Homework:
In your Cold War file folder in your Google Docs account, read pages 353 to 355 of Vietnam War.
Answer the following questions and post them to your blog.
Title: The U.S. Enters the Vietnam War Labels: Vietnam_War, JFK, Cold_War, LBJ, Ho_Chi_Mihn, Gulf_of_Tonkin, Diem
The answers are due on Friday prior to class.
1. Many neutral observers in Vietnam were critical of US policy. Explain why.
After WWI the US was worried about the spred of communism. In 1946 the US government gave hundreds on millions of dollars to the French war effort in Vietnam in order to contain communist control of south east asia. In 1954 the war was over and Vietnam was devided into north and south countries. The US supported leaders that were anti communist, regardless of there motives (many of these leaders were corrupt). This lead to an increase in communist support.
2. Explain how US politicians would have defended their policies.
Americans valued highly a poloticians ability to lessen the threat of communism. American politicians could get away with bad policies simply because americans were so fearfull of the spread of communism that they would support anything that would contain it.
3. The following events are not listed in correct date order. Place them in the correct chronological order. (Write the year inside the parenthesis, i.e. (1965). Then note the reason for each U.S. action, and how it brought the U.S. into deeper involvement in Vietnam.
The reasons you can choose from are: No direct involvement; financial support; political involvement; military involvement. Also, note what events triggered the increased involvement.
(1962) Assassination of JFK - Johnson becomes president: no direct involvement
( 1954 ) Formation of South Vietnam:
the US interfeared with the elections because it didn't want communism to spread even more.
( 1964 ) Gulf of Tonkin Incident: political, military
( 1962 ) Number of 'advisers' reaches over 11,500: political, military
( 1962 ) JFK sends military advisers: political, military
( 1965 ) U.S. Marines land at Da Nang: political, military
( 1955 ) U.S. stops elections in Vietnam: political
( 1963 ) U.S. supports South Vietnam government after army overthrow Diem: political
( 1960 ) Viet Cong attacks on U.S. and South Vietnam bases: political, military
( 1960 ) Viet Cong formed: political
4. Choose two events that you think were critical in getting the U.S. involved in a war in Vietnam. Explain
your choice.
Kennedy's assasination was a huge event that affected all americans. It also brought into affice a new president Lynden B Johnson. Johnson had a very different view when it came to conflct in Vietnam and was much more willing for the US to be directly involved in the war.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
1. Kennedy described Wednesday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Oct. 27 as the darkest days of the crisis. Use the information on page 350 to explain why.
October 24:
The blockade begins.
Soviet ships enter the 500 mile blockade zone
10:30 AM The closest 20 ship stop, some turn around
October 27:
Khruschev sends a letter to Kennedy saying that in order for him to order that the missiles in Cuba be destroyed (or at least taken out of Cuba) Kennedy has to agree to do the same in Turkey.
Kennedy refuses
2. Do you think that nuclear war was ever a possibility in this crisis?
Yes. I believe that nuclear war was deffinatly a possibility however both sides (America and the Soviets) wanted to avoid it. This is clearly shown through there actions. Actions such as Kennedy's decision to blackade rather than attack and potentially provoke the USSR. Khruschev sent multiple letters to Kennedy to avoid an actual conflict. And of course niether of them actually sent an atomic bomb to its enemy. Although bough side were reeluctent I believe that both side were seriously considering an atomic war.
3. Is Source 26 a Soviet or an American cartoon? Explain your answer by referring to the details in the cartoon.
I believe that this is an american cartoon (or at least an american ally cartoon) because although it is very hard to notice which person in the cartoon (Kennedy or Khruschev) has the upper hand, Khruschef has little beads of sweat exploding out of his head this shows that he is stressed. Kennedy is also drawn in a very composed manner (if that makes sence) in compareison to Khruschev's sweatyness he seems much more relaxed.
4. Using Source 27 list any evidence you can find for and against each of the explanations.
To Bargain With the USA:
FOR: On October 27 Khruschev sent Kennedy a letter that said that he would take the missiles out of Cuba if Kennedy agreed to take the US missiles out of Turkey.
To Test the US:
Kennedy was a young president (the youngest president ever elected in the US) and Khruschev thought that he could take advantege of him.
To Get the Upperhand in the Arms Race:
The US had positioned many atomic missiles in eastern european and the soviets were eager to place missiles with a similar proximity to america.
October 24:
The blockade begins.
