{"id":1984811,"date":"2023-07-28T05:05:02","date_gmt":"2023-07-28T09:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mike-gallagher-and-the-lessons-of-korea\/"},"modified":"2023-07-28T05:08:54","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T09:08:54","slug":"mike-gallagher-and-the-lessons-of-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mike-gallagher-and-the-lessons-of-korea\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Gallagher&#8217;s Korea Lessons"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">8<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmike-gallagher-and-the-lessons-of-korea%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1984811&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>I\u2063 was a bad pupil<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I was a bad pupil. Showed up late. Left early. Forgot my textbook. Barely \u200cspoke.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Fortunately, this was no ordinary\u200b class. There were no grades. And\u2064 I \u2062was there merely to observe congressman Mike Gallagher (R.,\u200c Wis.) and Aaron \u200cMacLean of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies lead 20\u200c students \u200din a week-long <a href=\"https:\/\/hertogfoundation.org\/programs\/security-studies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hertog Foundation<\/a> seminar on the Korean war.<\/p>\n<h3>The Forgotten War<\/h3>\n<p>The strife \u2062began on June 25, 1950, when the \u2062Communist Democratic People&#8217;s Republic of Korea suddenly invaded \u200bthe American-aligned\u2062 Republic of Korea. An underequipped \u200dand ill-trained U.S. \u200bforce \u200dwas caught by\u200b surprise. The\u2062 subsequent intervention, dubbed \u2064a \u200b&#8221;police action&#8221;\u2062 and conducted under the auspices of the United Nations, lasted from 1950 to 1953. The combatants agreed to an armistice 70 years ago this week.<\/p>\n<p>More than 36,000 U.S. \u2064servicemen\u2014and hundreds of thousands of\u2063 South Koreans\u2014were killed in action. The whereabouts \u200cof \u2062some 7,000 of our soldiers remain unknown. And around\u2063 30,000 American \u2063personnel remain stationed in \u2062the\u2064 Republic of \u200cKorea, where they guard the 38th Parallel that divides \u200cthe\u200c free people of the south from the nuclear-armed enslavers in the north.<\/p>\n<p>Korea was the first \u2062sign \u200cthat the Cold War between the United\u200b States and the\u200c Soviet Union \u200dwould be hot indeed. This &#8220;Forgotten War,&#8221;\u200b sandwiched between World War\u200b II and Vietnam, holds cautionary lessons in intelligence, preparedness, statesmanship, and historical contingency and unpredictability. Such lessons are relevant\u2064 as America enters a period of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-u-s-commander-we-must-assume-very-real-possibility-that-we-may-need-to-use-nukes-against-china-russia\/\" title=\"Top U.S. Commander: We Must Assume \u2018Very Real Possibility\u2019 That We May Need To Use Nukes Against China, Russia\">great power competition<\/a> with\u2062 the People&#8217;s Republic of \u200dChina, whose forces joined\u2064 the war in October 1950 and are the reason that North Korea exists today.<\/p>\n<p>As chairman of the <a href=\"https:\/\/selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party<\/a>, Mike Gallagher has held a series of high-profile \u200bhearings\u200b on the threat\u2064 that Communist China poses to American liberty, security, and prosperity. He\u200b is\u2063 among\u200b the most important foreign-policy voices in the GOP and a rising\u200c leader \u200cin his party.\u2064 His view\u2062 of this contest \u2064for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/putins-war-against-the-west-is-just-beginning\/\" title=\"Putin\u2019s War Against the West Is Just Beginning\">global supremacy<\/a> ought to be taken seriously. Korea was the last war in which America fought China\u2063 directly. The \u2063results were bitter.\u2063 Recalling what happened, \u2062and why, is \u2064a\u2062 necessary\u200d step toward \u2064deterring future conflict. You can see why Gallagher might be interested.