Published in 2010 by Britannica Educational Publishing (a trademark of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.) in association with Rosen Educational Services, LLC 29 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010. Copyright © 2010 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, and the Thistle logo are registered trademarks of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Rosen Educational Services materials copyright © 2010 Rosen Educational Services, LLC. All rights reserved. Distributed exclusively by Rosen Educational Services. For a listing of additional Britannica Educational Publishing titles, call toll free (800) 237-9932. First Edition Britannica Educational Publishing Michael I. Levy: Executive Editor Marilyn L. Barton: Senior Coordinator, Production Control Steven Bosco: Director, Editorial Technologies Lisa S. Braucher: Senior Producer and Data Editor Yvette Charboneau: Senior Copy Editor Kathy Nakamura: Manager, Media Acquisition William L. Hosch: Associate Editor, Science and Technology Rosen Educational Services Hope Lourie Killcoyne: Senior Editor and Project Manager Maggie Murphy: Editor Nelson Sá: Art Director Matthew Cauli: Designer Introduction by Holly Cefrey Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Korean War and the Vietnam War: people, politics, and power / edited by William L. Hosch.—1st ed. p. cm.—(America at war) “In association with Britannica Educational Publishing, Rosen Educational Services.” Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-61530-047-1 (eBook) 1. Korean War, 1950–1953—Juvenile literature. 2. Korean War, 1950–1953—United States— Juvenile literature. 3. Vietnam War, 1961–1975—Juvenile literature. 4. Vietnam War, 1961–1975—United States—Juvenile literature. I. Hosch, William L. DS918.K5655 2010 951.904'2—dc22 2009036105 On the cover: (Left) American soldiers of an artillery gun crew load a howitzer during the Korean War, c. July 1950. U.S. Army/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; (Right) A U.S. Army patrol being led by Captain Robert Bacon, c. 1964, Vietnam. Larry Burrows/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images. Korean War Chapter Opener Image: One of the 19 statues of soldiers at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. © www.istockphoto.com/Gary Blakeley. Vietnam War Chapter Opener Image: Taken from a 1999 United States Postal Service commemorative stamp, soldiers are seen leaping from a helicopter near Chu Lai, Vietnam, in the spring of 1967. © www.istockphoto.com/Ray Roper 46 CONTENTS Introduction 8 Chapter 1: Precursors to the Korean War 17 Korea Occupied and Divided, 1910–50 18 Chapter 2: Korea at War, 1950–53 26 Preparations for War 26 Invasion and Counterinvasion, 1950–51 27 Talking and Fighting, 1951–53 38 Chapter 3: Political Leaders 77 of the Korean War 52 North Korea 52 South Korea 55 United States 66 Soviet Union and China 71 Chapter 4: Military Commanders of the Korean War 74 Chung Il Kwon 74 Peng Dehuai 75 Douglas MacArthur 75 Walton H. Walker 76 Edward M. Almond 77 James Alward Van Fleet 78 Matthew B. Ridgway 78 Mark Clark 79 99 Chapter 5: Korea Still Divided, 1953– 80 South Korea Modernized 80 North Korea Isolated 81 Chapter 6: Korea and the Cold War 91 Chapter 7: Precursors to the Vietnam War 96 Vietnam Colonized and Divided, 1897–1955 96 112 Chapter 8: The American War, 1955–74 105 The Diem Regime and the Viet Cong 105 The U.S. Role Grows 108 The Conflict Deepens 111 The Gulf of Tonkin 114 The United States Enters the War 116 Firepower Comes to Naught 118 Tet Brings the War Home 124 De-escalation, Negotiation, and Vietnamization 129 The United States Negotiates 120 a Withdrawal 133 The Fall of South Vietnam 144 Chapter 9: Political Leaders of the Vietnam War 147 French Indochina 147 North Vietnam 150 South Vietnam 156 Unified Vietnam 159 Cambodia 160 United States 163 Chapter 10: Military Commanders of the Vietnam War 183 Vo Nguyen Giap 183 Van Tien Dung 185 Tran Van Tra 185 William Westmoreland 186 123 Creighton Williams Abrams, Jr. 187 Chapter 11: Journalists and Antiwar Activists of the Vietnam War 188 David Halberstam 188 Walter Cronkite 189 Joan Baez 190 Jane Fonda 190 Abbie Hoffman 191 215 Chapter 12: Vietnam Unified, 1974– 192 The Socialist Republic 192 Problems of Modernization 195 Chapter 13: Vietnam and the Cold War 198 “America’s Suicide Attempt” 198 The Conduct and Cost of the War 202 Détente as Realism 203 Scaling Back U.S. Commitments 205 The Opening of China and Ostpolitik 206 Arms-Limitation Negotiations 210 End of the Vietnam War 213 The Vietnam War in Perspective 214 Glossary 216 Bibliography 218 Index 222 N O I T C U D O r T N I Introduction | 9 The Korean War and the Vietnam Indeed, the confl ict escalated, becom- War were confl icts that involved far ing a battleground between communism more than either the geographic inhabit- and democracy, which many leaders, ants or local military personnel. Countries political theorists, and activists felt were across the globe weighed in with pro-war in complete and irreconcilable opposi- and antiwar sentiments, with many nations tion to each other. The involvement of sending aid—monetary or military—to