The Hidden History of the Korean War

This is, indeed, what we find. Stone wrote the book to expose what one observer calls "the greatest swindle in the whole of military history" (xv). Specifically, Stone argues that the Korean War was a cruel fraud from its inception. When peace was at hand, it was sabotaged by forces which wanted the war to continue. Stone himself declares that his book has three basic purposes:

It is a case study in the cold war. It is also a study in wart propaganda, in how to read newspapers and official documents in wartime. . . . Finally, this book is what it purports to be, not "inside stuff" or keyhole revelations but the hidden history of the Korean War (xxii).

Stone bases his findings on "material which could not be challenged by those who accept the official American government point of view," including official documents of the United States and the United Nations, and "respected American and British newspaper sources" (xxi). Stone is emphatic in stating that he did not seriously consider the propaganda sources of either the American or North Korean side.

Stone does not come right out and decla

. . .
s about who started the war in the first place. Stone examines communiques and other reliable sources to come to the conclusion that MacArthur---representing the United States' Cold War interests and passions---pushed the Chinese into a confrontation which almost guaranteed Chinese intervention: There were two dangers in the approach of MacArthur's troops to the Manchurian frontiers. One was military, the other political. The military danger was the possibility of a clash on the frontier between troops of the great powers. The political danger---for some people---was that no such clash would occur (151). What Stone goes on to suggest is that the primary American concern at that time was not North Korea, but China. The Cold Warriors, including MacArthur, wanted to do everything they could to keep China on the defensive and out of the United Nations., MacArthur was also opposed vehemently to the swallowing up of Formosa by the Chinese Communists. An outbreak of war between American and Chinese troops over Korea would have pleased MacArthur and his fellow Cold Warriors. Had peace been achieved instead, China would far more quickly been made a part of the world of nations. Clearly, then, from Stone's point of view, it was MacArthur
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Korean War, Cold War, Cold Warriors, South Americans, CAPTIVES KOREA, North Americans, Peace Korea, United Nations, North Stone's, North June, korean war, cold war, war stone, peace talks, cold warriors, hidden history korean, sources american, started war, hidden history, history korean, united nations, history korean war,
Approximate Word count = 1578
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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