Soviet ships enter the 500 mile blockade zone
10:30 AM The closest 20 ship stop, some turn around
October 27:
Khruschev sends a letter to Kennedy saying that in order for him to order that the missiles in Cuba be destroyed (or at least taken out of Cuba) Kennedy has to agree to do the same in Turkey.
Kennedy refuses
2. Do you think that nuclear war was ever a possibility in this crisis?
Yes. I believe that nuclear war was deffinatly a possibility however both sides (America and the Soviets) wanted to avoid it. This is clearly shown through there actions. Actions such as Kennedy's decision to blackade rather than attack and potentially provoke the USSR. Khruschev sent multiple letters to Kennedy to avoid an actual conflict. And of course niether of them actually sent an atomic bomb to its enemy. Although bough side were reeluctent I believe that both side were seriously considering an atomic war.
3. Is Source 26 a Soviet or an American cartoon? Explain your answer by referring to the details in the cartoon.
I believe that this is an american cartoon (or at least an american ally cartoon) because although it is very hard to notice which person in the cartoon (Kennedy or Khruschev) has the upper hand, Khruschef has little beads of sweat exploding out of his head this shows that he is stressed. Kennedy is also drawn in a very composed manner (if that makes sence) in compareison to Khruschev's sweatyness he seems much more relaxed.
4. Using Source 27 list any evidence you can find for and against each of the explanations.
To Bargain With the USA:
FOR: On October 27 Khruschev sent Kennedy a letter that said that he would take the missiles out of Cuba if Kennedy agreed to take the US missiles out of Turkey.
To Test the US:
Kennedy was a young president (the youngest president ever elected in the US) and Khruschev thought that he could take advantege of him.
To Get the Upperhand in the Arms Race:
The US had positioned many atomic missiles in eastern european and the soviets were eager to place missiles with a similar proximity to america.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Cuban Missile Crisis
1. Why was Cuba so important to the United States?
The United States was very strongly opposed to the spread of communism (Containment/Truman Doctrine)
Cuba was extremely close to the US geographically and posed a huge threat to the national security. Particularly after it was known that Cuba and the Soviet Union were allies.
2. Why do you think the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves?
Kennedy was extremely skeptical of the entire operation and was unwilling to implicate himself or the US in general in a crime that could if word got out be damaging to his image. The invasion was a failure and his image was in fact hurt.
3. Why did the invasion fail?
Due to Kennedy's reluctance to be involved the US did not send a sufficient amount of air reinforcement and the land invasion was not nearly enough to over throw Castro's regime.
4. Compare Source 17 on page 345 (in the Arms Race.pdf reading) with Source 24 on page 348. Describe how the Soviet Union missiles on Cuba changed the Cold War balance of power.
Up till this point in the cold war the US had had the upper hand as far as the positioning of its missiles. Many long range missiles were located in the continental states and a few short range missiles were in allied european countries with a close proximity to the USSR. But when Cuba became an ally of the soviets The USSR was now able to place short range missiles that could impact US soil within minutes of launching. This was very worrying for americans.
The United States was very strongly opposed to the spread of communism (Containment/Truman Doctrine)
Cuba was extremely close to the US geographically and posed a huge threat to the national security. Particularly after it was known that Cuba and the Soviet Union were allies.
2. Why do you think the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves?
Kennedy was extremely skeptical of the entire operation and was unwilling to implicate himself or the US in general in a crime that could if word got out be damaging to his image. The invasion was a failure and his image was in fact hurt.
3. Why did the invasion fail?
Due to Kennedy's reluctance to be involved the US did not send a sufficient amount of air reinforcement and the land invasion was not nearly enough to over throw Castro's regime.
4. Compare Source 17 on page 345 (in the Arms Race.pdf reading) with Source 24 on page 348. Describe how the Soviet Union missiles on Cuba changed the Cold War balance of power.
Up till this point in the cold war the US had had the upper hand as far as the positioning of its missiles. Many long range missiles were located in the continental states and a few short range missiles were in allied european countries with a close proximity to the USSR. But when Cuba became an ally of the soviets The USSR was now able to place short range missiles that could impact US soil within minutes of launching. This was very worrying for americans.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
1. Baby Boom
The baby boom is the generation of americans that was born after WWII until the 60s, this was the largest generation in american history.
2. Dr. Jonas Salk
In 1954 successfully tested a polio vaccine. In April 1955 (ten years to the day after President Roosevelt died) they announced that the vaccine was effective and safe.
3. Interstate Highway System
The state and national government decided to spend money to build large roads that would allow people to commute to places shoping centres or other popular and rather new american atractions.
