The Rise and Fall of the United States Trusteeship Plan for Korea as a Peace-maintenance Scheme

Abstract During the Second World War, the American State Department prepared a Korean trusteeship plan with a view to mitigate Great Power rivalry over Korea after Japanese defeat. To achieve this goal, the Department recommended that American leaders consult with Russian leaders to manage the joint trusteeship whilst maintaining the administrative unity of Korea. However, amid a sharp rise of threat perception over Soviet expansion and the expectation of the development of an atomic bomb, the Truman Administration delayed diplomatic consultations with the Russians after April 1945. Furthermore, due to a lack of proper co-ordination in Washington's bureaucracy, a valuable opportunity for diplomatic compromise on Korean trusteeship was missed when Harry Hopkins visited Moscow in late May 1945. Although the Potsdam Conference offered the final opportunity for compromise, James Byrnes chose to pursue a unilateralist policy to secure a separate zone of occupation below the 38th parallel with Truman's full support. This article examines American decision-making and diplomacy whilst taking into account its leaders' threat perception as well as their confidence derived from the atomic monopoly. Notes 1. J.L. Gaddis, “Korea in American Politics, Strategy, and Diplomacy, 1945–50,” in Y. Nagai and A. Iriye, eds., The Origins of the Cold War in Asia (Tokyo, 1977), p. 278. 2. W.D. Miscamble, The Most Controversial Decision: Truman, the Atomic Bombs, and the Defeat of Japan (New York, 2011); idem., From Roosevelt to Truman: Potsdam, Hiroshima, and the Cold War (Cambridge, 2006). 3. See G. Alperovitz, Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam (New York, 1985). For a more balanced account, see M.J. Sherwin, A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and Its Legacies (Stanford, CA, 2003). 4. B. Cumings, “American Policy and Korean Liberation,” in F. Baldwin, ed., Without Parallel: The American–Korean Relationship since 1945 (New York, 1973), 39–108. 5. J.L. Matray, “Captive of the Cold War The Decision to Divide Korea at the 38th Parallel,” Pacific Historical Review, 50/2(1981), pp. 145–68. 6. M. Paul, “Diplomacy Delayed: The Atomic Bomb and the Division of Korea, 1945,” in B. Cumings, ed., The Korean–American Relationship, 1943–1953 (Seattle, WA, 1983), pp. 67–92 7. For recent studies published in Japanese and Korean, see O. Masao, “Chosen Dokuritsu Mondai to Shintakku Tochi Koso,” Hogaku Kenky, 82/8(2009), pp. 1–47; Lee Wan-bum, Sampalseon Hoekjeong-ui Jinsil (Seoul, 2001). 8. For theoretical discussion about roles played by perceptions of threat and power as main causes behind states' pursuit of assertive and expansionist foreign policy, see, S.M. Lynn-Jones, “Preface,” in M. Brown, S.M. Lynn-Jones and S.M. Miller eds., Perils of Anarchy: Contemporary Realism and International Security (Cambridge, MA, 1995), pp. xi–xii; F. Zakaria, From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role (Princeton, NJ, 1999), pp. 35–41. For a need to cross-fertilise theoretical and historical studies of international relations, see C. Elman and M. Fendius Elman, Bridges and Boundaries: Historians, Political Scientists, and the Study of International Relations (Cambridge, 2001). This article draws partly Chapters 5–9 of my American Diplomacy and Strategy toward Korea and Northeast Asia, 1882–1950 and After (New York, 2009), which has a different analytical focus with a macro-historical comparison. Cf. See Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow, Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (New York, 1999); Morton Halperin, Bureaucratic Politics and Foreign Policy (Washington DC, 1974). For statesmen or stateswomen's role in shaping foreign policy, see, S.E. Lobell, N.M. Ripsman, and J.W. Taliaferro, Neoclassical Realism, The State, and Foreign Policy (Cambridge, 2009). 9. “Radio Address by the President of the United States,” 23 February 1942, Department of State Bulletin, VI/140(28 February, 1942), pp. 186–88; “Address by the Secretary of State,” 23 July 1942, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States 1942 (hereafter FRUS), Volume VII (Washington, DC, on-going), p. 642. 10. P. Minutes 20, 1 August 1942, P. Minutes 51, 10 April 1943, Notter File RG 59 (National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD) Box 55. 11. Hull to Gauss, 1 May 1942, Foreign Relations of the United States 1942, The Far East, pp. 873–74. 12. Hull to Roosevelt, 29 April 1942, Ibid., 873; Xiaoyuan Liu, “Sino–American Diplomacy over Korea during World War II,” Journal of American–East Asian Relations, 1/2(1992), pp. 223–64. 13. Hull-Eden Meeting minutes, 20 and 21 August 1943, both FRUS 1943, Washington and Quebec, pp. 914, 919, 926–27. 14. Acheson to Hull, 20 August 1943, FRUS 1943, Volume III, p. 1095. 15. Cordell Hull, The Memoirs of Cordell Hull, Volume II (New York, 1948), p. 1596; Anthony Eden, The Reckoning (New York, 1965), p. 438; Welles memorandum, 29 March 1943, FRUS 1943, China, pp. 845–46. 16. Reilly to Spaman, 24 November 1943, FRUS 1943, Cairo and Teheran, 399–404; “Final Text of the Communique,” Ibid., pp. 448–49. 17. Brown memorandum, 12 January 1944, Ibid., p. 869. 18. Memorandum on the Far East, 29 March 1944, Hilldring to Dunn, 18 February 1944, both FRUS 1944, V, pp. 1225–26, 1194. 19. Far Eastern Inter-Divisional Area Committee Memorandum, 4 May 1944, FRUS 1944, V, pp. 1240–41. 20. Akira Iriye, The Cold War in Asia (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1974), pp. 94–97. 21. “Agreement Regarding Entry of the Soviet Union into the War Against Japan,” 11 February 1945, FRUS 1945, The Conferences at Malta and Yalta, p. 984. 22. Bohlen minutes, 30 November 1943, FRUS 1945, Conference at Cairo and Teheran, 1943, 567; Harriman to FDR, 15 December 1944, FRUS 1945, Malta and Yalta, pp. 378–79. 23. A. Harriman and E. Avel, Special Envoy to Churchill and Stalin, 1941–1946 (New York, 1975), p. 398; FRUS 1945, Malta and Yalta, p. 984. See also Ibid., pp. 768–69; 894–97. 24. Briefing Book Paper on Korea, nd, FRUS Malta and Yalta, p. 359. 25. Ibid., p. 358–59, 361. 26. Bohlen minutes, 8 February 1945, FRUS Malta and Yalta, p. 770. 27. James Byrnes, Speaking Frankly (New York, 1947), p. 23. 28. Eden telegram (2805) to Churchill, 23 April 1945, FO (Foreign Office Archives, National Archives, Kew, London) 371/47588; Cadogan to his wife, 23 April 1945, in David Dilks, ed., Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan (London, 1971), p. 732. 