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The 1950's
 When is a War Not a War?

When is a War Not a War?
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.94

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    payoff, touchy, atomic, aggressor, lengthy, nuclear, shortcut, covering, grim, invasion, northward, risky, all-out, launched, military, protocol
     content words:    South Korea, South Korean, President Truman, North Korea, Cold War, United Nations, Communist North Korea, World War III, General Douglas MacArthur, Eighth Army

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When is a War Not a War?
By Toni Lee Robinson 		  
1     The outlook was grim for South Korea. A small, battered group of ROK (South Korean) soldiers held out against Communist forces. The defenders clung to a corner in southeastern Korea. They were all that stopped massive Northern armies from taking the entire Korean peninsula.
 
2     U.S. President Truman was faced with a huge problem. What could be done to prevent the Republic of (South) Korea from falling completely to the Communists? It wasn't as simple as declaring war on North Korea and "letting them have it."
 
3     The U.S. was just bouncing back from the long, costly struggle of WWII. Even worse was the problem of Korea's touchy neighbors. China and Russia had been allies of the U.S. in WWII. But since then had come the Cold War. A quiet, deadly battle of fear and distrust had opened a deep chasm between the U.S. and the two giant Communist nations. Hanging by a thread over the chasm was the divided nation of Korea.
 
4     The United Nations had been a sort of foster parent to South Korea since the end of WWII. The USSR was very fond of its own "foster child," Communist North Korea. China and the USSR cheered as Northern armies attacked the South. They weren't about to stand still if the U.S. launched all-out war against North Korea.

Paragraphs 5 to 13:
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