<\/p>\n<p>Gallagher and MacLean explained the \u2062thinking behind\u2064 their course on Korea <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foreignaffairs.com\/united-states\/why-america-forgets-and-china-remembers-korean-war\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in a recent piece for <em>Foreign Affairs<\/em><\/a>. They\u200c noted that the\u2062 Chinese Communist Party has revived interest in the war as an exercise in\u2062 national glory and a \u2062preview of Communist hegemony. American amnesia, \u2064they further\u200c noted, \u2062has two sources: an\u200b ambivalence bordering on anxiety over the war&#8217;s outcome and a refusal to come to grips with the political and diplomatic mistakes \u200dthat extended the \u2063killing. Their article earned a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/page\/202307\/1295120.shtml\">rebuke<\/a> from China&#8217;s propaganda outlet <em>Global Times<\/em>, which likened Gallagher to\u200d MacArthur. Apparently this is a bad\u200c thing. (MacLean, for \u2063his\u200b part, went missing\u2064 in the <em>Global\u2062 Times <\/em>piece\u2014much\u200d like China&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/d62638a8-1bf6-47f8-9b41-9af25d70220b\">former foreign minister<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In its last war with\u2063 China,&#8221; wrote Gallagher and MacLean, &#8220;Washington failed to deter its adversaries, failed to prepare its military, and\u200c prolonged \u200cthe fighting, ultimately accepting outcomes \u200din\u2064 1953 that\u200c would probably have \u2064been available in 1951 had it adequately projected its own resolve.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Refusing to acknowledge and correct these errors \u200dis a sure way to repeat them. And repetition is unacceptable. China is politically, economically, technologically, and militarily stronger than it\u2063 was seven decades ago. &#8220;The next time,&#8221; Gallagher and \u200dMacLean wrote, &#8220;the stakes will be even higher\u2014and Washington must do better.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Lessons from the\u2062 Classroom<\/h3>\n<p>The classes\u2062 I attended were more about the historical record than future scenarios. Both \u2064Gallagher and MacLean served in the Marine Corps, and they drew on\u2062 their military backgrounds \u2063while guiding the rest of us through the operations of the \u200bwar at the strategic and tactical levels.<\/p>\n<p>Not that the students needed help. They seemed to have memorized \u2064and analyzed the course \u2062materials. And they were eager\u200b to debate Secretary of State\u200c Dean Acheson&#8217;s January\u2064 1950 speech omitting Korea from America&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/teachingamericanhistory.org\/document\/speech-on-the-far-east\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">defensive perimeter<\/a>,&#8221; General Douglas MacArthur&#8217;s landing on the Incheon\u2063 Peninsula, General Matthew Ridgway&#8217;s\u2063 providential genius, and\u200b President Harry \u2064Truman&#8217;s relationship with top brass. I came away impressed by the quality of \u2062our future leaders. Their intellect \u2063was genuine, not artificial.<\/p>\n<p>The\u200c same can be\u200b said for the \u2063professors. MacLean has taught at the U.S. \u200cNaval Academy, as\u200d well as for the <a href=\"https:\/\/tikvahfund.org\/hs\/tsp2023\/home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tikvah<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/tikvahfund.org\/beren-fellowship\/overview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fund<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/hudsonpoliticalstudies.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hudson Political Studies Program<\/a>, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/hertogfoundation.org\/?gclid=CjwKCAjwq4imBhBQEiwA9Nx1BjLhXWJIvAQTdH6nWr_mniYoIDQzln-sjrXvYJCgyXlZWSl9fD6b8BoC83QQAvD_BwE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hertog Foundation<\/a>, and his pedagogical talents were on display. And Gallagher \u200dwas excellent.\u2064 He managed the discussion, weaved in sources not mentioned\u200d in the syllabus, and drew \u2063inferences from, and\u200d made connections between, texts. He enjoyed reading aloud MacArthur&#8217;s exploits as well as tales of personal heroism at the unit level. At\u200b one point, he proudly announced that the lone vote against the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 &#8220;outlawing war&#8221; \u2063came \u2064from Wisconsin\u2062 Republican senator\u200c John J. Blaine. Gallagher \u200chad done his homework\u2014and it&#8217;s not like he has a lot of spare\u200d time.