the United States as well as the Soviet one side or the other. Both wars involved Union, and later China, further compli- complicated opposing issues that led cated matters. to escalation rather than resolution, If there is one number associated creating a stage for some memorable with the Korean War, it is 38. The 38th people history will never see again, nor parallel, bisecting Korea, became a bor- soon forget. der dividing that nation into two halves, The Korean War, also known as North Korea and South Korea. The cross- the Korean Confl ict, began on June ing of this line by either side was 25, 1950. At that time in the United considered an act of aggression. However, States, Harry S. Truman was president, the existence of the parallel as a border The Third Man by Anton Karas was the predates the Korean War, being a result number-one song, 17-year-old Elizabeth of the end of World War II. When Japan Taylor was on the cover of Movie Picture was about to lose that war, its control Magazine, and frozen pizza had just over colonies such as Korea was thrust to been invented. Half a globe away, North the victors, which included the United Korean forces launched an invasion into States, Britain, France, and the Soviet South Korea. Union. While the Allies had been united It was with a thunderous artillery against the Axis powers—Germany, Italy, barrage that Communist North Korean and Japan—political and ideological con- forces overran American-occupied South fl ict over what the world should be like Korea. But a fast defeat of South Korea after World War II arose among them, was not to be. Instead, Republic of Korea particularly pitting Britain and the Army (ROKA) forces formed a strong United States against the Soviet Union. defence that held the North Korean army This ideological standoff became known at bay. Still, if the South was to stave off as the Cold War. While the two super- collapse, it would need outside help. powers never fought each other directly, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. honours members of the U.S. armed forces who served and died in the Vietnam War. A boy runs his fi ngers along names of soldiers in 1982, the year the monument was dedicated. Owen Franken/Time & Life Pictures/ Getty Images. 10 | The Korean War and the Vietnam War: People, Politics, and Power conflicts such as that in Korea were forces during 1949, but later returned to impacted, and some say, furthered, if not aid in the conflict against the North. The altogether caused by it. North was known as the Democratic Three days before Japan’s August 15, People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK); the 1945, surrender, the Soviet Union quickly South was known as the Republic of advanced into Korea from the north. U.S. Korea (ROK). officials, fearing a communist takeover of Though the war lasted only three the country, quickly offered a solution to years, many North and South Koreans keep the peace between the U.S.S.R. and died, along with members of UN forces the United States, proposing the 38th and Soviet forces. To this day, the United parallel as the military dividing line for States has a force of over 35,000 troops Japanese surrender. stationed in South Korea. When two U.S. The Soviets agreed. In the North, the journalists were captured and imprisoned Japanese would surrender to the Soviets; by the North Koreans for illegally enter- in the South, to the Americans. The divi- ing the country in March of 2009, it took sion was meant only as a temporary an unannounced visit by former U.S. measure, with the understanding that the president Bill Clinton and a subsequent Korean halves would unite under a new pardon by North Korean leader Kim Jong unified government of their choosing. Il to secure their release. This, however, would not come to pass, Dramatic, complicated, and unre- and has remained a remnant of unful- solved, the schism between North and filled peacetime promises. South Korea is presented for readers to During the delay of peacetime repa- consider. Among those profiled is legend- rations and the establishing of a new ary military leader General Douglas order, North Korea elected its own MacArthur, relieved of duty by Pres. communist leader, receiving support Harry S. Truman in 1951 for fear of his from the Soviet Union. In 1948, North bringing about a war with China over the Korea refused to take part in an election Korean Conflict. Kim Dae Jung, who, controlled by the United Nations, the passed away August 18, 2009, is also pro- goal of the UN having been to create filed. Though not a key figure during and all-Korean government. Following the Korean War itself, Kim would go on this outright refusal to unite with the to champion democratic government, South, South Korea sought its own becoming South Korea’s 15th president. solution through the UN. In late 1948, His so-called “sunshine” policy allowed the UN approved the elections that South Koreans to visit relatives in the had taken place, thereby validating the North. In 2000, Kim became the only new South Korean government. The Korean to receive the Nobel Prize for United States withdrew its occupying Peace, an award granted for his efforts to