1+Justification+for+American+Involvement


 * Basis for Intervention**

Following the Communist's North's invasion of South Korea, the United States found itself in a moral and international dilemma. South Korea largely stood for the principles which Americans held dearly: democracy, capitalism, and personal freedoms. Also, by assisting the South, the United States would help to ensure that Communism's influence would be halted from further expansion. However, intervening in the Korean War put the United States in a dangerous position, as the USSR supported the North with financial and military aid. By entering the war, the United States would find itself heating the Cold War and potentially opening the door for a third world war. Yet, as one author notes, "Within two years of the end of the second war the Truman Administration had promulgated a containment policy against the USSR which was not meant to destroy communism but to halt its expansion. Thus even before the Korean War there was widespread dissatisfaction in the United States at a policy which could not be projected in the tradition Utopian terms. Then, in June 1950, came the North Korean invasion" (Rees 12).


 * Superpower Rivalry**

The North's aggression presented an opportunity for the American government to prove its mettle on its containment policy. If the United States failed to aid the South and halt communism's expansion, the Soviet Union could interpret America's failure to reinforce its principles as an essential weakness, and the Soviets may be encouraged to support various other communist factions worldwide as a result. Fortunately for Southern Korea, President Harry S. Truman was not a man willing to cede any power to the Soviet Union. In 1946 Truman proved his strong-willed foreign policy by supporting West Berlin with the famed Berlin Airlift, in which the United States provided aid to Berliners through a series of air-drops following the USSR's attempt to isolate and eventually annex Berlin by blockading its Western Sector from the United States and its allies. Through the airlift, the Soviets ended their blockade and began focusing their expansionist ideas elsewhere. President Truman also met success with his famed, "Truman Doctrine," in which he pledged to support any nation under the threat of falling to communism. The United States supported the Greek government in its successful quelling of communism rebels who were largely supported by the Soviet Union. Thus, through his earlier victories in preventing the spread of communism, President Truman was likely bolstered by his containment policy, and Korea likely seemed like another opportunity to prevent Communism's expansion.