The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War

by David Halberstam

  “We have to act on our own”: author interview with Phil Peterson.

  without knowing they were Chinese: author interview with Ray Davis.

  Do you ever forgive yourself for some of the things you do in life?: author interview with Bill Richardson.

  as an adviser in Vietnam: author interview with Robert Kies.

  “Custer at the Little Big Horn”: Rovere, Richard, and Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr., The General and the President, p. 136.

  “something from the wreckage”: Blair, Clay, The Forgotten War, p. 391.

  “SOME OF WHICH WERE CHINESE”: Ridgway, Matthew B., The Korean War, p. 59.

  The drive north would continue: Ibid., p. 60.

  “The most elementary caution”: Acheson, Dean, Present at the Creation, p. 466.

  CHAPTER 2

  “with the point of a bayonet”: Goncharov, Sergei, Lewis, John, and Xue Litai, Uncertain Partners, p. 138.

  “strike the Southerners in the teeth”: Ibid., p. 135.

  “Dean really blew it on that one”: author interview with Averell Harriman for The Best and the Brightest.

  still much feared regionally: Goncharov et al., Uncertain Partners, pp. 136–137.

  “from any direct involvement”: Ibid., p. 140.

  “I am ready to help in this matter”: Weathersby, Kathryn, Cold War International History Project, Numbers 6–7, Winter 1995–96.

  quietly taken out and executed: Goncharov et al., Uncertain Partners, p. 144.

  met three times with Stalin: Shen Zhihua, Cold War International History Project, Winter 2003, Spring 2004.

  “You have to ask Mao for all the help”: Goncharov et al., Uncertain Partners, pp. 144–145.

  he had answered “arrogantly”: Chen, Jian, China’s Road to the Korean War, p. 112.

  the Chinese would send troops: Shen Zhihua, Cold War International History Project.

  the north-south rail lines: author interview with Jack Singlaub.

  “out of the question”: Kennan, George F., Memoirs 1925–1950, p. 484.

  “are hitting all along the front”: Goulden, Joseph, Korea, p. 44.

  “FIFTY MILES NORTHWEST SEOUL”: Paige, Glenn D., The Korean Decision, p. 88.

  “it was a very amusing picture”: Myers, Robert, Korea in the Cross Currents, p. 83.

  “the great design of human freedom”: Allison, John, Ambassador from the Plains, p. 130.

  specifically written for Dulles: Paige, Glenn D., The Korean Decision, p. 74.

  “one arm tied behind my back”: Allison, John, Ambassador from the Plains, p. 129.

  “I don’t know what G-2 in Tokyo”: Ibid., p. 131.

  “what was happening in his own backyard”: Ibid., p. 135.

  “such a dejected, completely forlorn”: Ibid., pp. 136–137.

  “symbolic sacrifice alongside his men”: Hastings, Max, The Korean War, p. 65.

  CHAPTER 3

  the greater MacArthur’s role in the creation would be: author interview with Alex Gibney.

  “Let them help themselves”: Leary, William (editor), MacArthur and the American Century, p. 255.

  “as we would California”: Cumings, Bruce, The Origins of the Korean War, Vol. II, p. 233.

  “looked like hell”: Tuchman, Barbara, Stilwell and the American Experience in China, p. 522.

  “swift betterment to their condition”: Myers, Robert, Korea in the Cross Currents, p. 8.

  “the same breed of cat as the Japanese”: Blair, Clay, The Forgotten War, p. 38.

  “crushed in the battle of the whales”: Oliver, Robert T., Syngman Rhee: The Man Behind the Myth, p. 9.

  “either elucidation or explanation”: Myers, Robert, Korea in the Cross Currents, p. 28.

  “The Japs interest me and I like them”: Zimmerman, Warren, First Great Triumph, p. 465.

  “peoples of the civilized world”: Ibid., p. 465.

  “the Japanese imperial wolf”: Myers, Robert, Korea in the Cross Currents, p. 27.

  “utterly unable to do for themselves”: Goulden, Joseph, Korea, p. 7.

  “future redeemer of Korean independence”: Oliver, Robert T., Syngman Rhee: The Man Behind the Myth, p. 111.

  Koreans held on to no such hopes: Myers, Robert T., Korea in the Cross Currents, pp. 36–37.

  parts of the Japanese power structure: Ibid., p. 37.

  “who have suffered for their faith”: Hoopes, Townsend, The Devil and John Foster Dulles, p. 78.

  “much less comfortable with movements”: Hastings, Max, The Korean War, p. 33.

  “corrupt, and wildly unpredictable”: Blair, Clay, The Forgotten War, p. 44.

