The Coldest Winter

I’m still in Korea and I’ve continued to read a bit more about the history of his country. This was Halberstam’s last book, the 21st of 21, a 10-year work that was finished in 2007. This is a nonfiction work. He had just turned in his final manuscript, when five days later, he was killed in a car crash in California where he was on his way to an interview for his next book. He was a journalist and author, one of our best contemporary historians (and I don’t think that’s an oxymoronic phrase). Much of this book was a bit too tedious for me, a tight and well-written history of “The Forgotten War,” the Korean War. It would serve as a great textbook on the subject. The best part was the end, the last two chapters, the epilogue, the author’s note, and an afterword by Russell Baker. Chapter 10 was entitled “The General and The President.” It beautifully reviewed the conflict between very unpopular Truman and nearly deified McArthur, the conflict leading to McArthur’s dismissal, and then McArthur’s famous farewell speech to a joint session of Congress. Chapter 11 was entitled, “The Consequences.” Halberstam’s analysis of Korea and the effect it had on the politics of Vietnam is insightful. His review of politics and policies of the Democrats and Republicans through the 50s and 60s was excellent. He wrote, “In a stunningly short time, South Korea had morphed itself into a dynamic, highly productive, extremely successful democracy. ‘I cannot think of another country, at least in recent history, that went so swiftly from an authoritarian system to a democracy on its own,’ a member of the party of Roh Tae Woo, a truly democratically elected president of Korea, once told Frank Gibney. In the South the great success had come because the top of the political hierarchy had been forced, no matter how reluctantly, to pay attention to the needs and aspirations of the bottom and middle of the society.” At a time that the middle class of America is feeling that it’s been sold out to corporate greed, and at a time of people occupying Wall Street as a demonstration against such, maybe Halbertson’s words will bring hope to their demands to be noticed and more fairly represented.