The United States and Korea, 1953

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the events that led up to the end of the Korean War in 1953 and the impact it had on the United States. The paper states that one remarkable aspect of the ending of this war was the modest impact it had on America. It claims that this stemmed partly from the fact that Korea had not been a site of significant American interest before this war began, the war had bogged down into seemingly interminable negotiations, and the political situation was focused on other matters. The paper concludes that, when the armistice agreement was signed, there were no wild celebrations, perhaps because the country had finally ended a war it was truly tired of.

Outline:
Lack of a Historical Relationship/Lack of a Historical Korea
The Fall of China, the Rise of McCarthyism, and the Democratic Retreat
The Korean War: From the First Campaigns to the Fall of MacArthur
Armistice and Exhaustion

From the Paper:

"At the end of World War Two, Korea remain of middling importance to the United States. American Secretary of State Dean Acheson did not define Korea as part of the American sphere of influence in the world, suggesting that the United States would not intervene militarily if North Korea attempted to take over South Korea,17 although apparently few in the American administration took this as a serious prospect. Thus, it was something of a shock when the United States intervened when the war broke out."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Alexander, Bevin. Korea: The First War We Lost. (New York, New York: Hippocrene, 1986).
• Cumings, Bruce. Korea's Place in the Sun. (New York, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2005)
• Edwards, David L. Christianity: The First Two Thousand Years. (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1997)
• "End of the Beginning," The Nation, June 13, 1953, p. 493.
• Fried, Richard M. The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. (New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).

More papers on The United States and Korea, 1953:

• Analytical Essay # 132523 : "United States and Korea in 1953"
• Essay # 23295 : "The United States and Latin America 1910-1950"
• Book Review # 109591 : "John King Fairbank - "The United States and China"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: