Dear Editor
Dear Editor Korea Conflict William L. O'Neill's review of my book, Korea: The First War We Lost (NL, August 11-25), is all an author could ask for because he read the book and he backs up his...
...The Red Chinese political goal was to prevent this...
...And the bellicose Far East commander, General Douglas Mac-Arthur, was no exception...
...Correction Due to a typographical error, the name of Sweden's late Prime Minister was misspelled in Steven Kelman's article, "Swedish Socialism Revised" (NL, June 1630...
...Our battle defeats led us to abandon our political aim in North Korea...
...The Chinese Communists feared a powerful American Army on their border could shield a Nationalist Chinese attempt to reconquer mainland China...
...It is a rare military leader who doesn't want to keep on going when he's winning...
...I'm grateful for this...
...In late 1950, the U.S...
...The Red Chinese defeat of U.S...
...In North Korea, it never did...
...forces in October-December 1950 convinced American leaders to abandon their political aim of eliminating North Korea...
...There is one point he raises, however, which I feel needs elucidation...
...Of course, I agree with Alexander that ultimate responsibility for the outcome, however we define it, lay in Washington...
...The first American defeat in war could—and should—have been avoided...
...Consequently, the Chinese Communists won their war against us because they attained their political aim (which was important to them) while denying us ours...
...That having been accomplished, the United States decided to conquer the North as well, an ambition which Chinese entry frustrated...
...Early in 1951 the United States then reverted to its earlier position, seeking only to prevent South Korea from being overrun...
...leaders determined on it after the success of the Inchon landing in September 1950...
...Bremo Bluff, Va...
...Carl von Clausewitz, the most profound of Western military thinkers, holds that war is an extension of politics...
...This abandonment, not our military losses, is what constituted our defeat...
...Therefore the War, both politically and militarily, ended in a draw...
...But its pursuit was quite hazardous in the face of unequivocal threats by the Red Chinese to intervene if we did so...
...As I read these events, both sides achieved their minimum goals but not their maximums...
...Sometimes this is done by battle victory, sometimes by making conditions so difficult that continuation of a course of action is more painful than abandoning it...
...But political leaders should have remembered Clausewitz: Did the political end justify the possible military losses...
...During the first phase, from JuneintoSeptember 1950, the American goal was to save South Korea from seizure by the North...
...This being so, military action makes no sense unless it is directed toward attainment of a political goal...
...The correct spelling is Olof Palme...
...This aim was secured by the armistice in 1953...
...I still feel, though, that this title does not fairly characterize the War as a whole...
...The failure, therefore, was not with the warrior, MacArthur, but with the political leaders in Washington who did not think out in advance where our national interests lay...
...O'Neill indicates my reason for titling the book as a war we lost was the military defeat we suffered at the hands of the Chinese Communists...
...In this they made a wise judgment, because possession of North Korea was not necessary to our security or national interests...
...Success in war consists of imposing one belligerent's will upon another...
...Dear Editor Korea Conflict William L. O'Neill's review of my book, Korea: The First War We Lost (NL, August 11-25), is all an author could ask for because he read the book and he backs up his perceptive arguments with facts and intelligent analysis...
...The prospect of conquering a Communist state was a dazzling dream when U.S...
...Bevtn Alexander William L. O'Neill replies: I am sorry if I misstated Bevin Alexander's reason for calling his book Korea: The First War We Lost...
...political goal was to conquer North Korea and absorb it into a unified Korean state allied to the U.S...
...This is not correct...
...Our leaders decided the cost in lives and treasure of continued military effort was not worth the possible political gains...
...To say the War was lost because China achieved its political aim is to disregard all but a few months of the conflict...
Vol. 69 • October 1986 • No. 14