4. Franchise
A frantise is a company that sells its goods in multiple locations. Like Mcdonald's although it has hundreds of stores all over the world they all opperates under the name of McDolald's.
5. In a paragraph, describe in detail how Americans spent their leisure time in the 1950s
The '50s was the decade after the second world war and people were eager to relax after having fought in two world wars. Many new inventions were created and popularised during this time, for instance washing machines, television (although this wasn't invented in the 50s it became very popular during this decade) and other house hold mechanisms. The car was also gaining popularity during the 50s and americans loved to drive around in rocket shaped automobiles.
The baby boom is the generation of americans that was born after WWII until the 60s, this was the largest generation in american history.
2. Dr. Jonas Salk
In 1954 successfully tested a polio vaccine. In April 1955 (ten years to the day after President Roosevelt died) they announced that the vaccine was effective and safe.
3. Interstate Highway System
The state and national government decided to spend money to build large roads that would allow people to commute to places shoping centres or other popular and rather new american atractions.
4. Franchise
A frantise is a company that sells its goods in multiple locations. Like Mcdonald's although it has hundreds of stores all over the world they all opperates under the name of McDolald's.
5. In a paragraph, describe in detail how Americans spent their leisure time in the 1950s
The '50s was the decade after the second world war and people were eager to relax after having fought in two world wars. Many new inventions were created and popularised during this time, for instance washing machines, television (although this wasn't invented in the 50s it became very popular during this decade) and other house hold mechanisms. The car was also gaining popularity during the 50s and americans loved to drive around in rocket shaped automobiles.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Your answers are due by 8:20 a.m. Monday, April 12.
1. Read Source 12. What methods do you think Dulles had in mind to 'liberate captive peoples' without a war?
Dulles wants to "liberate captive peoples" with out waging a full on war against Russia, however he doesn't wish to do so according to the Truman Doctrine (aka containment). He beilieves that if the united states' only goal is to stop further communist advances than they (the US) will only be pushed back.
2. Look at Source 13. Would you agree that the Communist world was encircled? Explain your answer.
I would say no. Although the communist community in the '50s was very extensive it was not truly encircled because it was curaounded by nations that weren't strong allies of the US and the pacific ocean.
3. Carefully examine the verticle timeline on page 343. Then look back at Source 12. Do you think the development of nuclear weapons was what Dulles might have had in mind?
No I don't tink that the arms race was what Dulles had in mind because he didn't want to have a total war with Russia and had the nuclear weapons been used it would have meant the start of a huge and very devastating war between Russia and the US.
He also didn't believe in containment and america's build up of weapons did't really help the united states gain more land (free countries from communism).
4. Look at Source 16. What is the Soviet cartoon saying about the U-2 plane?
The Soviets saw the U-2 plane as a violation of privacy. That the US was spying on their activities and that this was not right. This is shown throught the illistraters dipiction of the plane as a telescope through which Truman? looks at the Soviet Union.
5. Read the Factfile on page 344. Explain why the USSR was so angry about the US spy flights.
The flights violated the soviets air space agreements. Truman once he had found out about the project called it off because of this. Although the U2 gathered a lot of information about the goings on in the soviet union the soviets were unable to shoot it down because of its extremly high altitude.
6. How would the USA justify this violation of Soviet territor
Through the use of propaganda.
7. If the USSR had had U-2 planes, do you think it would have used them? Why?
Yes I deffinatly think that they would because the entire piont of the cold war was that the US and The USSR fought to gain the best of what ever they could, space, weapons, technology and in order to do alot of this each side had to use spies to see what the other was up to. So if the USSR had U-2 planes they would definitly use them, they had already been yusing spies so it would not have been a huge leap to use planes in order to spy on the US.
8. Look at Source 17. Why do you think the USA had missiles based in Europe?
The US wanted to gain as many misslies as they possibly could. In order to ensure that this would happen they located them in many nations throughout europe. nations that were llies withthe US. This would give strength both to the US (by expanding its range for shootin misslies) and the smaller nations of Europe.
9. Define the term 'nuclear deterrent' in not more than 20 words.
A deterrent is something that discourages some one, an enemy, from doing some thing. In the case of nuclear weapons they acted as a deterrent in the fact that had either the US or the USSR sent a missile to the other nation that country would reply with one of equal or greater destruction capabilities. This meant that both nations were discouraged to send a bomb because they both knew that it would be suicidal.