  CHAPTER 4

  as he was then known in Pyongyang: Spurr, Russell, Enter the Dragon, p. 132.

  “worn the people out”: Scalapino, Robert, and Chong-sik Lee, Communism in Korea, p. 314.

  “more power and autonomy”: Martin, Bradley K., Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader, p. 49.

  “the most among thirty million Koreans”: Armstrong, Charles, The North Korean Revolution, p. 228.

  “Great Sun of democratic new Korea”: Ibid., p. 228.

  CHAPTER 5

  “kickbacks were commonplace”: Blair, Clay, The Forgotten War, p. 51.

  “the same disaster that befell China”: Goulden, Joseph, Korea, p. 34.

  “was simply inexplicable”: Blair, Clay, The Forgotten War, p. 57.

  CHAPTER 6

  “most probably to world war”: Allison, John, Ambassador from the Plains, p. 131.

  “meet them on that basis”: Truman’s writings, the Harry S. Truman Library.

  “which is of great deterrent importance”: Cumings, Bruce, The Origins of the Korean War, Vol. II, p. 48 and p. 780.

  “as near like Tom Pendergast”: McCullough, David, Truman, p. 451.

  “liked the little son of a bitch”: Ferrell, Robert (editor), Off the Record, p. 349.

  “an innocent idealist”: Ibid., p. 452.

  Truman was worthless: Ibid., p. 452.

  “if we don’t put up a fight now”: papers of George Elsey, June 26, 1950, the Harry S. Truman Library.

  “to let them have it!”: Donovan, Robert, The Tumultous Years, p. 197.

  “No one believed that the North Koreans were as strong as they turned out to be”: Ibid., p. 199.

  “I’ll handle the political affairs!” Paige, Glenn D., The Korean Decision, p. 141.

  “Haven’t been so upset since”: letter from Harry Truman to Bess Truman, June 26, 1950, the Harry S. Truman Library.

  “profitless and discreditable”: Isaacson, Walter, and Thomas, Evan, The Wise Men, p. 512.

  arranged a dinner: Wellington Koo oral history, Columbia University Library.

  wanted to concentrate on Korea: McFarland, Keith D., and Roll, David L., Louis Johnson and the Arming of America, pp. 260, 279–280.

  “block headed undertaker”: Isaacson, Walter, and Thomas, Evan, The Wise Men, p. 494.

  “those bandits in Korea suppressed”: George Elsey memo, June 30, 1950, the Harry S. Truman Library.

  “but we can’t be sure they’ll be”: Frank Pace oral history at the Harry S. Truman Library.

  “such a sense of relief and unity”: Goldman, Eric, The Crucial Decade, p. 157.

  “get Herbert Hoover off the can”: D. Clayton James interview with John Chiles, the MacArthur Memorial Library, Norfolk, Virginia.

  CHAPTER 7

  “an ‘untouchable’”: Soffer, Jonathan, General Matthew B. Ridgway, p. 114; Blair, Clay, The Forgotten War, p. 79.

  “usually chose to ignore it”: Eisenhower, Dwight D., At Ease, p. 213.

  “made for lesser men”: Hastings, Max, The Korean War, p. 65.

  “‘the greatest man in history’”: Swanberg, W. A., Luce and His Empire, p. 311.

  “a general too long”: author interview with John Hart.

  “hostile and suspicious foreign government”: Kennan, George F., Memoirs 1925–1950, p. 382.

  not actually gain that medal
for another twenty-seven: Manchester, William, American Caesar, p. 15.

  “within two thousand miles”: Dower, John, War without Mercy, p. 152.

  “It means an imperial policy”: Karnow, Stanley, In Our Image, p. 96.

  used to identify Asians: Dower, John, War without Mercy, p. 151.

  “for whom Christ died”: Karnow, Stanley, In Our Image, pp. 127–128.

  “The ball has begun”: Ibid., p. 140.

  “is a dead one”: Dower, John, War without Mercy, p. 152.

  “If old Dewey had just sailed away”: Karnow, Stanley, In Our Image, p. 106.

  “any less than I do”: Zimmerman, Warren, First Great Triumph, p. 390.

  “like an Asian potentate”: Ibid., p. 391.

  “a comparatively short period”: James, D. Clayton, The Years of MacArthur, Vol. I, p. 39.

  “like Robert E. Lee”: Manchester, William, American Caesar, p. 41.

  “everything he wanted to be”: James, D. Clayton, The Years of MacArthur, Vol. I, p. 347.

  CHAPTER 8

  “great bad man”: Infantry magazine, Spring 2002.

