The Forgotten War - Decades in Quick Review

In this paper my goal is to explain what I believe are important parts of each decade from the fifties to the nineties. While I recognize that this is daunting task considering all of the things that have occurred in the history of the United States, I am up to the challenge. The United States has been a rich history of deception, greatness, fighting and scandal. These are the things that make the United States the United States.

The Forgotten War

World War 2 had just ended and Korea soon became a split nation. The Northern part of Korea was ruled by the Soviets and they were communists. The Southern part was supported by the Americans. They were a non-communist area. Now after this split both of the areas had pulled their troops out of Korea in an effort to allow Koreans the chance to create their own government. North Korea, under the rule of the Soviet Union, believed that the United States would never protect South Korea. So using weapons that were supplied by the Soviet Union, North Korea crossed the 38th Parallel. It did not take long for North Korea to take over South Korea. North Korea was hoping to combine Korea under Communist rule. While they may have succeeded considering how fast they took over the important areas of the South, the UN decided to approve an initiative to get North Korea out of the South. So the United States entered in to Korea to help move North Korea back over the 38th Parallel. During this time, The United States Army was run by General Douglas MacArthur.

So after this rundown of the start of the war, I am sure that you are wondering why I feel like this moment represents the 1950’s in American History. To me I feel like this War was a perfect example of the way that the Cold War was played not only by the United States but by the Soviet Union. In an attempt to manipulate the public, Korea was called a “Police Action”. This avoided the Unites States Congress from having to officially declare war. So when the UN troops and the United States troops fought the people back over the 38th Parallel, there was one giant problem. China was not open to those troops being that close to their border. So Truman in an effort to avoid an all out war with China started to try to create a cease fire action. Now while this was an excellent idea, General MacArthur, thought that the United States should storm the 38th parallel and fight China if need be. Truman was completely against this. Truman did not want to risk another World War. So General MacArthur was on the warpath both literally and figuratively. He started to make insubordinate remarks concerning the United States strategy in Korea. At the end of this, Truman dismissed MacArthur to avoid a war, even though many people died anyway.

We Shall Overcome

In the 1960’s there were many different things that could stand out as important as far as the 60’s. You could talk about the counter cultures. Then you could talk about the massive amount of drug use. I feel like that is a disservice, to what I feel was a defining time in United States History.

The Civil rights movement had been going on for many different years. It started in the 1950’s with Brown vs. the Board of Education and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. These things were the catalyst that propelled Blacks into a state of desire to change the behavior of Jim Crow laws and the whites in America. The person that I would like to focus on is Martin Luther King. Now the reason that I choose him is because of his well known persona in the area of civil rights.

Martin Luther King Jr. has had many different things written on him in the time since his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee. The one thing that I am sure that have been written about was his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. On August 28, 1963, A. Philip Randolph planned a March. This March was to protest the unfair treatment of Blacks in America. Its reason was to inspire the United States government to provide equal rights for Blacks and Whites. During this march, Martin Luther King delivered his speech. While there are over 1600 words of the speech there are some key points that I believe embody the whole belief of the civil rights movement.

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” (

This excerpt right here capitalizes what the Blacks of the 1960’s desired. The desire was for the same opportunities that were afforded to their white counterparts. In an effort to obtain this Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The sixties were a time of play for many people but during this time, Blacks were fighting for their lively hood.

Nixing Nixon

Richard Nixon was the thirty seventh president of the United States. He had long held a political career, even before winning the race for the White House in 1969. During his time in office there were many people who were mounting a protest against the behavior of the United States in Vietnam. While coming in amidst the conservatives, disapproval of counterculture and protests of the Vietnam War, he pulled in the people who are disapproving of these groups. They elected him to office by a narrow Margin. While in office, Nixon followed a foreign policy that tried to take the profit out of war and create a peaceful way so that all people can coexist. Nixon was the only president to visit not only all 50 states but also, the Soviet Union and the Peoples Republic of China.

Nixon also tried to find a way to move troops out of Vietnam, he believed in what was termed Vietnamization. This was the effort to replace United States troops with Vietnamese troops. This was a pretty good idea and by 1973 the United States Troops were out of Vietnam. So you would think just these two things right here would send Nixon down in Presidential infamy. I mean lets be real, these two things are something that other presidents had failed at miserably as far as war and foreign policy. This would not be the fact though. So what is