When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

Episode 16: Selective Perspective examines further the American policy towards South Korea in late spring 1950. We open the episode with the arrival of America's ambassador to South Korea John J Muccio (pictured) returning home, to plead in person for the things that Seoul desperately needed. While Muccio did this, the Truman administration set about crafting a perfectly coordinated image of its approach to South Korea, be that through suggestive magazine interviews or tactically ignoring Muccio's recommendations, while giving the impression that he had been listened to.If the order of the day was to stall Muccio, and to momentarily ease Syngman Rhee's fears, then it was mission accomplished.As the Truman administration well understood, their policy towards Korea was being watched by the communists, and any signs of hesitation, of a reluctant or unwillingness to support Rhee's regime could all be construed as signals that Washington wouldn't put up much of a fight if the North invaded. This was what Kim Il-su