Where the boys are: Kansans and the Korean War.

Abstract

Jubilant over the victory of World War II, America saw it self as the defender of democracy, but soon America's confidence would be shaken in the Cold War. While communism advanced, McCarthyism spread throughout America. As a result, Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower devoted much of their foreign policy agendas to containing communism. The containment policy had been in place only five years after the end of World War II, when suddenly North Koreans crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded South Korea. Millions of Americans answered the call to protect the world's democracy during the Korean War and the war's aftermath. Among those who responded were thirty-four Kansans who were supported by their loved ones at home. Having served at different times and in different locations, the Kansans were bound together by their experiences during the war, thousands of miles from home in a country few knew. The Korean War servicemen and their loved ones gave a part of their lives, their hopes, and their dreams for a war which many Americans have forgotten. This thesis tells the story of the Korean War largely from the point of view of the Kansas servicemen and their families who were interviewed for this project. In twenty chapters, major episodes and controversial issues of the Korean War are narrated and then illustrated by autobiographical and anecdotal material from the interviews. Based on evidence from the interviews, the Korean War did shape and change the lives of American servicemen and their families.