29. Harry S. Truman, Year of Decisions (Garden City, NY, 1955), pp. 77, 79–82. FRUS 1945, V, pp. 256–58. 30. See correspondences between Truman and Churchill—as well as Grew memoranda—May 1945, FRUS 1945, Potsdam, I, pp. 3–20; Churchill to Eden, May 4, 1945, CHAR (Winston Churchill Papers, Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge) 20/217; Churchill to Truman, 11, 12 May 1945, CHAR 20/218. 31. Grew memorandum, 15 May 1945, FRUS 1945, Conference of Berlin, I, pp. 12–15; J.C. Grew and W. Johnson, Turbulent Era; A Diplomatic Record of Forty Years, 1904–1945 Volume II (Boston, 1952), pp. 1462–64. 32. Eden to Churchill, 14 May 1945, CHAR 20/219. 33. Freeman to Marshall, 13 February 1945 in Department of Defense, The Entry of the Soviet Union into the War Against Japan (Washington, DC, 1955), pp. 51–52; Herbert Feis, The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II (Princeton, NJ, 1966), pp. 13–14. 34. Stimson to Grew, 21 May 1945, FRUS 1945, VII, pp. 876–78; Grew and Johnson, Turbulent Era, II, pp. 1458–59. 35. Stimson Diary, 1 May 1945, (Henry Stimson Papers, Sterling Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT). 36. Stimson Diary, 13 May 1945; Grew to Forrestal, 12 May1945, FRUS 1945, VII, pp. 869–70. 37. Stimson Diary, 13, 14 May 1945. 38. Stimson Diary, 15 May; Stimson to Truman, enclosed in Stimson Diary, 16 May 1945. See also, Sherwin, World Destroyed, p. 191. 39. Henry L. Stimson and McGeorge Bundy, On Active Service in Peace and War (New York, 1948), p. 15. See also FRUS 1945, V, p. 253. 40. Stimson Diary, 23 April 1945. 41. McCloy Diary, 19 May 1945, Record of the Army Staff (Office of the Chief of Military History, Fort McNair, Washington, DC) 2–307 AB-C; McCloy Diary, RG 319 (National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD) 1944–1945; Stimson and Bundy, Active Service, p. 356. 42. Stimson Diary, 6 June 1945; Stimson and Bundy, Active Service, pp. 387–88. 43. Truman, Year of Decisions, p. 87; Stimson Diary, 25 April 1945. 44. Stimson Diary, 6 June 1945; Davies Diary, 21 May 1945 (Joseph E. Davies MSS, Library of Congress, Washington, DC) Box 17. 45. Eden to Churchill, 14 May 1945, CHAR 20/219. 46. “Conversation with Truman,” 13 May 1945, Davies Box 16. See also Davies to Truman, 12 May 1945, Ibid.; Truman, Year of Decisions, pp. 257–61; Charles E. Bohlen, Witness to History 1929–1969 (New York, 1973), p. 215. 47. Bohlen, Witness, pp. 217–23; Miscamble, Roosevelt to Truman, pp. 135–48. 48. Grew to Forrestal, 21 May 1945, FRUS 1945, VII, p. 879. 49. Ibid., pp. 879–82. 50. Russell D. Buhite, Patrick J. Hurley and American Foreign Policy (Ithaca, NY, 1973), pp. 188–209. 51. Grew to Forrestal, 21 May 1945, FRUS 1945, VII, pp. 882–83. 52. “Notes on the question of Former Japanese Colonies and Mandated Territories,” . Weathersby, “Soviet Aims in Korea and the Origins of the Korean War, 1945–1950: New Evidence from Russian Archives,” Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Working Papers, Number 8(1993), pp. 14–15. 53. Forrestal to Grew, 23 May 1945, FRUS 1945, VII, pp. 883–84. 54. McCloy to Grew, 27 May 1945, FRUS 1945, VII, pp. 884–87, 886. 55. Stimson and Bundy, Active Service, pp. 320–23. 