Download UN army chases North Korean troops past the 38 th

Off the tee
How far should the U.S. go to
contain communism if it
begins to take over a
sovereign nation?
The Cold War Drives
American Foreign Policy
1949 China Becomes
Communist
• Chinese Communists fight
to overtake the nationalist government of
Chiang Kai-shek
• Peasant-friendly Communists, led by Mao
Zedong gains support of the masses
• May 1949 Chiang’s government flees to
Taiwan
– after a 20+ years of struggle, the communists
now controlled the mainland
U.S. Views on Why China
Succumbed to Communism
• Containment policy isn’t working
• Chiang’s $3 billion in aid from the U.S. wasn’t enough
• Communist agents in the U.S. government are plotting
these events
Korea’s a Pawn in the Cold
War
• At the end of World
War II Japan
surrenders in Korea
– to the Soviet Union in
the north
– to the Americans in the
south
• 38th parallel
established as dividing
line
Korea had been under
Japanese control since
1910
War Breaks Out in Korea
• June 25, 1950, North
Korea attacks South Korea
• U.S. has only 500
American troops stationed
there at the time
• By September South
Korea is in dire straights
U.S. Calls for UN Intervention
• UN resolution passes
(USSR was boycotting the UN Security
Council, so was absent to vote against
military action in Korea)
• In the end 520,000 UN
troops sent – 90%
Americans – 590,000
South Korean troops
• Combined forces are
commanded by Douglas
MacArthur
MacArthur Leads Counterattack
• September 15, 1950
surprise amphibious
landing by MacArthur
at Inchon
• Other troops move up
from Pusan
Marines in Pusan at a railroad station
awaiting orders for movement
northward.
First time Marine landing forces
have moved from ship to shore by
air, in Operation Marlex-5, off west
coast of Korea in the Inchon area.
Marines come up on elevator from
hanger deck to enter copters for
assault take-off.
MacArthur's Assault
Successful
MacArthur's Assault
Successful
UN army chases North Korean
troops past the 38th parallel
U.S. Gains New Ground
• November 1950 UN army
reaches the Yalu River
• China warns it will not stand
idly by and watch its borders
get threatened
• China sends 300,000 troops
to help the North Koreans
The Korean War Continues
• January 1951 UN forces have lost all
ground in North Korea
• Chinese army begins advancing into
South Korea
• Fighting continues for two years without
significant gain for either side
NOT THIS TIME!
MacArthur Pushes the Envelope
• Early 1951 MacArthur suggests the US
use nuclear weapons against the Chinese
to fight communism
• Soviet Union has a mutual-assistance pact
with China
• Truman refuses MacArthur’s idea
– Omar Bradley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says all-out
conflict with China would be “the wrong war, at the wrong place,
at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy.”
Back to the 38th Parallel
• April 1951 UN armies retake Seoul and
moves up to the 38th parallel
• MacArthur continues to urge for an all out
war with China
MacArthur Defies Superiors
• MacArthur tries to sell
his idea to newspaper
and magazine
publishers and
Republican leaders
• MacArthur is told by
his superiors to stop
his insubordination,
but doesn’t
Truman’s
Least Popular
Decision
• April 11, 1951
Truman fires
MacArthur
• MacArthur’s
approval rating is
69%
• MacArthur returns
home to parades
and accolades
War Rages On
Harry Truman
April 11, 1951
Truman focus the nation’s
energy onto the war not
MacArthur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxHY4
akq-Ak
Cease-fire Ends Korean War
• June 23, 1951 USSR calls for a cease-fire
• 1952 Eisenhower wins election/Stalin dies
– he died of a massive heart attack on March 5,
1953
– Khrushchev began his rise to power
• named secretary of the Communist Party in
September 1953, and premier in 1958
• July 1953 armistice ends the war
Consequences of the Korean War
• 54,000 American lives lost
• $67 billion in U.S. expenditures
• Increased fear of communist
aggression
• Search begins for Americans who
could be blamed for communist
gains
In the hole
Do you agree with
the US’s decision
to get involved in
the Korean
Conflict?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t44SbOyjEUM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmM2Y275TR0