MILITARISATION OF THE COLD WAR.

The NSC 68 document was a great read as it was the blue print for much of post 1950 American policy. It influenced defence, foreign, security, economic and domestic policies for decades to come, to such a degree that it would also influence daily life for millions of Americans. Most importantly it influenced an entire generation of US politicians, military leaders and strategic thinkers and to some degree I believ that the World is still influenced by this today - look at Donal Rumsfeld!!.

I also believe that it had far reaching influence in Western academia which has only recently (since late 1990s) challenged the American position and stance (since open access to documents in the former USSR).

The Korean War has a personal link for me, in that my Father-in-Law fought in the conflict as a young man. The Korean War showed showed the protagonists (USA and the West on one side and USSR and China on the other) that it could get ‘hot’. It also provided Congress with evidence of USSR and Chinese communist ‘expansion and collusion’. The linkage of the Korean War and Communist expansion was considered to be the final piece of evidence that proves that the USA has no option but to approve of the policy espoused in NSC 68 and leads to approval of spending plans for a massive militarisation programme by the USA. Soviet Russia will also not boycott the UN Security Council again!

A very interesting period in history. The theatre level decisions in Korea are masively interesting, the Pusan perimeter, use of an amphibious landing and then the fatally flawed decision of US led forces to go all out for "victory" expecting China to set there and let it happen. Original documents are great to read as always.