1. Read Source 12. What methods do you think Dulles had in mind to 'liberate captive peoples' without a war?
Dulles wants to "liberate captive peoples" with out waging a full on war against Russia, however he doesn't wish to do so according to the Truman Doctrine (aka containment). He beilieves that if the united states' only goal is to stop further communist advances than they (the US) will only be pushed back.
2. Look at Source 13. Would you agree that the Communist world was encircled? Explain your answer.
I would say no. Although the communist community in the '50s was very extensive it was not truly encircled because it was curaounded by nations that weren't strong allies of the US and the pacific ocean.
3. Carefully examine the verticle timeline on page 343. Then look back at Source 12. Do you think the development of nuclear weapons was what Dulles might have had in mind?
No I don't tink that the arms race was what Dulles had in mind because he didn't want to have a total war with Russia and had the nuclear weapons been used it would have meant the start of a huge and very devastating war between Russia and the US.
He also didn't believe in containment and america's build up of weapons did't really help the united states gain more land (free countries from communism).
4. Look at Source 16. What is the Soviet cartoon saying about the U-2 plane?
The Soviets saw the U-2 plane as a violation of privacy. That the US was spying on their activities and that this was not right. This is shown throught the illistraters dipiction of the plane as a telescope through which Truman? looks at the Soviet Union.
5. Read the Factfile on page 344. Explain why the USSR was so angry about the US spy flights.
The flights violated the soviets air space agreements. Truman once he had found out about the project called it off because of this. Although the U2 gathered a lot of information about the goings on in the soviet union the soviets were unable to shoot it down because of its extremly high altitude.
6. How would the USA justify this violation of Soviet territor
Through the use of propaganda.
7. If the USSR had had U-2 planes, do you think it would have used them? Why?
Yes I deffinatly think that they would because the entire piont of the cold war was that the US and The USSR fought to gain the best of what ever they could, space, weapons, technology and in order to do alot of this each side had to use spies to see what the other was up to. So if the USSR had U-2 planes they would definitly use them, they had already been yusing spies so it would not have been a huge leap to use planes in order to spy on the US.
8. Look at Source 17. Why do you think the USA had missiles based in Europe?
The US wanted to gain as many misslies as they possibly could. In order to ensure that this would happen they located them in many nations throughout europe. nations that were llies withthe US. This would give strength both to the US (by expanding its range for shootin misslies) and the smaller nations of Europe.
9. Define the term 'nuclear deterrent' in not more than 20 words.
A deterrent is something that discourages some one, an enemy, from doing some thing. In the case of nuclear weapons they acted as a deterrent in the fact that had either the US or the USSR sent a missile to the other nation that country would reply with one of equal or greater destruction capabilities. This meant that both nations were discouraged to send a bomb because they both knew that it would be suicidal.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Eisenhower and the Cold War
How did the United States react to the following 7 events, and why?
1. The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949.
Well this was years ahead of when the US predicted that the Soviets would be able to successfully create an atomic bomb so naturally there was a huge increase in public fear o the soviet union. This was the beginning of the second Red Scare. Because the US knew that the soviet union had been given information about the american atomic bomb via american spies.
2. In 1951, the Iranian prime minister placed the oil industry in Iran under the Iranian government’s control.
First Brittain decided that it would no longer buy Iranian oil. This caused the Iranian economy to falter, the US feared that this might cause Iran to look to the soviets for help so the CIA went over and secretly gave a lot of money to a group that was willing to over throw the Iranian government. This worked. A new government was installed in Iran and the oil field were given back to western powers.
3. The Guatemalan head of government gave American-owned land in Guatemala to peasants.
The CIA trained an army to fight but the Guatemalan army refused to defend their presidents decision. The Guatemalan president resigned and the military leader became dictator.
4. In 1956, Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt and occupied the Suez Canal.
Fighting broke out between France, Britain, Israel and Egypt. The UN stepped in and stopped the fighting and allowed the Egyptian control of the Suez Canal
5. Soviet tanks invaded Hungary and fired on protesters in 1956.
America did nothing to defend the Hungarian protesters or even repremand the soviets for killing 30,000 Hungarians. The Truman Doctrine of containment did not refer to countries that were already under the control of the soviets. America highly over estimated the power of the USSR and was very reluctant to engage it in a direct battle or conflict because many americans feared that the soviets were powerful enough to win.
6. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik.
The US was embarassed that the soviets had done better than them in their space program so the US began to spend huge amounts of money to support a space proam that would rival that of the soviets. This was the beginning of the Space Race
7. In 1960, the Soviet Union brought down an American U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers.
The US was worried because they knew that the Russians knew of the existence of U-2 and that many of its flights were being tracked by the soviets and that they had been fired upon several times but none of these missiles actually hit their target.
