Korea's war at 60: A survey of the literature

Abstract

This article provides a summary of current literature addressing the Korean conflict, from World War II until July 1953. It describes not only the content of major books and articles, but also key areas of interpretive disagreement. Topics cover both political and military affairs.

Notes

Dr. James I. Matray is professor of history at California State University, Chico, where he served as department chair from 2002 to 2008. He has written or edited six books, authoring as well more than forty journal articles and book chapters on issues related to US relations with Korea since World War II. He currently is researching the Battles of Pork Chop Hill pursuant to publication by Indiana University Press of a book on the topic.

 [1] Dean G. Acheson testimony, US Congress, Senate, Joint Committee on Armed Services and Foreign Relations, Military Situation in the Far East, Hearings to Conduct an Inquiry into the Military Situation in the Far East and the Facts Surrounding the Relief of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur from His Assignment in That Area, 81st Cong., 1st Sess., 1951, pp. 1715, 1936.

 [2] Brune, The Korean War.

 [3] Millett, ‘A Reader's Guide to the Korean War’; Foot, ‘Making Known the Unknown War’; Kim, ‘International Trends in Korean War Studies’; Matray, ‘The Korean War’.

 [4] McFarland, The Korean War; Edwards, The Inchon Landing; idem, The Pusan Perimeter; idem, The Korean War .

 [5] Kaufman and Matray, ‘The Korean War’.

 [6] Pearlman, ‘Introduction’, 6.

 [7] Millett, The War for Korea, 1945–1950; idem, The War for Korea, 1950–1951.

 [8] Casey, Selling the Korean War; Pierpaoli, Truman and Korea; Wiltz, ‘The Korean War and American Society’. There are a handful of works that describe assorted aspects of the US domestic side of the Korean War. Karsten, ‘The American Democratic Citizen Soldier: Triumph or Disaster?; Mueller, ‘Trends in Popular Support for the Wars in Korea and Vietnam’; Hamby, ‘Public Opinion: Korea and Vietnam’; Toner, ‘American Society and the American Way of War’; Flynn, ‘The Draft and College Deferments During the Korean War’; Forslund, ‘…Worth a Thousand Words: Editorial Images of the Korean War’; Young, ‘The Korean War’.

 [9] Poats, Decision in Korea; Leckie, Conflict; Fehrenbach, This Kind of War; Rees, Korea. See also John Dille, Substitute for Victory .

[10] Middleton, The Compact History of the Korean War; O'Ballance, Korea 1950–1953; McGovern, To the Yalu. Kaufman and Matray, ‘The Korean War’.

[11] Appleman, South of the Naktong, North to the Yalu; Schnabel, Policy and Direction; Hermes, Truce Tent and Fighting Front . In a long delayed study, Billy C. Mossman filled the remaining gap in the US Army's official history, describing the US retreat into South Korea before a counteroffensive pushed the enemy back into North Korea and stabilised the battle front in July 1951. Mossman, Ebb and Flow: November 1950–July 1951.

[12] Field, History of the United States Naval Operations Korea; Futrell, The United States Air Force in Korea, 1950–1953; Montross et al., History of U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950–1953. See also Cagle and Manson, The Sea War in Korea.

[13] Schnabel and Watson, The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, Vol. 3; Condit, History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Vol. 2.

[14] Cumings, The Origins of the Korean War, Vol. 1. Bruce Cumings earlier summarised his argument in ‘American Policy and Korean Liberation’.

[15] Stueck, The Road to Confrontation; Dobbs, The Unwanted Symbol; Matray, The Reluctant Crusade.

[16] Wilz, ‘Encountering Korea’.

[17] Pak, ‘From Pearl Harbor to Cairo’; Liu, ‘Sino-American Diplomacy over Korea during World War II’; Matray, ‘An End to Indifference’.

[18] ‘Conference of President Roosevelt, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and Prime Minister Churchill in North Africa’.

[19] Oliver, Syngman Rhee; McCune and Grey, Korea Today; Meade, American Military Government in Korea.

[20] Paul, ‘Diplomacy Delayed’; Sandusky, America's Parallel.

[21] Matray, The Reluctant Crusade, 52–130.

[22] Van Ree, Socialism in One Zone; Cumings, The Origins of the Korean War, Vol. 1.

[23] Caldwell, The Korea Story; Ottoboni, Korea Between the Wars.

[24] Boose, ‘Portentous Sideshow’.

[25] Millett, The War for Korea, 1945–1950; Brazinsky, Nation Building in South Korea.

[26] Cho, Korea in World Politics, 1940–1950; Choi, ‘Trusteeship Debate and the Korean Cold War’; and Jeon, ‘U.S. Korean Policy and the Moderates During the U.S. Military Government Era’.

[27] McCune and Grey, Korea Today; Berger, The Korea Knot. See also Henderson, Korea: The Politics of the Vortex.

[28] Matray, ‘Hodge Podge’; Cumings, The Origins of the Korean War, Vol. 1.

[29] Park, ‘The American Military Government and the Framework for Democracy in South Korea’.

[30] Goodrich, Korea: A Study of U.S. Policy in the United Nations; Gordenker, The United Nations and Peaceful Unification of Korea.

[31] Clemens, ‘Captain James Hausman’; Millett, ‘Captain James H. Hausman’.

[32] Sawyer and Hermes, Military Advisors in Korea.

[33] Merrill, Korea.

[34] Berger, The Korean Knot; Cho, Korea and World Politics; Dobbs, The Unwanted Symbol.

[35] Buhite, ‘“Major Interests”’; McGlothen, Controlling the Waves; Matray, The Reluctant Crusade.

[36] Matray, ‘Dean Acheson's National Press Club Speech Reexamined’.

[37] Kaufman, The Korean Conflict.

[38] Harry S. Truman statement, 27 June 1950, US Department of State Bulletin, 23, no. 574 (3 July 1950): 5.

[39] Clark, From the Danube to the Yalu; Ridgway, The Korean War; Collins, War in Peacetime; Kennan, Memoirs 1925–1950.

[40] Hitchcock, ‘North Korea Jumps the Gun’; Stone, The Hidden History of the Korean War.

[41] Paige, The Korean Decision; May, ‘Lessons of the Past’.

[42] Osgood, Limited War; Halperin, Limited War in the Nuclear Age. See also Halperin, ‘The Limiting Process in the Korean War’; Jervis, ‘The Impact of the Korean War on the Cold War’.

[43] Brodie, War and Politics; Milliken, The Social Construction of the Korean War.

[44] Fleming, The Cold War and Its Origins; Kolko and Kolko, The Limits of Power; Gupta, ‘How Did the Korean War Begin?’

[45] Khrushchev, Khrushchev Remembers; Simmons, The Strained Alliance.

[46] Lowe, Origins of the Korean War; Kaufman, The Korean War; MacDonald, Korea: The War Before Vietnam.

[47] Halliday and Cumings, Korea: The Unknown War ; Cumings, The Origins of the Korean War, Vol. 2.

[48] Goncharov, Lewis, and Xue, Uncertain Partners.

[49] Weathersby, ‘Korea, 1949–50’; idem, ‘New Findings on the Korean War’; idem, ‘The Soviet Role in the Early Phase of the Korean War’. See also Weathersby, ‘The Soviet Role in the Korean War’.

[50] Stueck, The Korean War; idem, Rethinking the Korean War.

[51] Bajanov, ‘Assessing the Politics of the Korean War’; Mansourov, ‘Enigmas of D-Day’; Shen, ‘Sino-Soviet Relations and the Origins of the Korean War’.

[52] Kim and Matray, Korea and the Cold War.

[53] Truman, Memoirs, Vol. II; Acheson, Present at the Creation.

[54] Matray, The Reluctant Crusade, 242–50.

[55] Goulden, Korea: The Untold Story; Bevin, Korea: The First War We Lost; Blair, The Forgotten War; Hastings, The Korean War.

[56] Whelan, Drawing the Line; Toland, In Mortal Combat.

[57] Sandler, The Korean War; Wainstock, Truman, MacArthur, and the Korean War.

[58] Stokesbury, A Short History of the Korean War; Hickey, The Korean War; Catchpole, The Korean War 1950–53; Halberstam, The Coldest Winter.

[59] Cole, ‘Leadership in Korea’; and Ent, ‘Walton Walker’; Perret, Old Soldiers Never Die; Weintraub, MacArthur's War.

[60] Weinert and Skaggs, ‘The KATUSA Experiment’.

[61] Millett, Their War in Korea; Oh, ‘The Forgotten Soldiers of the Korean War’; Paik, From Pusan to Panmunjom; Kim, The Korean War, 1950–1953. See also Millett, ‘The Korean People’.

[62] War History Compilation Committee, Hanguk Cheonchaengsa; History of the United Nations Forces in Korea ; Korean Institute of Military History, The Korean War.

[63] Heinl, Victory at High Tide; Sheldon, Hell or High Water; Langley, Inchon Landing.

[64] Lichterman, ‘To the Yalu and Back’; Rees, Korea; Ridgway, The Korean War.

[65] Caridi, The Korean War and American Politics; Higgins, Truman and the Fall of MacArthur.