56. JWPC, “J.W.P.C. 369/1: Details of Campaign Against Japan,” 15 June 1945, in Sherwin, World Destroyed, Appendix, p. 344. 57. See, Halperin, Bureaucratic Politics, Chapter 3. 58. For work highlighting this point, see Paul, “Diplomacy Delayed,” pp. 67–93. 59. The rest of this paragraph is based on Bohlen memorandum, 28 May 1945, FRUS Potsdam 1945, I, pp. 41–46, 47; Harriman and Abel, Special Envoy, pp471, 472–73. 60. Bohlen, Witness to History, 218; Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History (New York, 1948), 910. 61. Grew to Harriman, 2 June 1945, FRUS 1945, VII, p. 892. 62. Harriman to Stettinius, 4 June 1945, Ibid., p. 893. 63. Harriman and Abel, Special Envoy, pp. 468–75. 64. Bohlen Memorandum, 6 June 1945, FRUS, Potsdam, I, p. 60. 65. Mu Tao and Sun Zhike, Piorin 27 nyeon: Daehan Minguk Imsijeongbu (Seoul, 1992), pp. 160–62. 66. Ballantine memorandum, 5 February 1945, FRUS 1945, VI, pp. 1018–20; Grew to Hurley, 20 March 1945, Ibid., pp. 1024–25. 67. Harriman to Truman and Byrnes, 8 July 1945, FRUS 1945, VII, pp. 920–21; Hurley to Byrnes, 6 July 1945, FRUS 1945, VII, p. 918; China White Paper, I, p. 115. 68. Shokaisheki Hiroku, Volume 1 (Tokyo, 1975), pp. 68–69; Harriman to Truman and Byrnes, 11 and 13 July 1945, FRUS 1945, VII, pp. 926–28, 933-34. 69. Byrnes to Harriman, 4 July 1945, Ibid., p. 914. 70. Byrnes to Harriman, 6 July 1945, Ibid., pp. 916–17. 71. Harriman to Byrnes, 28 July 1945, FRUS 1945, Potsdam, II, p. 1244. 72. Harriman to Truman and Byrnes, 12 and 13 July 1945, FRUS 1945, VII, pp. 932–34. 73. Stimson Diary, 15 July 1945. 74. Grew to Stimson, 28 June 1945, plus “An Estimate of Conditions in Asia and the Pacific,” 22 June 1945, FRUS 1945, VI, pp. 556–80. 75. Grew to Stimson, 28 June 1945, Ibid., pp. 561–63. 76. Ibid., p. 562. 77. “Briefing Book Paper,” n.d, FRUS 1945, Potsdam, I, pp. 310–11. 78. Ibid., p. 314. 79. Ibid., pp. 311–12. . 80. Elsey memorandum, FRUS 1945, Potsdam, I, pp. 309–10. 81. Harriman to Truman and Byrnes, 3 July 1945, FRUS 1945, VII, 914. By this time, Soviet leaders decided that “the Soviet Union must, of course, participate in it (Korean trusteeship) prominently.” See Weathersby, “Soviet Aims,” p. 12. 82. Harriman to Truman and Byrnes, 9 July 1945, FRUS 1945, VII, p. 924. 83. Davies memorandum, 10 July 1945, FRUS 1945, VII, pp. 928–29. 84. Zhukov and Zabrodin, “Korea, Short Report,” 29 June 1945, in Weathersby, “Soviet Aims,” pp. 10–12. 85. Stimson to Truman, 16 July 1945, FRUS 1945, Potsdam, II, p. 631. This memorandum went to Byrnes for transmittal to Truman. See, Note 1, Ibid., p. 631. 86. Dunn to Hurley, 20 February 1945, Kennan to Secretary of State, 17 April 1945, Rhee to Secretary of State, April 20, 1945, FRUS 1945, VI, pp. 1022–23, 1026–27; Liu, “Sino–American Diplomacy,” p. 253. 87. Buxton to Conway, “Memorandum to the President,” 23 June 1945, RG 226 (Records of the OSS Washington Director's Office, 1941–1945, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD) M-1642 (Roll 25). 88. Bohlen memorandum, 28 March 1960, FRUS Potsdam, II, pp. 1583–84; Byrnes, Speaking Frankly, p. 76. 89. FRUS Potsdam, II, pp. 1586–87; James Byrnes, All in One Lifetime (New York, 1958), pp. 290–91. 90. Stimson and Bundy, Active Service, p. 637. 