[The Pheonix]

At that point in time, the US "had no strategic interest in Korea ,at all". And Korea was of no strategic value to the US. So, the American "folks back home" did not support the war, and wondering, what are our boys doing over there? What are they dying for? Where the hell is Korea, anyway??

The other problem was the very high American casulty---38,000 dead in 3 years. An American field reporter wrote,"the flower of American Youth died in Korea", as 1000s of young, 18-19 year-old Marines were ambushed at the Yalu River, followed by never ending fierce hand to hand battles all the way on

Imagine ,the retreat of the US Marines from the Yalu River to the South East of Korea was the Longest Retreat in the Annals of the US Marines

[risk]

All good points. I don't think that anti-war sentiment was significant in our decision to stop at the 38th parallel. It didn't take the (non-existent) protest of the soldiers' parents to convince the civilian control over the military, which knew about all the issues you raise, realize that it was the better part of valor.

Maybe you would agree, or have some clarifications to add to this: I think maybe that the allied mistakes that led to the Korean war happened at Yalta and in our decision not to support the Koumingdong. Stalin hadn't been adequately warned at Yalta before WWII was over as to how the allies would react if he engaged in Soviet imperialism. Chang Kaishek's rout emboldened the communists everywhere. We had appeased the Russians at the Elbe, and we had embarassed them in the Berlin airlift. And North Korea was ripe for the picking due to its wholesale domination by Kim Il Sung's dictatorship.

Prelude to the Korean War: Setting the Stage