Click2History - Korean War - Chapter 5 - America Intervenes

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>KOREAN WAR</p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 5 - AMERICA INTERVENES</font></b></p> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">The <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/archive/photos/73_3398.htm" target="_blank"><b>Truman Administration</b></a> was immediately <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/week1/elsy_2_1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>informed</b></a> of the <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/week1/kw_1_1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>invasion</b></a>. Hesitant to get involved <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/week1/elsy_3_1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>unless</b></a> South Korea could not defend itself, the President <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/week1/kw_11_1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>decided</b></a> to <a href="http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/brochures/KW-Outbreak/outbreak.htm" target="_blank"><b>assist</b></a> when the Republic of South Korea <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/week1/kw_16_1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>asked</b></a> for America’s help. By the 26th of June, General MacArthur <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/week1/kw_20_1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>received</b></a> new <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/week1/kw_20_2.jpg" target="_blank"><b>orders</b></a> from the commander in chief and on June 30 was <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/week1/kw_62_1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>authorized</b></a> to send in combat troops.</p> <p>Truman <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/week1/kw_27_1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>advised</b></a> the American <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/week1/kw_43_1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>public</b></a> of his intention to intervene on June 27. (Later, he said it was the toughest decision he ever made in his life; for years he kept a <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/photos/letter.jpg" target="_blank"><b>letter</b></a> from a bereaved father in his desk drawer.) <p>Although <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/week1/kw_36_1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>welcomed</b></a> by South Korea, that military <a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g410000/g417148.jpg" target="_blank"><b>assistance</b></a> was, at first, not as <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/archive/photos/35percentdmg_7_24.jpg" target="_blank"><b>far-reaching</b></a> as the Republic of Korea had hoped it would be. Nor was it without <a href="http://wire.ap.org/APpackages/nogunri/" target="_blank"><b>lingering</b></a> <a href="http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jan2001/b01112001_bt017-01.html" target="_blank"><b>controversy</b></a>.</p> <p>For starters, the US had no <a href="http://www.korea.army.mil/org/history/kbases/index.htm" target="_blank"><b>airbases</b></a> in Korea. Air raids, at the <a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g420000/g428152.jpg" target="_blank"><b>beginning</b></a> of the conflict, were <a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g700000/g707876.jpg" target="_blank"><b>often</b></a> carrier-<a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h97000/h97289.jpg" target="_blank"><b>based</b></a>. And when Americans were first placed in harm’s way, there was only one evacuation hospital and one <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/28/16/28-1589a.gif" target="_blank"><b>Mobile Army</b></a> Surgical Hospital (<a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/28/16/28-1588a.gif" target="_blank"><b>M*A*S*H</b></a>) unit to support all <a href="http://www.eisenhower.utexas.edu/Korea/images/koreatablebgrd.gif" target="_blank"><b>American forces</b></a> in Korea.</p> <p><a href="http://www.dean.usma.edu/history/dhistorymaps/images/KoreanW/kw12.jpg" target="_blank"><b>By September</b></a>, however, the combined <a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/s300000/s347107.jpg" target="_blank"><b>efforts</b></a> of the U.S. and South Korean Armies, <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/korea/photos/66_4512.jpg" target="_blank"><b>aided</b></a> greatly by <a href="http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/korea50/k50-26.htm" target="_blank"><b>air</b></a> and <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/week1/kw_69_1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>naval</b></a> superiority, <a href="http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/korea50/kbases.gif" target="_blank"><b>held</b></a> the North Koreans in <a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/s400000/s472164.jpg" target="_blank"><b>check</b></a> at the <a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g470000/g479409.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Pusan</b></a> Perimeter. On the 29th of September, 1950, Seoul was officially <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/korea/photos/66_4710.jpg" target="_blank"><b>reestablished</b></a> as the Republic of Korea’s capital city. <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/34/39/34-3855a.gif" target="_blank"><b>By October</b></a>, the North had sustained heavy equipment losses.</p> <p>The conflict, however, was far from over.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="korean_war_ch4.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>     <a href="korean_war_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER  </a>   <a href="korean_war_ch6.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>