“Half contemptuously, American military men spoke of “elusive” Lin Piao, and of the “poet” Mao Tse-tung. Mao Tse-tung, Premier of China, had already revealed to the world how his Communist armies operated—how they flowed from place to place, fighting when… — T.R. Fehrenbach Copy Share Image
“At the end of World War II, American military policy, digesting the Japanese lessons in China, was to control air and sea lanes throughout the East but never to engage in ground hostilities on the Asian mainland. As one spokesman… — T.R. Fehrenbach Copy Share Image
“Neither the Russians nor the Americans were the cleverest people, or the most experienced, in the world that followed 1945. The French were rather more civilized, the British more knowledgeable, and even the Italians at times more practical. But if you have the ships, the guns, and the money, too, cleverness or experience is not really necessary. Even a reasonable… — T.R. Fehrenbach Copy Share
“None of them were equipped, trained, or mentally prepared for combat. For the first time in recent history, American ground units had been committed… — T.R. Fehrenbach Copy Share Image
“The U.N. air interdiction against North Korea went on, destroying what little was left of its economy, making life utterly miserable for its people,… — T.R. Fehrenbach Copy Share Image
“It was inevitable that the United States should take the position that the North Korean Communist State must now be destroyed for its lawlessness and that all Korea should be united under the government of the Taehan Minkuk. Actually, the Communist world had not broken the law, for one of the continuing tragedies of mankind is that there is no… — T.R. Fehrenbach Copy Share
“Emotionally and politically, Syngman Rhee could not accept the armistice terms. They left his nation and people divided; they left a million South Koreans dead seemingly in vain. Americans who grew bitter at old Syngman Rhee during these days, when it seemed he might wreck the peace, should have been able to imagine what Abraham Lincoln would have felt, or… — T.R. Fehrenbach Copy Share
“Every age has a people or a culture that believes the shortest distance between dreams and goals is a bomb, a bullet, a gas… — T.R. Fehrenbach Copy Share Image
“In July, 1950, one news commentator rather plaintively remarked that warfare had not changed so much, after all. For some reason, ground troops still seemed to be necessary, in spite of the atom bomb. And oddly and unfortunately, to this gentleman, man still seemed to be an important ingredient in battle. Troops were still getting killed, in pain and fury… — T.R. Fehrenbach Copy Share
“The surprise pointed up a continuing of American Intelligence. The various intelligence agencies poured a vast amount of information into Washington; they knew the numbers of divisions, guns, tanks, and naval craft of potential enemies. But this intelligence could not be evaluated because Washington had not even one pipeline into official circles of enemy capitals; they could not even estimate… — T.R. Fehrenbach Copy Share
“And it was no accident, in the late forties, that the makers of American policy, unwilling to backtrack with the public, began to try… — T.R. Fehrenbach Copy Share Image
“the knowledge in men's minds had far more meaning for the future than whatever blood coursed in their veins.” — T.R. Fehrenbach Copy Share Image
“Americans who felt, and still feel, that their soldiers taken by a power of different culture and lesser standards of humanity should be, or… — T.R. Fehrenbach Copy Share Image
“Something new had happened. The United States had gone to war, not under enemy attack, nor to protect the lives or property of American… — T.R. Fehrenbach Copy Share Image