[66] LaFeber, ‘Crossing the 38th’; Bernstein, ‘The Policy of Risk’.

[67] Stueck, The Road to Confrontation; Kaufman, The Korean War.

[68] Matray, ‘Truman's Plan for Victory’.

[69] Xia, ‘The Study of Cold War International History in China’. See also, Li, Millett, and Bin, Mao's Generals Remember Korea.

[70] Whiting, China Crosses the Yalu; Spurr, Enter the Dragon; Hua and Zhai, ‘China's Decision to Enter the Korean War’. See also Hunt, ‘Beijing and the Korean Crisis’.

[71] Chen, China's Road to the Korean War; Zhang, Mao's Military Romanticism ; Sheng, Battling Western Imperialism.

[72] Goncharov, Lewis, and Xue, Uncertain Partners; Mansourov, ‘Enigmas of D-Day’; Chen, China's Road to the Korean War; Zhang, Mao's Military Romanticism; Sheng, Battling Western Imperialism.

[73] Ruetten, ‘General Douglas MacArthur's “Reconnaissance in Force”’; Foot, The Wrong War; Dingman, ‘Atomic Diplomacy during the Korean War’.

[74] Roy E. Appleman has covered these military events and operations in great detail in a succession of books. Appleman, East of Chosin; idem, Escaping the Trap; idem, Ridgway Duels for Korea .

[75] James, The Years of MacArthur, Vol. 3; Weintraub, MacArthur's War; Schaller, Douglas MacArthur; Buhite, Douglas MacArthur; Higgins, Truman and the Fall of MacArthur.

[76] Rovere and Schlesinger, The General and the President and the Future of American Foreign Policy; Spanier, The Truman–MacArthur Controversy and the Korean War.

[77] Kaufman, ‘Harry S. Truman as War Leader’; Pearlman, Truman and MacArthur; Schaller, Douglas MacArthur.

[78] Bernstein, ‘New Light on the Korean War’; Crane, ‘To Avert Impending Disaster’; Anders, ‘The Atomic Bomb and the Korean War’; Malloy, ‘A “Paper Tiger?”’

[79] MacArthur, Reminiscences.

[80] Foot, A Substitute for Victory.

[81] Foot, A Substitute for Victory; Boose, ‘The Korean War Truce Talks’; Xia, Negotiating with the Enemy.

[82] Joy, How Communists Negotiate; Goodman, Negotiating While Fighting; Vatcher, Panmunjom.

[83] Foot, A Substitute for Victory; Bailey, The Korean Armistice.

[84] Gittings, ‘Talks, Bombs and Germs’; Crane, ‘“No Practical Capabilities”’; Endicott and Hagerman, The United States and Biological Warfare.

[85] Weathersby, ‘Deceiving the Deceivers’; Leitenberg, ‘The Korean War Biological Weapon Allegations’.

[86] Foot, A Substitute for Victory; Bernstein, ‘The Struggle over the Korean Armistice’.

[87] McCormack, Cold War/Hot War; Kaufman, The Korean War.

[88] Foot, A Substitute for Victory; Goodman, Negotiating While Fighting; MacDonald, Korea.

[89] Keefer, ‘President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the End of the Korean War’; Stueck, The Korean War. See also Medhurst, ‘Text and Context in the 1952 Presidential Campaign’; Jackson, ‘Beyond Brinkmanship’.

[90] Eisenhower, The White House Years, Vol. 2.

[91] Divine, Eisenhower and the Cold War; Ambrose, Eisenhower, Vol. II; Calingaert, ‘Nuclear Weapons and the Korean War’; Malloy, ‘A Paper Tiger?’

[92] Friedman, ‘Nuclear Blackmail and the End of the Korean War’; Foot, ‘Nuclear Coercion and the Ending of the Korean Conflict’.

[93] Stanley, Paths to Peace. See also Keefer, ‘President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the End of the Korean War’; Dingman, ‘Atomic Diplomacy during the Korean War’.

[94] Ryan, Chinese Attitudes toward Nuclear Weapons; Allen, ‘No Winners, Many Losers’.

[95] Bailey, The Korean Armistice; Stueck, The Korean War.

[96] Stueck and Yi, ‘“An Alliance Forged in Blood”’; Shen, ‘China and the Dispatch of the Soviet Air Force’; Barnes, ‘Branding an Aggressor’; Jackson, ‘Lost Chance or Lost Horizon?’; Casey, ‘Casualty Reporting and Domestic Support for War’; Young, ‘Pows: The Hidden Reason for Forgetting Korea’.

[97] Cumings, The Korean War ; Matray, Korea Divided. See also Lee, The Korean War.