Re: Muccio-Rhee

[MGH & HJM <bailey@e-scape.net>]

Was wondering if anyone had an opinion of Weintraub's "MacArthur's War" - I
just got the book.

hjm

Marc James Small wrote:

> At 10:32 PM 1/30/02 EST, Jhk789@aol.com wrote:
> >I am not familiar with above statement. MacA may have
> >supported the withdrawal of US troops from S.Korea
> >for tactical reasons at that time, but he certainly did not mean to
> >abandon his good anti-communist friend Rhee.
> >In fact, it was MacA who helped to bring Rhee to
> >power in S.K.
>
> Quite to the contrary.  MacArthur had almost no contact with Rhee prior to
> the Korean War and repeatedly requested to have Korea removed from his
> command area.  In 1948, the State Department proposed that Korea be taken
> out of the US "Zone of Interest" in the Pacific, which, henceforth, would
> be limited to Japan, Formosa, and the Philippines.  FEC was not queried on
> this proposal but any response would have been positive, as FEC just had no
> interest in the peninsula and MacArthur, personally, was MOST openly and
> strongly opposed to any US military presence on the Asian mainland.  (He
> had, in a similar vein, attempted to have the US 15th Infantry removed from
> Tientsin and the Fourth Marines from Shanghai in the 1930's, and vehemently
> opposed any US military involvement in support of the ROC during the Second
> World War.  And MacArthur, as FEC, had worked strenuously to have the
> Marine force in North China removed during 1946 and '47.)
>
> When the decision was made, after consultation with the other occupying
> Allied Powers (the UK, French, and Dutch), the formal announcement was made
> in early 1949 by Dean Acheson, rather to the surprise of the USSR and PRC.
> MacArthur was sent to Korea to inaugurate the change;  this was, I believe,
> the first occasion on which MacArthur met Rhee.  Following this, the only
> US presence in the ROK was through the US State Department and its
> subordinates, such as the MAAC.
>
> Sources, you ask?  Check any of the standard MacArthur biographies
> (Manchester, Clayton James, or Perrett) or the fourth volume of Pogue's
> biography of Marshall, for discussion.  The voluminous correspondence
> between DoD and State over this has now been declassified and is available
> at Suitland;  much of it is also in the MacArthur Library in Norfolk, VA,
> or at the Marshall Library in Lexington, VA.  Ned Almond, then MacArthur's
> Chief of Staff, also has more than a bit to contribute to this.  His 'oral
> history' debriefing is available on the 'Net;  I forget where his papers
> are stored (sadly enough, they are not at VMI) but I can dig this
> information out if anyone is interested.
>
> Finally, IF Stone has never been a creditable interpreter of historical
> events but was rather a political hatchet-man.  His lack of neutrality was
> confirmed by the revelations over the past decade that he was an active,
> and paid, Soviet agent from 1930's until his death.
>
> Marc
>
> msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +276/343-7315
> Cha robh bąs fir gun ghrąs fir!