I n 1965 and 1966 the Republic of Korea (ROI;) sent htro infantry divisions and a k w other support units to serve in the Republic of Vietnam (RI'N). This decision reflected the strength of 1I.S.-Korean relations. The ROK ~t.holt.heartedlv supported the C.S. initiative in \'ietrlarrl in an effort to keep Atnerican troops on the Korean peninsula. E\.rrl so, tklc South Koreans refused to let C.S. officials take them for granted. manifesting their-independence in two \t7at's: First, the Koreans insisted on high-level consultation and requests iron1 either the C.S. President or I'icc-President, although the\ ~voultl negotiate ~tith indi\riduals as lo\\ as the secre~ries of Statr or Defense. Second, this L.S. ally demanded and I-eceiveci substantial conlpen->ation tc)r the assignrnrnt of its soldiers. Korrans fought in Yietrlanl because it served both the political nerds of the K O K government and the secuiih requirrrnents of the Republic. Few 1tw-k~ in English address the service of Lorear1 soldiers in L'ietrlam. The novelists Hlvang Sog-vong and Chong-hyo, 110th of whom served in ITietnanl, have had their fictional accounts translated into Ellglish.' In his recent stutiv o f rnoc1t.l-n .I'kic author wishes to thal~k \like Burns and 1litc.h ixrrle1-SOI. their-coIllnlerlts or] c-a]-lier drdts. and Srcorld I. i e~~t e r i a r~t Aritlrew Sarar~takes a n d Mi-Sook Saran-~;lhrs for [heir ~ranslatioll work. 1. Ilwang Sog-F ong. 1'/1? Shudoal of A~L S (Ithaca, N.Y.. 1994) :-411 Chong-hyo. C1'7~ilc ljl~dge: I\ ,"lour[ o/ h'ulvn (N~:LL >'()rk, 1989) .
By any measure, Star Trek has been a major American cultural phenomenon. A short-lived science ªction television show that ran on the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) in the 1960s, the series by 2005 had spawned nine motion pictures, four new television series, an animated television series, more than a hundred novels, and hundreds of ancillary items ranging from children's toys to websites. In the 1960s, when the series was still in production, the creative forces behind the show-the producers, directors, and writers-attempted to use it as a forum to comment on a number of political and social issues, including foreign policy and the Cold War. Their efforts raise an interesting question: What can this television program tell us about the self-image of Americans in the mid-to late 1960s?This article shows that the makers of the original Star Trek series wanted the United States to play a constructive role on the world scene and that they used the television show to critique U.S. foreign policy. They believed that the United States should promote democratic self-determination and refrain from using force in a way that would undermine the country's international image. They were uncomfortable with the salience of nuclear weapons in U.S. national security policy and with U.S. military intervention in other countries. Their views often ran counter to speciªc policies of the U.S. government. Hence, the television series was intended not only to shape the values of the American public but also to redirect U.S. policies abroad.Although many scholars recognize that Star Trek was a signiªcant force in popular culture, few studies of the television series have been historical in nature, and even fewer have been written on the basis of the show's production ªles. 1 The only three scholars who have studied the presentation of world af-1. Scholars have studied a number of issues that were explored in the original series and the sundry Journal of Cold War Studies fairs in the original series-Rick Worland, Mark P. Lagon, and H. Bruce Franklin-have come to conclusions that are difªcult to sustain when compared with sources documenting the production of the television series. Worland, for example, insists: "Its progressive humanism aside, Star Trek neatly duplicated the conªguration of international Cold War politics of the 1960s." He wonders whether part of the show's popularity was nothing more than a "simple reactionary nostalgia for the continuing desire to mold or force 75 Cold War Pop Culture and the Image of U.S. Foreign Policy ªlm and television sequels. Although it is risky to make a sweeping statement about a good deal of diverse scholarship, it is safe to say that most academics writing about this phenomenon have attempted to show that the original series was a manifestation of culturally regressive elements of contemporary society. One of the subjects that the architects of Star Trek confronted directly was race. As a result, this subject has proven to be a popular topic of academic inquiry. See Daniel Leonard ...
Dropping the Torch: Jimmy Carter, the Olympic Boycott, and the Cold War offers a diplomatic history of the 1980 Olympic boycott. Broad in its focus, it looks at events in Washington, D.C., as well as the opposition to the boycott and how this attempted embargo affected the athletic contests in Moscow. Jimmy Carter based his foreign policy on assumptions that had fundamental flaws and reflected a superficial familiarity with the Olympic movement. These basic mistakes led to a campaign that failed to meet its basic mission objectives but did manage to insult the Soviets just enough to destroy détente and restart the Cold War. The book also includes a military history of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which provoked the boycott, and an examination of the boycott's impact four years later at the Los Angeles Olympics, where the Soviet Union retaliated with its own boycott.
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