President Truman worked tirelessly to resolve the conflict in Korea. However, Truman's extreme unpopularity forced him not to seek re-election in 1952. His term in office expired in 1953, and he intended to bring the troops home before the end of his administration but was unable to because of delayed peace talks.
The Republican Party chose General Dwight Eisenhower as their candidate in the election of 1952. A major tenet of Eisenhower's campaign was ending the war in Korea. He promised Americans that he would personally visit Korea and help negotiate a ceasefire. The American electorate wanted to see an end to the war in Korea, and they elected President Eisenhower in 1952 based on his promise to do so.
Eisenhower lived up to his promise and traveled to Korea within weeks of taking office. However, the peace talks continued to make little progress, and Eisenhower grew increasingly frustrated. After determining that conventional discussions were not effective, Eisenhower played his trump card by threatening to use atomic weapons if the peace process did not advance. Eisenhower's sudden and very real threat alarmed both sides, and discussions rapidly advanced. After numerous and lengthy negotiations, a ceasefire between North and South Korea was signed on July 27, 1953.
The armistice signed between North and South Korea is still in effect today. The truce agreement restored the 38th parallel as the dividing boundary between the two countries. It also established a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between them. The DMZ is a two and a half mile wide by 155 mile long territory, directly on the 38th parallel. Both the north and south sides of the DMZ are heavily fortified, and thousands of soldiers on both sides patrol the boundary. There continues to be a tremendous amount of tension along the DMZ and there have been many near skirmishes, although significant problems have been avoided.
The United States was relieved that the conflict in Korea was over, but many Americans were dissatisfied with the conclusion. Americans proudly remembered their decisive victory in WWII and regretted the lack of a clear victory in Korea. The general consensus of the American public was that the war was ineffective, pointless, and very costly.
The Korean conflict produced a staggering number of casualties and victims. The U.S. military lost nearly 37,000 soldiers in the Korean War, while the other U.N. forces endured nearly 3,000 casualties. The combined U.N. forces also had approximately 103,000 combatants wounded. The Korean people suffered much greater losses. Over two million Korean civilians were killed during the conflict, mostly South Koreans. The North Korean and Chinese armies had over one and a half million combat fatalities. The total number of deaths directly resulting from the Korean War neared four million.
Despite devastating losses and lack of a clear victory, the Korean War was not a complete failure for the United States. The U.S. was able to demonstrate a key element of the Containment Policy by halting the spread of communism in Asia. Proving its dedication to the Containment Policy was possibly the greatest victory for the United States. The Soviet Union and China recognized that America was serious about stopping the spread of communism and that it was willing to pay great costs to confront it. As a new war flared up in Vietnam a few years after the Korean truce, U.S. policy-makers would rely on the apparent success of containment in Korea to dictate U.S. actions in Vietnam.
Copyright 2006 The Regents of the University of California and Monterey Institute for Technology and Education