  “of social discipline then”: Manchester, William, American Caesar, p. 26.

  “How am I doing, Dad?” James, D. Clayton, The Years of MacArthur, Vol. III, p. 183.

  “selecting him as one of your Generals,” Manchester, William, American Caesar, p. 93.

  “knows him quite well”: James, D. Clayton, The Years of MacArthur, Vol. I, pp. 169–171.

  his armies at twenty-six: Manchester, William, American Caesar, p. 134.

  CHAPTER 9

  their pilots must be white: Manchester, William, American Caesar, pp. 170–171.

  bottle up the Japanese fleet: Ibid., p. 186.

  “it isn’t the same”: Ibid., p. 281.

  “They’re my allies!”: Ibid., p. 337.

  “since Darius the Great”: Gunther, John, The Riddle of MacArthur, pp. 41–42.

  “and send you home”: Manchester, William, American Caesar, p. 322.

  “blackmail and assault”: Ibid., pp. 149–150.

  “Yes, my friend, of course”: Perret, Geoffrey, Old Soldiers Never Die, p. 157.

  “I told that dumb son”: D’Este, Carlo, Eisenhower, p. 222.

  “Incipient revolution is in”: Eisenhower, Dwight D., At Ease, pp. 216–217.

  “would have been threatened”: Manchester, William, American Caesar, p. 152.

  “the other is Douglas MacArthur”: James, D. Clayton, The Years of MacArthur, Vol. I, p. 411.

  “our worst politician”: MacArthur, Douglas, Reminiscences, p. 96.

  “a lie would serve him just as well”: Manchester, William, American Caesar, p. 240.

  it went out as he directed: Rovere, Richard, and Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr., The General and the President, p. 22.

  “a symbol of our nation”: Lee, Clark, and Henschel, Richard, Douglas MacArthur, p. 87.

  “‘can risk being first rate’”: Gunther, John, The Riddle of MacArthur, p. 23.

  “‘Communists and British imperialists’”: Ibid., p. 42.

  “obvious from the evidence”: Ferrell, Robert (editor), The Eisenhower Diaries, p. 22.

  “of every true patriot”: Rovere, Richard, and Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr., The General and the President, pp. 23–24; Manchester, William, American Caesar, pp. 362–363.

  a MacArthur run: James, D. Clayton, The Years of MacArthur, Vol. III, p. 195.

  “such skunks as”: Ibid., p. 200.

  “whooping it up for MacArthur”: Manchester, William, American Caesar, p. 357.

  “to which I might be called”: Gunther, John, The Riddle of MacArthur, p. 61.

  “is as low as a rug”: Manchester, William, American Caesar, p. 524.

  “Custers, Pattons, and MacArthurs”: Ferrell, Robert (editor), Off the Record, p. 47.

  “Doug didn’t bother me”: Ibid., p. 60.

  only to MacArthur were they sent out: author interview with Bill McCaffrey.

  “tired of fooling around”: Ayers, Eben, Truman in the White House, edited by Robert H. Ferrell, p. 81.

  first with the War Department: James, D. Clayton, The Years of MacArthur, Vol. III, p. 19.

  “cannot spare the time”: Ibid., pp. 22–23.

  “like to pin a medal”: Ibid., p. 22.

  “Wait a minute”: Ibid., p. 19.

  “up to heroic stature”: Ayers, Eben A., Truman in the White House, edited by Robert H. Ferrell, p. 360.

  “you can find all the answers”: James, D. Clayton, The Years of MacArthur, Vol. III, p. 60.; Rovere, Richard, and Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr., The General and the President, p. 92.

  “whipped them just the same”: James, D. Clayton, The Years of MacArthur, Vol. III, p. 109.

  “wasn’t so bad”: Leary, William (editor), MacArthur and the American Century, p. 243.

  for selling out to State: Bradley, Omar, A General’s Life, p. 526.

  CHAPTER 10

  they visited the latrine: author interview with Colonel Jim Hinton.

  for spare parts: author interview with Sam Mace.

  “physically unprepared for war”: Toland, John, interview with Keyes Beech for Mortal Combat, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.

  “at the end of the supply line”: Knox, Donald, The Korean War, Vol. I, p. 10.

  “ill equipped and poorly trained”: Blair, Clay, The Forgotten War, p. 93.

  “except to fight”: Fehrenbach, T. R., This Kind of War, p. 102.

  on the rosy side: Blair, Clay, The Forgotten War, p. 88.

  “no combat soldiers, just a cadre”: James, D. Clayton, The Years of MacArthur, Vol. III, p. 84.

  was not contagious: Beech, Keyes, Tokyo and Points East, pp. 145–146.

