The Reluctant Crusade: American Foreign Policy in Korea, 1941-1950

This is a detailed analysis of American foreign policy towards Korea from the time of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor to the Truman decision to dispatch combat troops to Korea. Basing his research on declassified government documents, the author shows how U.S. policy in Korea evolved from indifference to qualified commitment to military intervention, arguing that these changes both reflected and played a crucial role in the broader shift of American foreign policy from isolationism to internationalism. The Reluctant Crusade also places U.S. policy towards Korea in the larger context of Soviet-American relations and focuses on U.S. involvement in postwar Korea as a test case of George F. Kennan's containment strategy. The United States sought to build a reconstructed Korean nation that would reflect the American model of development and consistently provided it with economic aid, technical advice, and limited military assistance. Matray argues that the Truman administration believed that North Korea would eventually recognize the superiority of South Korea's political and economic system and seek reunification under South Korean rule. When North Korea attacked South Korea, the Soviet challenge wasn't perceived to be military and aggressive rather than political and economic, as Truman and his advisors had initially thought. Truman saw a restrained approach as inadequate; he altered his tactics and committed American combat forces to ensure the survival of South Korea. His decision marked the beginning of a reluctant American crusade to preserve peace and stability through military means. --- excerpt from book's dustjacket