and the USSR. With them being some of the biggest powers, their differences in ideologies started to really show and lead them to compete with each other. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union had a profound and far-reaching impact on numerous nations and regions across the globe from 1945 to 1989, such as Proxy Wars, Economic Aid and Influence, and Ideological Divisions. Proxy wars were a key way in which the Cold War between the US and the USSR affected other countries and areas. The Korean War, which began in 1950 when North Korean and Communist forces invaded South Korea and swiftly drew in Chinese Communist troops

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The Korean War was one of the first military actions in the Cold War. In the next month, the American military got involved. The American Military got involved because the United States was against the idea of Communism. The Korean War ended July 1953 (history.com). Even today North Korea is having problems.

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Since the Korean War, all American presidents have pursued the same basic policy toward the Korean Peninsula. The first priority for American presidents has been protecting, nurturing and promoting South Korea. During the Cold War, U.S. leaders regarded it as essential to check communist expansion and the deaths of nearly 34,000 Americans in the Korean War made it politically unacceptable at home to again risk the loss of South Korea. This led to the signing of a security treaty with the ROK in 1953, the stationing of American military forces in South Korea to this day and large-scale support for South Korea in earlier decades. Due to South Korea’s later economic success and democratization, Americans came to regard it as a model of the benefits

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America joined South Korea while China and the Soviet Union joined North Korea. The outcome of the war resulted in no winner. Since there was no victory for either country, Korea returned to the same status before the war, two countries of different beliefs (Cannarella 45). Although the outcome of the war was no victory for either side, Truman’s decision to participate in the war was proper because America’s goal was to prevent the spread of communism. When looking from this perspective, the war was a victory because the spread of communism was

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The attack comes without warning and President Harry Truman, with the help of the United Nations, vows to defend democratic South Korea. The Containment Policy stated that the US would support any nation that are being oppressed by communism and cannot protect themselves from it. This became America’s major reason to intervene in the Korean War. However, the policy of containment came under attack due casualties and economic issues that the policy created. One of the major effects that over extended the powers of American foreign policy is that it gave the US a reason to interfere with any war they wanted as long as it involved communism.

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‘Under the leadership of the U.S, the South Korean forces pushed the invaders past the originally established 38th parallel, to the Yalu River that bordered the People's Republic of China (P.R.C). After which, the P.R.C quickly counter attacked and, after 2 years of futile war at the 38th parallel, agreed to the original border.’ (Crash Course, 2013). These excerpts from this source represent the widely accepted reasoning behind the actions that transpired during the war and indicate further information about the events within it. Evidence from both Professor Lee and Crash Course reveal the causes of the Korean War and the reasons for its proxy of the Cold War status.

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My grandfather was actually drafted into the Korean War so it was extremely interesting to read this chapter and learn about an event that shaped his live forever. The Korean War’s roots lie within the Chinese civil war which ended with the victory of Mao Zedong and his Communist followers. This monumental victory angered many Americans who thought the United States government did little to help Jiang Jieshi’s Nationalist regime because our foreign policy was based around Europe not Asia but the damage was already done. The next year the State Department released NSC-68 which was a “Policy statement that committed the United States to a military approach to the Cold War,” ( The American Journey Ch.27 Pg. 800).

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(“How was the United States involved in the Korean War?”) Even though the Cold War happened five years before the Korean War started, it still had a major impact. Kim Jong Il waited until further after the Cold War to start the invasion of South Korea. China was also heavily involved in the Korean War. China supported North Korea in its plans to invade South Korea, and supplied weapons, military vehicles, and military personnel to North Korea.

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The United States stayed in the war the entire time with South Korea. Yet the spread of Communism was slowing down on its own in Korea, so there was no need to be involved in the Korean War. This is evidenced in the book The 2nd Infantry Division Vol. III, which notes that “Chinese Communists that were helping in the North slowed down.” When Truman heard about the Chinese involvement and the slowing of the communist moment through his generals, he was ecstatic.

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With both sides fighting for their respective government systems, Korea became a pawn in a war bigger than itself (Nishi 13). This was not just a local issue but a global issue (MacArthur 84) and not just Korea's battle but the free world's battle (Pyun 73-74). The United States needed to put an end to the Communist Global Conquest for freedom's sake. Communism was not just a threat to Korea but to the whole world. According to Y.T Pyun, the war would have sprung up somewhere else if it did not start in Korea (73); therefore, the free world needed to work together in order to keep Communism from spreading to their part of the world.

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Japan had control of Korea as a whole and when they were defeated they were basically kicked out of Korea. The United States occupying the Southern half and the Soviet Union occupying the Northern half. Since the Soviet Union was communist it caused the Northern Koreans to believe in communism. Since the United States was democratic it caused the Southern Koreans to believe in democracy. Which developed into the Korean War.

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Throughout the years, North and South Korea have been having conflicts ever since the start of the Korean War. The war dates all the way back to 1950. As of recently, another disagreement rose between the two sides as well as the United States of America. The North Korean crisis consists of a threat of a possible “pre-emptive nuclear strike of justice” on South Korea, the U.S. bases in the Pacific, and lastly the United States of America. All of this has psychological processes and thinking’s that may have caused these conflicts between the nations to occur.

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