  “start riding down the highway”: Hastings, Max, The Korean War, pp. 95–96.

  who were true believers: Ha Jin, War Trash.

  “Let the gooks kill each other”: Knox, Donald, The Korean War, Vol. I, p. 6.

  quickly boarded: Ibid., p. 17.

  “we’ll have no difficulty”: Fehrenbach, T. R., This Kind of War, p. 73.

  “or bottom to top”: author interview with Lieutenant Colonel Fred Ladd.

  so he could at least take: Knox, Donald, The Korean War, Vol. I, pp. 19–21.

  “in Seoul by the weekend”: Warner, Denis, The Opening Round of the Korean War, Military History magazine, June, 2000.

  “36 miles in 36 hours”: Ibid.

  records would be cleaned: Knox, Donald, The Korean War, Vol. I, p. 33.

  get ready for their courts-martial: author interview with William West.

  “It sucked up men from everywhere”: Fehrenbach, T. R., This Kind of War, p. 122.

  barely rubbed off: Appleman, Roy, South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu, pp. 214–215.

  to attack his command: Blair, Clay, The Forgotten War, pp. 186–187.

  “a different and more favorable”: Ibid., p. 187.

  “over here looking for a job”: Ibid., p. 189. Ridgway oral history, U.S. Army War College Library.

  “I couldn’t get you out”: Appleman, Roy, Ridgway Duels for Korea, p. 4.

  CHAPTER 11

  a two-front war: letter from Mike Lynch to Wilson Heefner, courtesy of Heefner.

  “I will not be driven from the Naktong Line”: Walters, Vernon A., Silent Missions, p. 195.

  released to the Eighth Army: Heefner, Wilson, Patton’s Bulldog, pp. 159–160.

  talented, charismatic younger officers: author interview with Sam Wilson Walker.

  skirmishes on the Mexican border: Heefner, Wilson, Patton’s Bulldog, pp. 5–13.

  “fighting little son of a bitch”: author interview with Sam Walker.

  from the Michelin tire advertisements: Thompson, Reginald, Cry Korea, p. 235.

  “what they’re giving me to fight”: author interview with Frank Gibney.

  “George Patton and Douglas MacArthur”: author interview with Sam Walker.

  excessive with compliments: Blair,
Clay, The Forgotten War, p. 35.

  Ridgway and “Lightning” Joe Collins: Blair, Clay, The Forgotten War, p. 35.

  and no sympathy for himself: author interview with Bill McCaffrey.

  Ned the Anointed: Appleman, Roy, Escaping the Trap, p. 45.

  to designate one’s standing with the general: Leary, William (editor), MacArthur and the American Century, p. 241.

  “instinctive knack of ingratiation”: Coleman, J. D., Wonju, p. 93.

  you simply could not speak to a superior that way: author interview with Bill McCaffrey.

  “on a desert island”: Blair, Clay, interview with John Chiles, U.S. Army War College.

  you had to play to his entire team: author interview with Bill McCaffrey.

  “Is this Almond speaking”: Mike Michaelis oral history at U.S. Army War College; author interview with Layton Tyner.

  albeit in a losing war: author interview with Layton Tyner.

  “we will die fighting together”: Heefner, Wilson, Patton’s Bulldog, p. 185; author interview with Layton Tyner; Hastings, Max, The Korean War, p. 84.

  “a defeated Confederate General”: Goulden, Joseph, Korea, p. 201; Lem Shepherd, oral history at Marine Corps History Archive and oral history at Columbia University.

  “August is the month of victory”: Shen Zhihua, Cold War International History Project, Winter 2003, Spring 2004.

  CHAPTER 12

  “direct lineal descendant of FDR”: Smith, Richard Norton, Thomas Dewey and His Times, p. 35.

  “It is a crusade”: Oshinsky, David, A Conspiracy So Immense, pp. 49–50.

  “now a Republican country”: Ibid., p. 53.

  then a traditionally liberal: Ibid., p. 53.

  “horses with blinders on”: Miller, Merle, Plain Speaking, p. 164.

  to $6 or $7 billion a year: Ferrell, Robert (editor), Off the Record, p. 133.

  hurtling over the wires: Collins, Lawton, War in Peacetime, p. 39.

  “no boats, no votes”: Christensen, Thomas, Useful Adversaries, p. 39.

  the rush to demobilize: Heinl, Robert, Victory at High Tide, p. 4.

  “it was a rout”: Ibid., p. 4.

  “out of a paper bag”: Bradley, Omar, with Blair, Clay, A General’s Life, p. 474.