How far was the USAs military involvement in Korea a desire to defend democracy?

by intersport96 (student)

AS and A Level History

Mollie Ingram

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How far was the USA’s military involvement in Korea a desire to defend democracy?

On the 25th June 1950, troops in the North Koreans people army crossed the 28th parallel into South Korea in an attempt to unify the country under a communist system of government. Within two days, the US had gained UN approval to send troops to defeat this act of aggression. However the extent this decision was shaped by a desire to ‘defend democracy’ is questionable.

The Americans themselves would see their intervention in Korea as a desire to defend democracy. It was an attempt to defeat the expansion of communism. This was viewed as a disease by the Americans as it would destroy the values that their country was built on. Certainly it would be viewed as undemocratic as only communist candidates were allowed to stand in elections and personal freedoms were severely curtailed.

The decision to fight in Korea can also be seen as an attempt to support the democratically elected government of Syngman Rhee. Syngman Rhee was the first president of South Korea. His presidency lasted from 1948 to 1960; he was regarded as an anti-communist and a strongman. Therefore to America was seen as a strong and great character to be able to get South Korea back on tracks and against communism. This would therefore be seen as a way for America to get their answers to succeeding in defending democracy.

However, it is hard to argue that the Americans were going to Korea to defend democracy when they were intent in re-instating the government of Rhee. The two main problems with Rhee’s presidency were both and still are great controversial issues. The first was the initial creation of Rhee’s government not really being democratic. The definition of democracy is as follows ‘A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives’, this is contradicted by America due to the fact that although they desire to defend democracy, the way the installed the government of Rhee was not as democratic as it should have been. This is due to the superpowers failure to agree on a system of government that was acceptable to both the north and south of Korea, and ending in the USA basically placing Rhee into place. Secondly it was not only the creation of Rhee’s government that was not democratic, but also how Rhee’s government ruled South Korea and how it turned out. The reason behind this was Rhee’s soon assumption of the ability to dictatorial powers, rather than being a representative for the people, he quickly began to do as he pleased when he pleased. Some of the main highlighted dictatorial actions that took place involved things such as the detention and torture of political opponents and several massacres of ‘leftist’ uprisings. This therefore led to substantial concerns upon the Truman administration that consequently refused to give Rhee military supplies. Through these two main factors, it is hard to argue that the Americans intention was the defend democracy due to them re-instating the government of Rhee.

It can also be argued that America intervened in Korea to support the democratic principles of the newly established United Nations Organisation. It was known to many Americans that one of the main failures of the League of Nations was their non-involvement. This then lead to the UN being set up to reduce and if possible stop acts of aggression against countries. Therefore this is where the UN gets used in the situation of Korea to show that it has the ability to act when needed. However it is argued that what Truman in reality had done was an American ...

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It can also be argued that America intervened in Korea to support the democratic principles of the newly established United Nations Organisation. It was known to many Americans that one of the main failures of the League of Nations was their non-involvement. This then lead to the UN being set up to reduce and if possible stop acts of aggression against countries. Therefore this is where the UN gets used in the situation of Korea to show that it has the ability to act when needed. However it is argued that what Truman in reality had done was an American invasion force. Americans were able to use the UN due to the soviets not following the UN’s idea that the recognised government on china was not in fact the communist Chinese government, but that what was given to Taiwan. As a result of this it meant that the soviets therefore did not have the ability to argue against the decision of demanding the north withdraw and admitting the use of military force.

American involvement in Korea has to be seen within the context of the Cold War. America and the Soviets had fought an ideological Conflict in the aftermath of WW2. America was fighting for the survival of democracy against the growing strength of Communism. To the Americans, the soviets overtake of eastern Europe was viewed as threatening and highly aggressive, this then increased tensions even more and produced a deeper intensity of determination and desire of protection within America. It wasn’t until the creation of the soviets atomic bomb that suspicions of a possible attack began to develop, if Stalin gained confidence through this progression in military supplies and decided to test Truman’s true affection to stop communism through and attack, then Americans would have to respond.

The American ‘desire to defend democracy’ was significantly absent when Dean Acheson made a speech on the 12th January 1950. Within this speech it was stated that South Korea in fact lay outside the American defensive perimeter, highlighting to the North Koreans that there is a high possibility America would not defend the south from an attack.

Key principles and policies that guided US Foreign Policy during this period also help us explain the US involvement in Korea. The Truman doctrine was made when it was feared that the soviets views were being enforced in Eastern Europe. It offered political, military, and economic assistance to all democratic nations. The main aims of this were to not allow soviets to pursue their goals of global communism and it wanted to restore the economy in Eastern Europe and provide support. It stated that the US would give help to any country that was fighting the spread of communism. After the soviets communist views spreading across Eastern Europe and the fall of china, the US had decided that through the Truman Doctrine, communism had certainly spread too far and it was time to take action. As a result to this it is clear that due to Korea being highly relevant in this situation, that the Americans got involved with them to prevent a direct attack by the north and to begin to contain communism as much as they can.

Truman was also very scared about the spread of communism in Asia. Following on from the loss of china, there was much embarrassment put upon Truman and therefore created intense pressure for him to ensure not only did he not lose any more countries to communism but especially not any of such power. This expressed the great demand in ensuring that communism did not spread any further in Asia, especially japan. It was believed that a rebuild japan could be a strong and important factor against the USSR, this meant that the US had to first act in Korea to prevent it spreading through there and going onto japan.

American involvement in Korea was also determined to some extent by domestic political opinion. The early 1950s saw the star of McCarthyism and the Red Scare. Senator McCarthy was in charge of a committee on Un-American activities, this included communism. He then lead essentially a witch hunt to uncover communists, from this it is believed that he recorded a list of 205 communists that he discovered. As a result of this, anti-communist feelings evolved, putting pressure on politicians to be tougher on communism if they truly want it to be contained. Due to this Truman then had little choice but to fight in Korea in order to gain trust in Americans that he is doing all he can to prevent communism spreading

The USA’s military involvement in Korea was due to a number of reasons. The ‘desire to defend democracy’ can only be used to a limited extent as to why they got involved. It is clear that the US did desire to defend democracy, but not in all occasions did they stay fully ‘democratic’ (Rhee’s government). The main thing that is highlighted as to why the US got involved in Korea is their desire and determination of containing communism. This also links to the wider conflict with the USSR and the cold war.