1. The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949.
Well this was years ahead of when the US predicted that the Soviets would be able to successfully create an atomic bomb so naturally there was a huge increase in public fear o the soviet union. This was the beginning of the second Red Scare. Because the US knew that the soviet union had been given information about the american atomic bomb via american spies.
2. In 1951, the Iranian prime minister placed the oil industry in Iran under the Iranian government’s control.
First Brittain decided that it would no longer buy Iranian oil. This caused the Iranian economy to falter, the US feared that this might cause Iran to look to the soviets for help so the CIA went over and secretly gave a lot of money to a group that was willing to over throw the Iranian government. This worked. A new government was installed in Iran and the oil field were given back to western powers.
3. The Guatemalan head of government gave American-owned land in Guatemala to peasants.
The CIA trained an army to fight but the Guatemalan army refused to defend their presidents decision. The Guatemalan president resigned and the military leader became dictator.
4. In 1956, Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt and occupied the Suez Canal.
Fighting broke out between France, Britain, Israel and Egypt. The UN stepped in and stopped the fighting and allowed the Egyptian control of the Suez Canal
5. Soviet tanks invaded Hungary and fired on protesters in 1956.
America did nothing to defend the Hungarian protesters or even repremand the soviets for killing 30,000 Hungarians. The Truman Doctrine of containment did not refer to countries that were already under the control of the soviets. America highly over estimated the power of the USSR and was very reluctant to engage it in a direct battle or conflict because many americans feared that the soviets were powerful enough to win.
6. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik.
The US was embarassed that the soviets had done better than them in their space program so the US began to spend huge amounts of money to support a space proam that would rival that of the soviets. This was the beginning of the Space Race
7. In 1960, the Soviet Union brought down an American U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers.
The US was worried because they knew that the Russians knew of the existence of U-2 and that many of its flights were being tracked by the soviets and that they had been fired upon several times but none of these missiles actually hit their target.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Red Scare
1. HUAC: House Un-American Activities Committee
Created in 1938
Its goal was to investigate pro-soviet and pro-communist films and to get rid of such propaganda in american films.
2. Blacklist
Hollywood executives made a list of actors who were suspected of being communists or even procommunism. These actors' careers were affectively destoyed because once an actor was on the list it was impossible for him to get hired again because no employer would be willing to hire a communist.
3. Alger Hiss
A former Soviet spy accused Alger Hiss of being a soviet spy. In his atempt to prove Hiss guilty Chambers showed document which he claimed had been typed on Hiss' typewriter.
4. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
On September 3, 1949 the soviets successfully built an attomic bomb. The Rosenburgs were suspected of telling the soviets about the american atomic bomb. They were a part of the american communist party. In 1953 they were sentenced to death.
5. Joseph McCarthy
Was a very famous anti communist. A republican senator from Wisconsin who decided to accuse other congress men of being pro-communism because he wanted to be reelected and he knew that nearly all americans were fearful of a communist take over in america. In 1953 he lost support because he started making accusations against the US army and began bullying witnesses this resulted in a televised invesigation and his career was ruined.
6. McCarthyism
"has reffered to the unfair tactic of accusing people of disloyalty with out providing evidence."
7. In a paragraph, describe the motivations and actions of Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s. What prompted his actions? What did he do? What happened as a result of his actions?
McCarthy's desicion to be anti communist and start the witch hunts because he realised that it would be a good way to win the hearts of the american people. Getting rid of communism was seen as a patriotic thing to do in the late fourties and fifties. Regardless of the fact that there may or may not have been enough evidence most of the people he accussed of being communists and a threat to america were convicted.
Created in 1938
Its goal was to investigate pro-soviet and pro-communist films and to get rid of such propaganda in american films.
2. Blacklist
Hollywood executives made a list of actors who were suspected of being communists or even procommunism. These actors' careers were affectively destoyed because once an actor was on the list it was impossible for him to get hired again because no employer would be willing to hire a communist.
3. Alger Hiss
A former Soviet spy accused Alger Hiss of being a soviet spy. In his atempt to prove Hiss guilty Chambers showed document which he claimed had been typed on Hiss' typewriter.
4. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
On September 3, 1949 the soviets successfully built an attomic bomb. The Rosenburgs were suspected of telling the soviets about the american atomic bomb. They were a part of the american communist party. In 1953 they were sentenced to death.
