The limits of American power
task is to thwart the K remlin's capacity to gain direct or indirect control over Japan’s industrial potential’ (Acheson, 1949).
However, America’s understanding of the situation in Korea significantly overestimated Soviet designs. Stalin only gave modest aid to Kim Il Sung and offered circumscribed reactions to American bombings in the areas of North Korea close to its own border (Leffler, 1992, p365) . Russian officials at the UN even talked of a ceasefire, internationally supervised elections, and a unified Korea (Chroesjtsjov, Talbott, Schecter and Luchkov, 1990) . Whereas America viewed the KoreanWar as a grand Soviet design to lure Japan into the Kremlin’s orbit and get a stranglehold over Asia, the reality was starkly different. Indeed, Stalin had gone along with the North Korean attack only after Kim Il Sung assured him that it would involve little risk of war (Kissinger, 1994: 483) . Syngman Rhee was an ally who capitalize d on Washington’s misconceptions of Soviet strategy in Korea. Rhee wanted to shake off his inferiority and build a new self-confidence after years of Japanese domination (Westad, 2005: 85) . He sought a self-perpetuating political machine with absolute loyalty to himself and had little patience with, or interest in, democratic procedures (Keefer, 1991: 148) . Rhee strengthened his regime through stretching America’s commitments against its will and heavily influencing America’s policies in Korea. He rejected the 38th parallel as a political boundary because Kim Il Sung and Mao had intended to drive American and UN forces out of South Korea and unify the whole of Korea under communist rule. So likewise, Rhee advocated, America must try to destroy the communists throughout Korea and unify it under capitalist rule (Park, 1975, p108) . Truman had had little control over the difficult situation. If he opposed Rhee in upholding the 38 th parallel and South Korean forces pushed north without American support, they would be defeated very quickly, and America would be obliged to protect its ally and take a stand against communist advances into South Korea. Hence, Truman gave into Rhee and committed American troops to the unification of Korea, advancing beyond the 38 th parallel (Park, 1975, p109) . Rhee realized his power over American foreign policy and fervently exercised it. In a letter to Eisenhower in April 1953, Rhee suggested he would support American efforts to reach an armistice agreement with the Chinese and North Korean Communists conditional on a mutual defence treaty between the United States and South Korea (Park, 1975: 111) . This was to balance the China- North Korea and Sino-Soviet pacts. If these conditions were not met, the South Koreans would not recognize the truce and would continue to fight the communist forces. Rhee was well aware that America would never allow the Korean armed forces to continue the fighting once the truce agreement had been reached for fear of nuclear conflict with the Sino-Soviet bloc (Park, 1975: 112) . Succumbing to Rhee’s demand, Eisenhower signed the mutual defence treaty in October 1953 after the armistice agreement in July. America was left defending Rhee’s authoritarian regime with the supposed aim of saving the free democratic world. Eisenhower n oted gloomily that ‘the United States could do all sorts of things to suggest that we might very well be prepared to leave Korea, but the truth of the matter was, of course, that we couldn’t actually leave (FRUS, 1953)’ . For America, being able to control its allies to avoid nuclear conflict was paramount and placating Rhee was necessary in achieving this aim. Rhee leveraged this fact by enlarging America’s military backing for South Korea through non -cooperation and substantial demands. Thus, Rhee was able to significantly determine America’s measures in Korea.
As well as client states, non-aligned third world states were able to influence America and the dynamic of the cold war. The newly found power of decolonized states such as Egypt in influencing the cold war
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