Korean peninsula remains a major concern of u. S. Foreignpolicy. Up next on American History tv, former director of the Harry S Truman president ial library Michael Devine gives a presentation entitled the korean war remembered. Andg photographs, posters artwork, hollywood films and personal experiences, mr. Devine examines the public and Popular Culture memory of the korean war. Woodrow Wilson Center in washington, d. C. Hosted this hourlong event. Michael thank you very charles for the kind introduction. I am pleased to be here at the woodrow Wilson Center as a fellow. It has been a great experience the last several weeks and i look forward to another bit of research and fellowship here at the center. The work i am going to talk about today is a work in progress. This will eventually be a booklength manuscript describing the korean war and how it is remembered, primarily in the United States, but north and south korea and some of the other countries that were major participants in the korean war. I think this topic is important because it helps us understand the Current Situation in east asia, how those countries get along, what is behind some of the tensions that continue to exist. Of war and the public memory the war has impacted american policymakers and political decisions. I think it is important to understand the memory of the war in order to understand ourselves as americans and as a society. Themes point, i see two developing through my work. One is, the public memory of the korean war has evolved over time and continues to evolve. Traumatices of events, particularly wars, change over time. In the case of the korean war this is particularly so because the war is not over yet. Armistice thatn has halted the Major Military operations. Also to understand the korean war, one needs to look at it, i believe, in the international context. That will be something i will talk a little bit about today. The first image i am presenting here is one that is familiar to many who defended south korea. This is Douglas Macarthur overlooking the bay in china. I arrived in korea 47 years ago, a little more than that now, as a young, twentysomething peace corps volunteer. One of the first places i wanted to visit was in china, to see where the famous landing had taken place in september of 1950. A much different place at that time than it is today. Container ships and thousands, maybe tens of of things ready to be shipped abroad. They cannot drive the 30 miles new automobile. It is home to one of the worlds most modern and uptodate international airports. One thing that remains the same is the statue of macarthur overlooking the bay. I was with some students at that time and i said, that is a really wonderful statue of general macarthur. That should also be one of harry truman. They said, no, truman was bad. It is because of truman that korea is divided. I said, isnt that the good news . If truman had not sent macarthur korea would be united, but under the guys from the north. Korea,ur wanted to unite and that is why macarthur was fired by truman. I try to explain it but it was not the way it happened. I was unsuccessful at that time. Unfortunately now, 47 years later, that is the prevailing attitude in korea. Whether i will have the chance to change minds very much, we will have to see. Introductionirst to the conflicted and competing memories of the korean war. Began 67 years ago and one day. June 20 5, 1950 that the North Koreans attacked. It was a particularly brutal war. A civil war,it was but also in International Conflict instigated by the soviet union. Soon, the chinese were involved as well as the americans and the u. N. Theas a war in which civilian population got caught up in the war. 10 koreans, both north and south, died during the threeyear conflict. Others, of thousands of millions, were injured in one way or another. Thousands of orphans on both sides. A very tragic event. WasAmerican Public dissatisfied with the war the way it was being fought. It was a limited war. Being fought for what americans believed at the time we fought for unconditional surrender. Evenreally never did that, world war ii, finessed the issue of the japanese emperor. The war dragged on into a newsmate, lost interest, of the warm moved from the front page to the midsection of the newspapers. Americans became concerned about atrocities that were committed by the North Koreans, news of atrocities committed by the u. N. Command was kept largely silent until recent decades. American prisoners of war were badly abused and it soon became apparent that there were prisoners that were making confessions to being war criminals, to using criminal using chemical weapons. It proved not to be the case, but yet they did that. Americans became concerned that maybe the veterans returning from the war, and they returned on a rotating basis after the accumulated points for their services, there were no parades to welcome them. Veterans became disillusioned with their service and many spent the next decades trying to forget the war. Another issue that came up during the war, especially with the defection of some p. O. W. s making false confessions, was that maybe american soldiers were easily subjected to brainwashing. The term brainwashing comes about during the korean war. It was devised by a journalist from miami named edward hunter. Here is an american soldier who had been brainwashed and turned into a kind of zombie, not even aware of the tender loving care being administered him by this attractive loving nurse. A testimony quote, before the house of Unamerican Activities Committee in the 1950s, claiming that war has changed its form. The communist had discovered that