Korean War #46: Atomic Diplomacy

When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

Zack Twamley

Phd, International Relations, Korean War, European History, 17th Century, 18th Century, Politics, 20th Century, Thirty Years' War, History, 19th Century, War, First World War

4.8 • 773 Ratings

🗓️ 26 October 2018

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Episode 46: Atomic Diplomacy looks at the fascinating tactic supposedly made use of by the Eisenhower administration in the first half of 1953. This policy of threatening nuclear war if the communists did not see sense worked, so the conventional account suggests, and it worked because NSC68 had so empowered American defensive capabilities. However, as we’ll see in this episode, Eisenhower’s tactic was neither completely successful nor was it unprecedented. In fact, to set the background by what we mean when we talk about atomic diplomacy, in this episode we’ll examine not Eisenhower’s, but Truman’s consistent approach to that weapon in diplomatic negotiations, while we also assess the general perspective of the political and military staffs of the early 1950s.

The result is a surprising but also critically important set of take aways – not only was Truman unsuccessful in his efforts to bluster with the atomic bomb, he also learned from these failures, and refrained from threatening the communists from spring 1951. This gap enabled the Eisenhower administration, or more accurately John Foster Dulles, to claim that the new brand of atomic diplomacy was a great success, and played a leading role in ending the war. The truth, as we’ll learn, was far from so straightforward.

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Music used:

“Take Me Out To The Ball-game”, by the Hayden Quartet released in 1908. This classic should be familiar to everyone, even those like myself who don’t know what’s going on if they watch a baseball game! Available: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Hadyn_Quartet/Antique_Phonograph_Music_Program_04212015/Take_Me_Out_to_the_Ballgame_-_Hadyn_Quartet

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Hello and welcome history friends patrons all to the Korean War episode 46.
0:33.2	Last time our story looked at Eisenhower and the president's determination to find some way to ratchet up the pressure on the Communists and end the Korean War.
0:42.6	We learned that even while his visit to South Korea, and his subsequently belligerent talk suggested that a great offensive, possibly at the atomic variety, may well have been on the cards,
0:52.8	it was far more likely that Eisenhower was building
0:54.9	up a picture for the communists to see, have a prepared and poised United States, ready to do
1:00.0	whatever was necessary to end the war.
1:02.3	He was bluffing, in other words, but bluffing in only the way that President Eisenhower
1:06.2	could.
1:07.1	We noted that even here it was entirely possible that other facts were to blame for the communist decision to call for meaningful peace talks at the end of March, 1953, not least of which may well have been Stalin's death in early March, 1953.
1:20.6	The Korean War was very much that Soviet leader's conflict, and now that he was dead, much of the spirit seemed to have gone
1:28.3	out of the war. For one, the Soviets were no longer willing to block any efforts to achieve peace,
1:33.1	since Moscow was no longer aiming to further alienate Beijing and Washington, as Stalin had tried to do.
1:38.8	In this episode, we reconcile these ideas, but above all, we delve into the idea of atomic diplomacy.
1:45.4	Why was it used? Was it successful? Head did the United States regard the use of the atomic bomb in general, both in the
1:50.3	only government that ever launched such a weapon in anger, and in Eisenhower's, which came after?
1:56.7	Let's find out as we tackle this fascinating question.
2:10.6	The Song of the Week this week is brought to you by... Well, it's actually brought to you by the Versailles Anniversary Project.
2:14.2	Yes, indeed.
2:14.9	The Versailles Anniversary Project is something very, very exciting,
2:18.4	history, friends. And you might, if you are plugged into when Ploncy Fails on social media,
2:22.9	you might be aware that it's on the way on the 11th of November, 2018, in other words, the
2:28.6	100th anniversary of the signing of the Armistus. But if you weren't aware, this is your official notice.
	...

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