FYI, I had a class on the then-recent diplomatic history of the US, circa 1981, with a prof who was retired State Dept.
One day, when discussing the Korean War, he told us something that he said, “You won’t see in any history texts.” Specifically, he said that after Ike had won the 1952 election, but before he was inaugurated, he was very upset about the continued carnage and about the plight of US prisoners. So he passed word, very discreetly, to the Norks, that if they didn’t release ALL of our prisoners very shortly after he got into office, he’d nuke their asses even further back into the Stone Age than they already were. Needless to say, they took seriously this threat from a former 5-star general who had literally led millions of men in an all-out assault against Festung Europa. Our guys were released not terri bly long after Ike assumed office.
I am sure that the willingness of the Norks to be serious about negotiations had something to do with what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Russian and Chinese worries about riling up a nuclear-armed US.
[ FYI, I had a class on the then-recent diplomatic history of the US, circa 1981, with a prof who was retired State Dept.
One day, when discussing the Korean War, he told us something that he said, “You won’t see in any history texts.” Specifically, he said that after Ike had won the 1952 election, but before he was inaugurated, he was very upset about the continued carnage and about the plight of US prisoners. So he passed word, very discreetly, to the Norks, that if they didn’t release ALL of our prisoners very shortly after he got into office, he’d nuke their asses even further back into the Stone Age than they already were. Needless to say, they took seriously this threat from a former 5-star general who had literally led millions of men in an all-out assault against Festung Europa. Our guys were released not terri bly long after Ike assumed office.
I am sure that the willingness of the Norks to be serious about negotiations had something to do with what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Russian and Chinese worries about riling up a nuclear-armed US. ]
that is an awesome story!
Yeah, the Tragedy of the Korean War was that it was the first “UN War” and the first of many UN wars that is STILL being fought today....