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the \u2064biggest star of the week was T.R. Fehrenbach, the late Texas journalist and historian whose 1963 book \u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nebraskapress.unl.edu\/potomac-books\/9781574883343\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>This\u200d Kind of War<\/em><\/a>  was\u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sidney-powell-is-an-american-legal-giant\/\" title=\"Sidney Powell Is an American Legal Giant\">required reading<\/a>. Fehrenbach \u2064served in the Army during Korea, a fact never mentioned in 483 pages of \u200cgripping\u2062 narrative. His history \u2062toggles \u200cbetween grand statesmanship and\u2064 individual \u200cexperience, and it leaves an indelible impact. You feel the\u200b chilling cold,\u200d the lack of supplies, the fear of\u200c the enemy, the physical and mental \u2064strain of combat. Fehrenbach&#8217;s clipped language, short paragraphs, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mike-gallagher-and-the-lessons-of-korea\/\" title=\"Mike Gallagher's Korea Lessons\">occasionally odd syntax bring<\/a> you into the foreign country of the past. His \u2063book is a classic that\u200b should be taught in \u200dhigh schools.<\/p>\n<p>Fehrenbach fixes his authorial eye on citizen soldiers. As I read his masterpiece, I \u200cthought of the Ukrainians fighting for their national existence,\u200c of the Taiwanese who might have to \u2062do \u200bthe same, of the South Koreans keeping\u2063 watch\u200c over their home, and of the more than a million \u2062American servicemen\u200b and women who defend the\u200c frontiers of freedom to keep our territory secure.<\/p>\n<h3>America&#8217;s Role<\/h3>\n<p>Among the lessons of the Korean war is that America is \u200ba force for good, American commitment produces\u200d a freer, safer,\u2063 and more prosperous world, and \u2063the burdens of responsibility are real and enduring. I recall a passage of <em>This Kind of War <\/em>that we read aloud in class. Describing the battered\u2062 U.S. soldiers who during the first\u2063 months of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/uber-eats-driver-killed-after-teen-girls-allegedly-carjack-him-in-d-c-leading-to-violent-crash\/\" title=\"Uber Eats Driver Killed After Teen Girls Allegedly Carjack Him In D.C., Leading To Violent Crash\">war fought<\/a> a rearguard action from Seoul to\u2062 the southeast\u2064 corner of the peninsula, Fehrenbach wrote, &#8220;They were learning something they had not been told: that \u200cin this world are tigers.&#8221;\u200d And tigers must be caged.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Published under:<\/strong><br \/>\n<span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/ccp\/\" title=\"View all posts in CCP\">CCP<\/a><\/span>,<br \/>\n<span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/china\/\" title=\"View all posts in China\">China<\/a><\/span>,<br \/>\n<span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/cold-war\/\" title=\"View all posts in Cold War\">Cold War<\/a><\/span>,\u2063<br \/>\n<span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/feature\/\" title=\"View all posts in Feature\">Feature<\/a><\/span>,<br \/>\n<span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/foreign-policy\/\" title=\"View all posts in Foreign Policy\">Foreign Policy<\/a><\/span>,<br \/>\n<span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/history\/\" title=\"View all posts in history\">history<\/a><\/span>,<br \/>\n<span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/mike-gallagher\/\" title=\"View all posts in Mike Gallagher\">Mike Gallagher<\/a><\/span>,<br \/>\n<span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/military\/\" title=\"View all posts in Military\">Military<\/a><\/span>,<br \/>\n<span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/north-korea\/\" title=\"View all posts in North Korea\">North Korea<\/a><\/span>,<br \/>\n<span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/south-korea\/\" title=\"View all posts in South Korea\">South Korea<\/a><\/span>,<br \/>\n<span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/think-tanks\/\" title=\"View all posts in Think Tanks\">Think Tanks<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was a terrible student, always late, leaving early, forgetting my textbook, and hardly participating. Luckily, this class was different. No grades, just observing Congressman Mike Gallagher (R., Wis.) and Aaron MacLean from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies guide 20 students in a week-long program by the Hertog Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":1984812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1984811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1984811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1984812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1984811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1984811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1984811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}