Fearing the Worst: How Korea Transformed the Cold War

601 Pages·2020·22.405 MB·English

by  Samuel Wells Jr.

H o w Ko re a T r a n s f o rWm e dE tLh eL CSo l d JWra.r
UEL F.
M
A
S
FEARING THE WORST
WOODROW WILSON CENTER SERIES
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F E A R I N G T H E
WO R ST
H O W KO R E A T R A N S F O R M E D
the
C O L D WA R
SAMUEL F. WELLS JR.
Columbia University Press
New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2020 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Wells, Samuel F., Jr., author.
Title: Fearing the worst : how Korea transformed the Cold War / Samuel F. Wells, Jr.
Other titles: How Korea transformed the Cold War
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2020] | Series: Woodrow
Wilson Center Series | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019028614 (print) | LCCN 2019028615 (e-book) |
ISBN 9780231192743 (cloth) | ISBN 9780231549943 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: World politics—1945–1955. | World politics—1955–1965. |
Cold War. | Korean War, 1950–1953—Influence. | Korea—Strategic aspects. |
United States—Military policy. | United States—Military relations—Soviet
Union. | Soviet Union—Military relations—United States.
Classification: LCC D843 .W434 2020 (print) | LCC D843 (e-book) |
DDC 951.904/21—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019028614
LC e-book record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019028615
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design: Noah Arlow
Cover images: (Top, from the left) Mao Zedong (AP Photo), Joseph Stalin
(National Archives), Harry S Truman (White House Archives),
Kim Il-Sung (National Archives); (Bottom) Battle of Chosin Reservoir
(U.S. Marine Corps Archives)
FOR SHERRILL BROWN WELLS,
FOR FIFTY YEARS MY SCHOLARLY
COMPANION, MY GUIDE AND
INSPIRATION, AND THE LOVE
OF MY LIFE
•

It was the Korean War and not World War II that made us
a world military-political power.
—AMBASSADOR CHARLES E. BOHLEN,
WITNESS TO HISTORY, 1929–1969

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xiii
INTRODUCTION
1
PART I: THE WAR
1 STALIN ENDORSES WAR IN ASIA
7
2 KIM IL-SUNG PLANS AN ATTACK
26
3 TRUMAN CONSOLIDATES US COMMITMENTS
42
4 JOSEPH MCCARTHY SELLS THE POLITICS OF FEAR
61