The United Nations had become a reality in 1946.  The signatories of its charter hoped to avoid the mistakes of an earlier generation by giving the UN more "teeth" than the old League of Nations, though none were certain if the UN would ever be able to front a viable military effort.  As it was, any UN military effort would be heavily dependent on the United States.

The first challenge to the UN, however, was not military in nature.  It lay in the relief effort for millions of war refugees in the ruins of Europe.  UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) was set up to coordinate UN relief efforts, as well as a High Commissioner for Refugees to specifically handle refugee problems.  But relief, too, was heavily dependent on the United States.

One way the U.S. specifically helped was in allowing refugees to enter the United States.  If you'll recall, one of the reactions of isolationist Americans after World War I had been to pass restrictive immigration laws in 1921 and 1924.  This caused major problems in the thirties when German Jews and other persecuted groups sought to leave Europe and come to the United States.  The laws were severely restrictive not only about the numbers of refugees allowed into the country, but also the conditions they had to meet prior to arriving.  Each refugee had to have a sponsor, and that sponsor had to sign a guarantee of $10,000 and promise a job so that the refugee would not become a "burden" on society.  (Remember, too, that this is the Depression, and jobs of any kind are hard to find, even if one spoke English.)  Jewish and other religious organizations did what they could, but the laws remained strict and only a small portion was allowed in.

Determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past, Harry Truman signed another executive order allowing unlimited numbers of DPs —displaced persons—to enter the United States.  This came as especially welcome news to Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, as Palestine at this time was still controlled by Great Britain, who refused to let in most of the Jewish refugees seeking a Jewish homeland.  (Britain had many oil interests in the Middle East and so had to maintain Arab support.)  Even when the UN signed  the partition agreement that allowed Israel to become a state in 1948, refugees still had trouble going to Israel because of the war that erupted immediately between Israel and her Arab neighbors, so the U.S. served as a safe haven.

As you can see from the pattern here, the U.S. and its leaders are strongly determined not to "repeat" past mistakes.  Many of those who fought in WWII and gained leadership positions thereafter felt that the world should never again allow another Munich, which signified appeasement of aggression and thus weakness.  America, the strongest kid on the block now, wanted to continue to project strength.

...and so Korea.  The partitioning of Korea after the war had been a minor event on a world scale, and had been done with little thought to the history of the area.  (The same thing will happen later with the creation of North and South Vietnam.)  But the triumph of the Chinese communists in 1949 changed matters considerably.  The closest American troops, excepting one or two thousand stationed on garrison duty in South Korea, were stationed in Japan.  Through a series of diplomatic miscommunications and misunderstandings, North Korea gained the impression that the UN (read US) would not defend the South.  So North Korea attacked South Korea in June 1950.  The UN called a meeting of the Security Council, which included both superpowers—the US and the Soviet Union—but the Soviet Union was absent from this meeting, which gave sanction for the US, on behalf of the UN, to raise troops and defend South Korea.

 

This action was important for two reasons.  First, it showed that the U.S. was committed to its new policy of containment.  Second, it showed that the U.S. was willing to submit itself, however nominally, to the UN.  Though the Korean War accomplished very little militarily (except the final ouster of Douglas MacArthur...), it strengthened the image of the UN, as well as America's commitment to containment.

Policy commitments notwithstanding, the American forces commanded by  Douglas MacArthur (postwar military governor of Japan) were unprepared for the North Korean attack.  Quickly, the North Koreans pushed the Americans and South Korean forces to the southern end of the Korean Peninsula near the port of Pusan.  It looked as though the war might be over before it had begun.

Douglas MacArthur, however, saw an opportunity for a daring counterattack.  He planned a daring amphibious assault on the port of Inchon, just south of the 38th parallel and within striking distance of the South Korean capital of Seoul.  If successful, MacArthur's attack could quickly slice through the North Korean supply lines and isolate the invaders, leaving the American/UN forces free to link up and end the conflict.

The Inchon landing proved a brilliant stroke, and within a few weeks MacArthur's troops had pushed the invaders back across the 38th parallel.  The war was over...or was it?


MacArthur, like many brilliant commanders, had a super-sized ego, and in the hyper-militaristic atmosphere of McCarthyist-Cold War America, the general fancied a possible run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1952.  In a move calculated to appeal to the Republicans back home who  blamed the Democrats for "losing" China, MacArthur chose to exceed the boundaries of his original mission and strike a blow against the larger Communist presence in Asia:  he invaded North Korea.  Soon, UN forces had pushed nearly to the Chinese border, and American fighter jets threatened Chinese bridges (a key supply line for the North Koreans) along the Yalu River.  The Chinese had already warned the US/UN against any threatening moves towards their border, but MacArthur ignored them.  

Two days before Thanksgiving, 1950, one million Red Chinese poured across the Yalu River into North Korea.  The UN, which had only months before grasped victory in its teeth, now faced a whole new war.

Soon, the Chinese had pushed the UN troops back to the 38th parallel (leaving a valiant band of Marines stranded and isolated in the North at a place called the Chosen Reservoir, from whence they had to fight their way back to join the lines).  Humiliated by the turn of events, MacArthur asked President Truman for permission to use nuclear weapons against China.

Fearing that MacArthur was out of control, Truman, who had never met MacArthur, ordered the general to meet him on Wake Island.  The meeting did nothing to assuage Truman's dim view of MacArthur as a political "wanna-be" who had the power to take the UN into a third World War.  Instead of arriving first, as per protocol, to greet the president, MacArthur arrived after Truman, winging onto the airstrip like an aging diva making her grand entrance.  Adding insult to injury, MacArthur strode down the gangway, and instead of saluting Truman as his commander-in-chief, thrust out his hand for a handshake.  Once in the waiting car, Truman furiously dressed down the general for his insubordination, and later took the general to task for his talk of using nuclear wepaons.  He warned MacArthur not to say anything more to the press.  Back in Japan, however, MacArthur continued to sound off about the fact that President Truman (a Democrat) was holding him back from winning the war.

"Give 'Em Hell Harry" Truman had had enough.  In November 1951, he fired Douglas MacArthur.  In a move that probably saved the United States from a military dictatorship (until Nixon, anyway), Truman reminded the American people that under our Constitution, the military must remain subordinate to the civilian leadership, and as the nation's elected leader he thus could not tolerate insubordination and misuse of military power.

That same month, the opposing sides began meeting at Panmunjon to conduct peace talks.  The talks dragged on for two years.  Every day, soldiers fought and died, but never advanced beyond the 38th parallel.  Truman left office in 1952 and Dwight Eisenhower (a general with a finer political sensibility than Douglas MacArthur) moved into the White House.  Eisenhower even traveled to Korea to fulfill a campaign promise ("I will go to Korea"), but not until July of 1953 did the two sides sign a cease fire.  The agreement was not a treaty and addressed none of the political differences between the two sides.  It merely arranged for an exchange of prisoners and a withdrawal to respective borders.  

59,000 American soldiers had perished in the "Forgotten War," and their sacrifices were not in vain--they had helped sustain America's new international commitments in the postwar era.  Nevertheless, the frustrations of fighting a "limited war"--one in which political rather than military goals determined outcomes--offered a glimpse into the future, when a similar conflict further south in the new nation of Vietnam would threaten to overthrow the Constitution yet again.

Source:  Maps, CNN-Interactive, Cold War

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