policy - The Black Vault

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indicated that 57 percent of those polled believed that the Korean conflict
represented the opening round of World War III. The experience of watching
the fascist powers attackiprv
,eak, smaller states before World War II had
convinced many Americans tidt threats had to be met with strength.
most Americans grimly approved of President Truman's early commitment of US 13
forces to combat in Korea. Columnists Joseph and Stewart Alsop wrote:
Thus,
"The whole momentous meaning of President Truman's decision to meet force
with force in Korea can only be grasped in the light of what would surely
have happened if he had decided otherwise. For there can be no doubt that
the aggression in Korea was planned as only the first of a whole series of
demonstrations of Russian strength and Western weaKness,
designed to lead
to the crumbling of the Western will to resist." 15/
in order to find a base for comparing popular support for both
the Korean and Vietnam wars, it is important to identify questions that
were consistently asked in the public opinion polls in both periods. In
addition, the questions should be phrased in a way that provides opportunity
for the respondents to express their opinion about the war.
should not be leading questions like, "Do
There
you support our President's
efforts to protect the national interests in Korea (Vietnam)?"
which meets the consistence criteria is the 'mistake question.'
A question
During the
Korean War Gallup asked "Do you think the United States made a mistake i.1
going into war in Korea, or not?" Concerning Vietnam, Gallup asked, "In
view of the developments since we entered the fighting in Vietnam, do you
think the United States made
Vietnam?"
a mistake in sending troops to fight in
The question was consistently asked by Gallup during both wars,
and the trends evident in his findings were corroborated by the results
obtdined by other opinion poll organizations during the Korean War.
Figure 1-1 indicates the nature of those findings and their relationship to
events that occurred during the war. 16/
The figure indicates that initially public support for the Korean
War was strong. That suipport was directly related to the United Nation's
approval of US actions and the success of American arms beginning with the
Inchon landing and the breakout from the Pusan Perimeter. ihe data
V
1-8
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