How Did Truman's Decision To Respond To The Korean War?

At the end of World War II and finally liberated from nearly four decades of brutal occupation after Japanese defeat in 1945, the Korean peninsula found itself torn between two foreign ideologies. To the North of the 18th parallel was the Soviet Union leading the communist wing of the Korean resistance, while the United States fought for democracy from the South. On June 25th, 1950, the Soviet-backed communist North Korea pushed through the makeshift border and within weeks had invaded all but a small portion of the entire country. Consequently, the United States was left with the question of whether it should or even could respond to the aggressive tactics of its long standing rival. However, on the 28th, President Truman, with the overwhelming support of the Congress and the Security council, passed the resolution to retaliate with force, a major foreign policy decision resulting in the …show more content…
The war had cost the country over 35,000 American soldiers, yet ended on unclear terms in which it could not dictate the terms of surrender. However, South Korea has been given the opportunity to experience great leaps in its economy and technology under the freedom of democracy, especially in comparison to its Northern communist neighbor, and remains a strong ally of the US. As Munich had been the Korea, the Korean war became a lesson in history that policymakers have applied in numerous situations since such as the Vietnam War and invasion of Iraq in 2003. Furthermore, the rational actor model of foreign policy analysis aptly explains the conclusion of President Truman and policymakers and possibly supports the claims that Truman followed the most logical course of action in the given circumstances. In 1965, a State Department Document stated that the actions of the United States in Korea boiled down to three