91. Stimson Diary, 16, 18 July 1945; Harrison to Stimson, 16 July 1945, FRUS Potsdam, II, pp. 1360–61. 92. Grove to Stimson, 18 July 1945, FRUS Potsdam, II, pp. 1361–68; Stimson Diary, 21 July 1945. 93. Stimson and Bundy, Active Service, p. 638; Stimson Diary, 25 April 1945. 94. Stimson Diary, 6 June 1945; Stimson and Bundy, Active Service, pp. 387–88. 95. Forrestal Diary, 12, 19 June 1945, Walter Millis ed., The Forrestal Diaries (New York, 1951), pp. 68–70; Stimson Diary, 24 July 1945; Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Racing the Enemy, pp. 97–98, 111, 116–18, 146–47, 156–57, Kai Bird, The Chairman: John J. McCloy & The Making of the American Establishment (New York, 1992), p. 254. 96. Bird, Chairman, pp. 249–254, 256–57. 97. Robert L. Messer, The End of an Alliance: James F. Byrnes, Roosevelt, Truman, and the Origins of the Cold War (Chapel Hill, NC, 1982), p. 77. 98. Ibid., 11–92; David Robertson, Sly and Able: A Political Biography of James F. Byrnes (New York, 1994), pp. 15–33. 99. Messer, End of Alliance, pp. 94–95, 97; Bohlen, Witness to History, p. 256. 100. McCloy Diary, 16 July, 1945, quoted by Bird, Chairman, p. 256. 101. Halifax to Eden, 3 July 1945, FO 371/44620. 102. Richard Hewlett and Oscar Anderson, Jr., The New World: A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, Volume 1 (University Park, PA, 1962), p. 357. 103. Walter Brown note, 6 August 1945, James Byrnes Papers (Clemson University Library) Excerpts from the “Book”; Byrnes, Speaking Frankly, 257; Byrnes, One Lifetime, p. 247–48. 104. Truman Diary, 7 July 1945, in Robert Ferrell, ed., Off the Record: The Private Papers of Harry S. Truman (New York, 1980), p. 49; Halifax to Eden, 3 July 1945, FO 371/44620. 105. Gary May, China Scapegoat: The Diplomatic Ordeal of John Carter Vincent (Washington, DC, 1979), p. 135; McCloy Diary, 16, 28 July 1945, quoted by Bird, Chairman, pp. 256–57. 106. Leahy Diary, 17 July 1945, William D. Leahy Papers (Library of Congress, Washington, DC). 107. Walter Brown note, 20, 24 July 1945; Bohlen notes, 17 July 1945, FRUS Potsdam, II, pp. 43–46, Bohlen Memorandum, 28 March 28, 1960, pp. 1586–87; Matray, “Captive,” p. 158. 108. Walter Brown note, 20, 24 July 20 1945; Byrnes, One Lifetime, p. 291; Byrnes, Speaking Frankly, 208; Millis, Forrestal Diaries, p. 78. 109. Byrnes, One Lifetime, p. 291; Truman Diary, 18 July 1945, in Ferrell, ed., Off the Record, p. 54. 110. Walter Brown note, 20 July 20, 1945. 111. Truman Diary, 7 July 1945, Ferrell, Off the Record, pp. 48–49, 56. . 112. Stimson Diary, 19 July 1945; Kai Bird, Chairman, p. 256. 113. Thompson minutes, 22 July 1945, FRUS 1945, Potsdam, II, pp. 252–53; Cohen notes, 22 July 1945, Ibid., p. 264. 114. Thomson minutes, Cohen notes, Ibid., pp. 252–56, 260–66; Truman, Year of Decision, pp. 373–75; Byrnes, One Lifetime, pp. 294–95. 115. McGrath, “U.S. Army in the Korean Conflict,” pp. 9–10, 33. For the comprehensive context of military preparations to choose the demarcation line, see, Michael C. Sandusky, America's Parallel (Alexandria VA, 1983), pp. 186–94, 200–01, 225–48. 116. JCS to MacArthur and Nimitz, 21 July 1945, Box 19, RG 38 Double Zero 1941–1946, 370/47/11/3. 