The Korean War and American Politics

The shaping of American foreign policy by partisan politics is the timely theme of this book. The focus is on the Republican Party's response to the Korean War and the Party's rise to power during first "limited war" officially proclaimed by the United States.

The book traces the changing character of the Party during the 1940s and 1950s, from its postwar struggles between the noninterventionists and the internationalists, through the debates over the supremacy of Europe or of Asia in U.S. foreign policy, the frustrating operations of a limited war, and finally the political strategies of settlement and compromise leading to the election of President Eisenhower.

In this well documented study, Ronald J. Caridi applies Norman Graebner's test of a political party's wisdom: in attempting to expand its influence through the successful use of foreign policy symbols, do the assumptions of the party form the basis of responsible alternatives that recognize national limitations? The research here indicates failure in that test, although the Republican Party, in a now familiar role, had been successful in transforming popular discontent into political victory.

The spirit, issues, and personalities of the times are illustrated by reprints of Herblock cartoons of the period.