a man killed by a bullet is useless. Coal. Dig no the objective of communist warfare is to capture in tact the minds of the people and their possessions, so they can be put to use. Thatrather scary notion prisoners of war had been subjected to some sort of treatment, some sort of psychological warfare that had turned them into, again, zombies or people who had lost their ability to think and identify with their own personalities, people who may actually be trained to do damage to the United States once they returned. Immediately following the law following the war, Popular Culture began to interpret events. Movies a poster from a that came out in 1951. In the first full year of the war there was already a hollywood movie. This dell with refugees fleeing from the north. In which the communist north korea had intermixed in their own soldiers, disguised as refugees. They got behind the american lines they did considerable damage. This was a common tactic in the early years of the war. , a veryteresting wellmade movie that came out in 1951. Produced within months of the out break of the war itself. Thispopular movie came out after the war, 1955, it deals with the servicemen pilot played by William Holden who leaves behind his wife, played by grace kelly. And there two young daughters. A great shot of the aircraft taking off and landing. It is based on a James Michener book. It was one of the more popular movies in terms of Box Office Success related to the korean war. This one like the next one, brando,a, with marlon that was occupied japan at the time of the korean war. What is significant is their portrayal of japanese in a very popular sympathetic manner. It is real change from a decade earlier, at the end of world war ii. Another popular movie at the time, based on a military historians book pork chop hill, this starred gregory peck and others you may recognize. Right isry pecks woody stroke. He made a number of movies. One of the first black players in the National Football league. In 1939 played in ucla as jackie robinson. An interesting character in his own right. This movie deals with the harsh andities of trench warfare frustration of fighting a war in which preserving the status quo is the objective rather than a total victory. Here we have Ronald Reagan hanging out with some communist. My goodness. Not to worry. Is a military officer to liberally placed in a situation where he is captured by the North Koreans and chinese to be interrogated. His real job is to check up on what is really going on in these prisoner of war cant. Camps. This movie is called prisoner of war and came out in 1959. There he is making a false confession to american war crimes. Again, it is something that has been set up. It is for a good cause. Here we have paul newman on the righthand side. This is a movie called the rack. Is ais movie, paul newman returning war veteran in 1956. It turns out that while he was in a pow camp. He collaborated with the enemy camps, he collaborated with the enemy and was accused of treason by another soldier in the same p. O. W. Camp. Probably the most famous movie of all, this came out in 1962. The manchurian candidate starring Frank Sinatra and angela lansbury. Totallyhas been brainwashed and program to come back to the United States to assassinate a president ial , a candidate under the control of the communist that will win the election. Movies done about the. A. S. H. Ar m then of course there was a very popular tv series. Theit was really about vietnam war, not the korean war. It happened to be set in korea, but the antiwar activities on part of the doctors and soldiers is something you see in the vietnam era. The korean war ended in 1953 in july, at least the Major Military operations. With only an armistice, a ceasefire. Hostilities increased across the border, the new demilitarized zone, which replaced the 30th parallel as a dividing line. There were numerous instances, perhaps the most famous was, the capture of the North Koreans by the u. S. In 1968. The crew was held prisoner. To brutalsubjected treatment. Here is the director. Here is they fully very north korean captives by giving the International Sign of friendship there. [laughter] they suffered some setbacks because of that. This really didnt help their treatment in captivity when the North Koreans found out what they had done. War as maybef the unnecessary, maybe something that could have been avoided, something that if we fought it, we should have fought for complete victory rather than this divided korea, this persists in the 1960s and 1970s on up into the 1980s. American veterans try to forget the war. They are not feeling good about it, nor does the American Public feel good about it. What is left in south korea seems to be an impoverished military dictatorship. It really isnt so much better than the north. This all changes in 1988 with the summer olympics. That is not my original opinion. There are a number of others, including a scholar here some years ago. Suddenly the public saw glistening skyscrapers, beautiful olympic facilities, a very wellmanaged olympic event, and got the impression that they be south korea is doing pretty well. That was followed that was that wasg year followed the following year by the collapse of the soviet union. A few years later, south korea had its first truly democratic elections. It appeared briefly in the early 1990s that the north korean regime might implode because of the famine, the poverty that existed, and what was perceived as possible political weakness that would occur once the founder of the regime died and was in pretty bad condition in the early 1990s. Koreanse the south begin to memorialize the war. They