117. Lt. Paul C. McGrath, “United States Army in the Korean Conflict,” unpublished manuscript (Office of the Chief of Military History, US Army Center of Military History, Washington, DC), pp. 22–23; JWPC, “J.W.P.C.369/1,” 15 June 1945. 118. Hasegawa, Racing the Enemies, pp.177–91, 217. 119. Rusk's account made on 12 July 1950, FRUS 1945, VI, p. 1039; James F. Schnabel, Policy and Direction: The First Year (Washington, DC), pp. 8–9. 120. McGrath, “U.S Army,” 33, 46–47; Schnabel, Policy and Direction, p. 10. 121. Ibid., pp. 48, 50–53; Harriman and Abel, Special Envoy, pp. 499–500. 122. Harriman to Truman and Byrnes, 14 August 1945, FRUS 1945, VII, pp. 971–73. 123. Schnabel, Policy and Direction, pp. 10, 16. 124. G-2 Weekly Summary, No. 58 (25 October, 1946); G-2 Periodic Report, No. 373 (5 November 1946); P.I. Shaveshina, 1945-nyon Namhaneseo (Seoul, 1996), pp. 169–80; B. Cumings, The Origins of the Korean War, Volume I (Princeton, NJ, 1981), Chapters 9, 10. 125. Langdon to Byrnes, 20 November 1945, FRUS 1945, VI, pp. 1130–33. 126. McCloy to Acheson, 13 November 1945, Ibid., pp. 1122–24. 127. Byrnes to Langdon, 29 November 1945, Ibid., 1137–38; Bohlen, Witness to History, 250; Byrnes, Speaking Frankly, p. 222; Soon Sung Cho, Korea in World Politics 1940–1950 (Berkeley, CA, 1967), Part II. 128. Petukhov, “Soviet–American Occupation of Korea,” December 1945, in Weathersby, “Soviet Aims,” pp. 17–18. 129. Zabrodin, “The Question of a Single Provisional Government for Korea,” December 1945, Ibid., pp. 11–17, Erik Van Ree, Socialism in One Zone (Oxford, 1989), pp. 196–211. 130. Kim Ku, “Samcheonman Dongpo-ege Kyeonggo-ham,” 10 February 1947, in Baebum Haksulwon, ed., Kim Ku-seonsaeng Oenronjip, Volume II (Seoul, 2004), pp. 37–45; Chong-sik Lee, Kim Kyusikui Saengae (Seoul, 1974), p. 174. 131. Diary entry, 26 September 1946, in Gukoyeon ed., Shtykov Diary (Gwacheon, 2003), p. 17. 132. “J.C.S.1769/1,” 29 April 1947, FRUS 1947, I, pp. 739–42, 744–45. 133. Vincent to Marshall, 27 January 1947, FRUS 1947, VI, 602; Charles M. Dobbs, The Unwanted Symbol: American Foreign Policy, the Cold War, and Korea, 1945–1950 (Kent, OH, 1981), pp. 91–98. 134. Hilldring to Byrnes, 6 August 1947, FRUS 1947, VI, pp. 742–43; James Matray, “Bunce and Jacobs: U.S. Occupation Advisors in Korea, 1946–1947,” in Bonnie Oh, ed., Korea under the American Military Government, 1945–1948 (Westport, CT, 2002), p. 71. . 135. Lim Byung-jik, Imjeongeseo Indokkaji (Seoul, 1964), pp. 290, 358–59. 136. Butterworth to Lovett, 1 October 1947, FRUS 1947, VI, pp. 820–21; Gaddis, “Korea in American Politics,” p. 282; NSC 8, 2 April 1948, FRUS 1948, VI, pp. 1167–69; NSC 8/2, 22 March 1949, FRUS 1949, VII, pp. 969–78. 137. Kim, American Diplomacy and Strategy, pp. 175–202; William Stueck, The Road to Intervention: American Policy toward China and Korea (Chapel Hill, NC, 1981); James I. Matray, “America's Reluctant Crusade: Truman's Commitment of Combat Troops in the Korean War,” Historian, XLII/3(1980), pp. 437–55. 138. C. Lee and Kathryn Weathersby, "What Stalin Wanted in Korea at the End of World War II,” Korea Focus (1993), p. 55. See Komura to Kurino, 5 October 1903, Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nihon Gaiko Monjo, 36/1, pp. 22–23; Moriyama Shigenori, Kindai Nikkan Kankeishi Kenkyu (Tokyo, 1987), pp. 117–49.

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