An Armistice and the War’s Costs

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Section Chronology

Eisenhower made good on his pledge to end the Korean War. In July 1953, the two sides reached an armistice that left Korea divided, again roughly at the thirty-eighth parallel, with North and South separated by a two-and-a-half-mile-wide demilitarized zone (see Map 26.3). The war fulfilled the objective of containment, since the United States had backed up its promise to help nations that were resisting communism. Both Truman and Eisenhower managed to contain what amounted to a world war — involving twenty nations altogether — within a single country and to avoid the use of nuclear weapons.

The Human Toll of the Korean War

> The Human Toll of the Korean War

  • 36,000 Americans were killed, and 100,000 were wounded.
  • South Korea lost more than 1 million people to war-related causes.
  • More than 1.8 million North Koreans and Chinese were killed or wounded.

The Korean War had an enormous effect on defense policy and spending. In April 1950, just before the war began, the National Security Council completed a top-secret report, known as NSC 68, on the United States’ military strength, warning that national survival required a massive military buildup. The Korean War brought about nearly all of the military expansion called for in NSC 68, vastly increasing U.S. capacity to act as a global power. Military spending shot up from $14 billion in 1950 to $50 billion in 1953 and remained above $40 billion thereafter. By 1952, defense spending claimed nearly 70 percent of the federal budget, and the size of the armed forces had tripled.

NSC 68

image Top-secret government report of April 1950 warning that national survival required a massive military buildup. The Korean War brought nearly all of the expansion that the report called for, and by 1952 defense spending claimed nearly 70 percent of the federal budget.

To General Matthew Ridgway, MacArthur’s successor as commander of the UN forces, Korea taught the lesson that U.S. forces should never again fight a land war in Asia. Eisenhower concurred. Nevertheless, the Korean War induced the Truman administration to expand its role in Asia by increasing aid to the French, who were fighting to hang on to their colonial empire in Indochina. As U.S. Marines retreated from a battle against Chinese soldiers in 1950, they sang, prophetically, “We’re Harry’s police force on call, / So put back your pack on, / The next step is Saigon.”

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CHAPTER LOCATOR

What factors contributed to the Cold War?

Why did Truman have limited success in implementing his domestic agenda?

How did U.S. Cold War policy lead to the Korean War?

Conclusion: What were the costs and consequences of the Cold War?

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