begin planning a gigantic korean war museum. This is the outside of the museum. The theme of the bcm of the museum, there are really two themes. One is peace and reconciliation with the north. The brutality of the war, the harsh treatment of south korean pows, as well as those in the u. N. Command, the wartime atrocities. These things are all played down. The key is that koreans are all brothers, that somehow they should be united. Perpetrated by outside forces that instigated the north korean attack. The other theme is the International Support that the south korean government had during the war. You see it very prominently displayed outside the front of the museum, the flags of the 22 countries that provided some form of assistance to south korea in the military or humanitarian, during the korean war. This is a famous statue right in front of the museum that shows the two korean brothers embracing, the larger brother, as you might expect, as the south korean. He is fully armed. The little guy is the north korean, who is embracing his older, better armed, and much stronger big brother, but reconciliation is clearly the theme here. The recognition of the support of the u. N. Command, there are these huge columns inside the museum that have these polished granite on which there are the names. I guess this is a metallic piece. It has the names of those who died fighting in the korean war from all the various allied nations. Itsa also is very proud of proud to host American Veterans. This is a sly at took last summer on a visit to korea. These are this is a slide i took last summer on a visit to korea. They are actually korean majors who are giving this veteran a two or of a Historic Site that are in a veteran a tour of this Historic Site. Thousands of American Veterans have been invited back. There are groups that arrange charter flights. Once they are in korea, all their expenses are paid by the south korean government. Again, and acknowledgment of the support from the human command, but also the u. N. Command, koreano helps the south regime and its claim. On the other hand, the exhibits in north korea are all about the great leader and his fearless leadership, brilliant leadership, and brilliant victory. Never defeated in battle. Which is still a dominant philosophy in north korea, that means and pendants that means independence and keeping away from any kind of foreign help. Generally selfreliance would be the best term. Guidebook i have not been to north korea, but i am indebted to a former scholar foron writing the english light which guide englishlanguage guide to the north Korean Museum pagepicture has each has a picture of kim ilsung. There are no mentions of the chinese even though they sent hundreds of thousands of troops to support the North Koreans. No mention of the soviet union, which provided all the arms and equipment for the earliest attack in 1950, and also the military planning. That brings us as we move up in our look at how the war has been , the Korean War Memorial here on the mall. It wasnt until 1984, 2 years after the Vietnam Veterans therial was dedicated, that First NationalKorean War Veterans Association was even organized. They began immediately to lobby for their own recognition. It is only after the Vietnam Veterans have lobbied successfully come raised money, and build their own very dramatic memorial on the national mall. The building of the Korean War Memorial, just the planning alone, people complain it took longer than fighting the war. There was all kinds of disputes between the original architect, the one he designed. Eventually people from penn who hadiversity produced the design withdrew from the products because so many changes were made. They decided it would not be a wall of her members. Instead there is a kiosk wall of remembrance. Instead there is a kiosk to the side. You can go and there is a touchscreen computer, and you can type in the name, and it shows up. The Korean War Memorial was dedicated in the 1990s during the time of president bill clinton. Like the korean war like the vietnam war memorial, it was built with private money, instigated by the veterans themselves. This led to kind of a boom in memorializing wars on the national mall. We now have a world war ii memorial as well. When the Korean War Memorial was being planned, even though the world war ii veterans didnt initiate this, the public thought this is the greatest generation. They should have their memorial on the mall. So they eventually got one as well. Is a memorial in honolulu, hawaii. There are now about 28 states and untold communities, College Country thatnd the have memorials. I only know of 28 states but i know several of the communities. Every day there is something additional. I show this as an example ushapedhese two structures, one is for vietnam, and one is for korea. It is the only combined vietnam and korea memorial that i know of, just outside the capital of honolulu. It was very controversial in the design phase. It went on for some time. The names are actually on these little granite stones there. Here we are back at the Korean War Memorial. Memorializing anything that is of interest still to people is always a complex process, particularly in a democracy. You have the artist, the , publicts, the veterans boards and commissions all have to weighin. Issues have their own that they want to bring to the floor. Satisfying everyone is impossible. Certainly there have been many critics of the Korean War Memorial here, as well as critics of the memorials that exists throughout the country. However, i think for the most part, they do what they are intended to do. They provide a place of remembrance where p