Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Postwar: Asia-Pacific, 1945–1950
- 2 War: Korea, 1950–1953
- 3 Postwar: Asia-Pacific, 1953–1960
- 4 War: Vietnam, 1960–1975
- 5 Postwar: Asia-Pacific, 1975–1989
- 6 Post-Cold War: Asia-Pacific, 1989–2000
- 7 Future: Asia-Pacific, 2001–2020
- 8 Conclusions
- Select Bibliography
- Index
2 - War: Korea, 1950–1953
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Postwar: Asia-Pacific, 1945–1950
- 2 War: Korea, 1950–1953
- 3 Postwar: Asia-Pacific, 1953–1960
- 4 War: Vietnam, 1960–1975
- 5 Postwar: Asia-Pacific, 1975–1989
- 6 Post-Cold War: Asia-Pacific, 1989–2000
- 7 Future: Asia-Pacific, 2001–2020
- 8 Conclusions
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Were Japan added to the Communist bloc, the Soviets would acquire skilled manpower and industrial potential capable of significantly altering the balance of world power.
Secretary of State Dean Acheson, 24 December 1949The only possible explanation for the President's action is that he felt it was necessary to get rid of MacArthur so that Acheson would be free to make a deal with the Chinese Communists along the lines proposed by the British. We can now expect that the State Department will go ahead with its original plan of turning over Formosa to the Communists and of recognizing the Chinese Red government just as the British have been urging.
Senator Richard Nixon, press release, 11 April 1951, quoted in Stephen E. Ambrose, Nixon: The Education of a Politician, 1913–1962 (New York, 1987)Korea does not really matter now. I'd never heard of the bloody place until I was seventy-four. Its importance lies in the fact that it has led to the rearming of America.
Winston Churchill, 1953, quoted in Jon Halliday and Bruce Cumings, Korea: The Unknown War (London, 1990)The Road to Conflict: Northeast Asia and the Powers, 1945–50
Following the United States' victory in the Pacific War, the Truman administration had moved quickly to promote its interests across the entire Asia-Pacific region. Once it had reasserted its hold on the newly liberated Philippines and its recaptured Pacific island territories, the United States placed priority on ensuring that its writ alone ran throughout the Japanese archipelago. At war's end it also commenced policies in Southeast Asia that would soon be seen to be considerably more extensive than London had either anticipated or welcomed.
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- The United States in the Asia-Pacific since 1945 , pp. 49 - 82Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002