5. Joseph McCarthy
Was a very famous anti communist. A republican senator from Wisconsin who decided to accuse other congress men of being pro-communism because he wanted to be reelected and he knew that nearly all americans were fearful of a communist take over in america. In 1953 he lost support because he started making accusations against the US army and began bullying witnesses this resulted in a televised invesigation and his career was ruined.
6. McCarthyism
"has reffered to the unfair tactic of accusing people of disloyalty with out providing evidence."
7. In a paragraph, describe the motivations and actions of Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s. What prompted his actions? What did he do? What happened as a result of his actions?
McCarthy's desicion to be anti communist and start the witch hunts because he realised that it would be a good way to win the hearts of the american people. Getting rid of communism was seen as a patriotic thing to do in the late fourties and fifties. Regardless of the fact that there may or may not have been enough evidence most of the people he accussed of being communists and a threat to america were convicted.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Korean War Lessons
Prompt:
It is 1952. A new president, Eisenhower, has been elected in the US. Your task is to write a report for him on what lessons the United States can learn from the war. Your report should advise the President on:
the US aims in Korea
how the support of the UN helped
how far the US achieved its aims
whether MacArthur should have been allowed to invade North Korea
why MacArthur was removed
the military and civilian cost of war
* O.K. so I think I really messed up the tense of this assignment. I wrote mostly in present tense and I'm not sure now that I should have done that because reading it again now it doesn't make much sense. Sorry.
Mr. President it is 1952 and we are currently engaged in a war against the northern portion of Korea. This area is presently run in a communist fashion and it an ally of the USSR. Its counterpart however is of a different nature, south Korea is a nation that cannot be described as strictly democratic but it is very anti-communist. This has been a major reason for our nation's support of Southern Korea. Our main focus in the war against North Korea is to promote democracy. To achieve this goal we have used the full strength of the UN many nations like the UK have help us in our war against communism. So far we have been successful in driving communism out of south korea. However we are determined to go beyond that and drive communism out of Korea entirely. So for months we had been fighting towards the nation's border with China however now we are being pushed back, south of the 38th parallel and President Truman would like to end the fight there. We have captured south korea and it is unlikely that we can carry on fighting like this much longer. However Mr. McArther doesn't want to give up the fight and wishes to continue fighting into China. Truman does not like this idea and neither does the UN so McArther has been fired by Truman. In my opinion this was a good choice on Truman's part. We could not have continued fighting on that much longer and we certainly could not have won back more land fighting against the People's Republic of China. This war has been very costly to the citizens of Korea, both north and south. It was not particularly costly to american lives however. 30,000 US soldiers were killed in this war. 500,000 south korean civilians were killed and a total of 1.4 million soliers and civilians were killed.
It is 1952. A new president, Eisenhower, has been elected in the US. Your task is to write a report for him on what lessons the United States can learn from the war. Your report should advise the President on:
the US aims in Korea
how the support of the UN helped
how far the US achieved its aims
whether MacArthur should have been allowed to invade North Korea
why MacArthur was removed
the military and civilian cost of war
* O.K. so I think I really messed up the tense of this assignment. I wrote mostly in present tense and I'm not sure now that I should have done that because reading it again now it doesn't make much sense. Sorry.
Mr. President it is 1952 and we are currently engaged in a war against the northern portion of Korea. This area is presently run in a communist fashion and it an ally of the USSR. Its counterpart however is of a different nature, south Korea is a nation that cannot be described as strictly democratic but it is very anti-communist. This has been a major reason for our nation's support of Southern Korea. Our main focus in the war against North Korea is to promote democracy. To achieve this goal we have used the full strength of the UN many nations like the UK have help us in our war against communism. So far we have been successful in driving communism out of south korea. However we are determined to go beyond that and drive communism out of Korea entirely. So for months we had been fighting towards the nation's border with China however now we are being pushed back, south of the 38th parallel and President Truman would like to end the fight there. We have captured south korea and it is unlikely that we can carry on fighting like this much longer. However Mr. McArther doesn't want to give up the fight and wishes to continue fighting into China. Truman does not like this idea and neither does the UN so McArther has been fired by Truman. In my opinion this was a good choice on Truman's part. We could not have continued fighting on that much longer and we certainly could not have won back more land fighting against the People's Republic of China. This war has been very costly to the citizens of Korea, both north and south. It was not particularly costly to american lives however. 30,000 US soldiers were killed in this war. 500,000 south korean civilians were killed and a total of 1.4 million soliers and civilians were killed.
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