Michael thank you very much, 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. The memory of the war, the public memory 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. At this point, i see two themes developing through my work. One is that the public memory of the korean war has evolved over time and continues to evolve. All memories of traumatic events, particularly wars, change over time. In the case of the korean war this is particularly so because the war is not over yet. There is only an armistice that 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 have been to south korea. This is Douglas Macarthur overlooking the bay at inchon. 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 incheon, to see where the famous landing had taken place in september of 1950. Incheon was a much different place at that time than it is today, with huge container ships and thousands, maybe tens of thousands of hyudnais and kias ready to be shipped abroad. They cannot drive the 30 miles to seoul in a new automobile. It is home to one of the worlds most modern and uptodate international airports. One thing that remains the same 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. There 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 in the first place korea would , be united, but under the guys from the north. They said no, macarthur wanted to unite korea, and that is why macarthur was fired by truman. I tried to explain it but it was not the way it happened. But 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 during my upcoming fulbright to korea, we will have to see. That was my first introduction to the conflicted and competing memories of the korean war. The war began 67 years ago and one day. That was june 25, 1950 that the North Koreans attacked. It was a particularly brutal war. In many ways it was a civil war, but also in International Conflict instigated by the soviet union. Soon, the chinese were involved as well as the americans and the u. N. It was a war in which the civilian population got caught up in the war. One in 10 koreans, both north and south, died during the 3year conflict. Hundreds of thousands of others, millions really were injured in one way or another. Thousands of orphans on both sides. A very tragic event. The American Public was dissatisfied with the war the way it was being fought. It was a limited war. Not being fought for what americans believed at the time how we fought wars. We fought for unconditional surrender. They really never did that, even world war ii kind of finessed the issue of the japanese emperor. The public, as the war dragged on into a stalemate, lost interest. News of the warm moved from the front page to the midsection of the newspapers. Americans also became concerned about the issue of the atrocities that were committed by the North Koreans. News of atrocities committed by 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 who were making confessions to being war criminals, to using chemical weapons. Which was later proved not to be the case but 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 themselves 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 this concerned that maybe the 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 obviously had been brainwashed and turned into a kind of zombie, not even aware of the tender loving care being administered him by this attractive young nurse. Hunter, i read a quote of his testimony before the House 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. He can dig no coal. The objective of communist warfare is to capture intact the minds of the people and their possessions so they can be put to use. This rather scary notion that 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 dangerous. Maybe programmed to do damage to the United States once they returned. Immediately following the war, and actually even during the war Popular Culture began to , interpret events. This is a poster from a movie they came helmet, out in 1951. In the first full year of the war there was already a hollywood movie. This dealt with refugees fleeing from the north in which the communist north korea had intermixed in their own soldiers disguised as refugees. Once they got behind the american lines they did considerable damage. This was a common tactic in the early years of the war. It is interesting that a very wellmade movie that came out in 1951, with an months of the outbreak of the war itself. Another popular movie, the bridges at tokori, this came out after the war, 1955. It deals with the servicemen pilot played by William Holden who is called back into service. Leaves behind his wife, played by grace kelly. Their two young daughters. Great footage of the aircraft taking off and landing on aircraft carriers. 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 movie like the next one, sayonara, which starred marlon brando, that was occupied japan at the time of the korean war. What is significant is their portrayal of japanese in a very popular and sympathetic manner. It is real change from a decade earlier at the end of world war ii. And certainly during 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. To gregory pecks right is woody strode. He made a number of movies. Was also one of the first black Football 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 realities of trench warfare and the 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. [laughter] not to worry. Actually Ronald Reagan is a military officer deliberately 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 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. In this movie, newman is a returning war veteran in 1956. A decorated veteran. It turns out that while he was in a p. O. W. Camp he collaborated with the enemy and was accused of treason by another soldier in the same p. O. W. Camp. Lee marvin. Probably the most famous movie of all, this came out in 1962. The manchurian candidate starring Frank Sinatra and angela lansbury. In this case a soldier has been totally brainwashed and program to come back to the United States to assassinate a president ial candidates so that a candidate under the control of the communist that will win the election. Done of all the movies about the korean war, m. A. S. H. Might be the most popular. Then of course there was a very popular tv series. But it was really about the vietnam war, not the korean war. It happened to be set in korea, but the theme of antiwar activities on part of the doctors and soldiers is something you see in the vietnam era. But the korean war ended in 1953 in july, at least the major , military operations. With only an armistice, a ceasefire. Hostilities continued across the border, the new demilitarized zone, which replaced the 30th 38th parallel as a dividing line. There were numerous instances, perhaps the most famous was the capture by the North Koreans of the uss pueblo in 1968. The crew was held prisoner. Again they were subjected to , harsh and brutal treatment. Here is the commander. Here is some of his crew. They were supposed to be posing for a picture to show how well they were treated and fooled their north korean cap this by Getting International sign of friendship there. [laughter] they suffered some setbacks because of that. It really did not help their treatment integrity in captivity when the North Koreans found out what they had done. The opinion of the war as maybe 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 maybe south korea is doing pretty well. That was followed the following year by the collapse of the soviet union, which then led to the economic collapse of the democratic peoples republic of north korea which is been underwritten by 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 he was in pretty back condition in the early 1990s. Time the South Koreans begin to memorialize the war. They begin planning a gigantic korean war museum. This is the outside of the museum. The theme 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 p. O. W. s, 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. This war was 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 and museum. This is just one side 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, is 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. In keeping with the recognition of the support of the u. N. Command, there are these huge columns inside the museum that have these polished granite slabs on which there are the names. This is a metallic piece. It has the names of those who died fighting in the korean war from all the various allied nations. Korea also is very proud of its proud to host American Veterans. This is a slide at took last summer on a visit to korea. These are young military officers. They are not so young. I thought they were like college majorsut they are korean who are giving this veteran a tour of a Historic Site in the southern part of south korea. The event commemorating the korean war. 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, in acknowledgment of the support from the the u. N. Command, but also helps the south korean regime and its claim as a legitimate government of all of korea. 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. His philosophy of juche still a , dominant philosophy in north korea. It means independence and keeping away from any kind of foreign help. Generally selfreliance would be the best term. Throughout the guidebook i have not been to north korea, but i am indebted to a former Woodrow Wilson scholar for writing the english language guide to the north korean museum. Almost every page has a picture of kim ilsung. A young man brilliantly leading his troops here at there are no mentions of the chinese even though they sent hundreds of thousands of troops to support the North Koreans. There is almost no mention there is no mention of the soviet union, which provided all the arms and equipment for the early attack in 1950, and also the military planning. That brings us as we move up in our look at how the war has been memorialized, the Korean War Memorial here on the mall. It wasnt until 1984, two years after the Vietnam Veterans memorial was dedicated that the 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, raised money, and built their own very dramatic memorial on the national mall. Unlike the building of the Korean War Memorial, just the planning alone, people complained 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 State University who had produced the winning design withdrew from the products because so many changes were made. They decided it would not be a wall of remembrance. Instead there is a kiosk to the side. If you are not paying attention, you might miss it. If you want to know who the casualties in the war are, you can go to the kiosk enters a touchscreen computer. You type in the name. I typed in general Walton Walker and there it is. The Korean War Memorial was dedicated in the 1990s during the time of president bill clinton. Like the Korean War Memorial 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. This is a memorial in honolulu, hawaii. There are now about 28 states and untold communities, College Campuses around the country that have memorials. I only know of 28 states, but i know several of the communities. If you search the website every day there is something additional. I show this as an example because these two ushaped structures, one