9781422285961

The Korean War

8

bitterly divided the American public and led to an erosion of trust in the government. Both wars continue to provide fertile grounds for inquiry by historians. Both are subjects of continuing fascination for the general public. Even while it was going on, the Korean War failed to galvanize the country in the way World War II had, or the way Vietnam later would. In fact, a popular newsmagazine first described Korea as a “forgotten war” in the fall of 1951—nearly two years before the fighting actually ended. Various factors explain why Americans paid scant attention to the Korean War. Unlike World War II, a “total war” that affected almost everyone in the country, Korea was a limited war. It didn’t require full mobilization of the nation’s young men. It didn’t require a massive infu- sion of women into the civilian workforce. There was no rationing on the home front. The war was fought in a distant land that few Americans knew much, if anything, about. And at the time, broadcast television was still in its infancy, so people didn’t see the kinds of shocking images that the nightly news would bring into American living rooms during the Vietnam War. For its part, the U.S. government sent mixed signals about the signifi- cance of the Korean War. Breaking with longstanding practice, President

WORDS TO UNDERSTAND IN THIS CHAPTER

annex— to incorporate a country or territory within a larger state. capitalism— an economic system that permits the ownership of pri- vate property and allows individuals and companies to compete for their own economic gain. communism— a political and economic system that champions the elimination of private property, promotes the common ownership of goods, and typically insists that the Communist Party has sole authority to govern. superpower— an extremely powerful state; one of the few states that dominate an era.