By early 1965, the Selma movement had grown. Back then, the city of Selma had both moderate and hardline segregationists in its white capitalist power structure. The newly elected Mayor Joseph Smitherman was a moderate who hoped to attract Northern business investment, and he was very conscious of the city's image. Smitherman appointed veteran lawman Wilson Baker to head the city's 30-man police force. Baker believed that the most effective method of undermining civil rights protests was to de-escalate them and deny them publicity, as Police Chief Laurie Pritchett had done against the Albany Movement in Georgia. Activists knew that Baker was more sophisticated than other sheriffs.
The hardline of segregation was represented by the overtly racist Dallas County Sheriff Jim Clark, who used violence and repression to maintain Jim Crow. He commanded a posse of 200 deputies, some of whom were members of Ku Klux Klan chapters or the National States' Rights Party. Possemen were armed with electric cattle-prods. Some were mounted on horseback and carried long leather whips they used to lash people on foot. Clark and Chief Baker were known to spar over jurisdiction. Baker's police patrolled the city except for the block of the county courthouse, which Clark and his deputies controlled. Outside the city limits, Clark and his volunteer posse were in complete control in the county.
The Selma Voting Rights Campaign in the modern sense started officially on January 2, 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed a mass meeting in Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church in defiance of the anti-meeting injunction. The date had been chosen because Sheriff Clark was out of town, and Chief Baker had stated he would not enforce the injunction. Over the following weeks, SCLC and SNCC activists expanded voter registration drives and protests in Selma and the adjacent Black Belt counties. By early January, there were preparations for mass registration. Dr. King went out of town to raise money via fundraising. So, Diane Nash led the charge to have the registration project. On January 15, 1965, Dr. King called President Johnson and the two agreed to start a major push for voting rights legislation, which would assist in advancing the passage of more anti-poverty legislation. After Dr. King returned to Selma, the first big "Freedom Day" of the new campaign occurred on January 18, 1965. According to their respective strategies, Chief Baker's police were cordial toward demonstrators, but Sheriff Clark refused to let black registrants enter the county courthouse. Clark made no arrests or assaults at this time. However, in an incident that drew national attention, Dr. King was knocked down and kicked by a leader of the National States Rights Party, who was quickly arrested by Chief Baker. Baker also arrested the head of the American Nazi Party, George Lincoln Rockwell, who said he'd come to Selma to "run King out of town." After the assault on Dr. King by the white supremacist in January 1965, black nationalist leader Malcolm X had sent an open telegram to George Lincoln Rockwell, stating: "if your present racist agitation against our people there in Alabama causes physical harm ... you and your KKK friends will be met with maximum physical retaliation from those of us who ... believe in asserting our right to self-defense by any means necessary."
Over the next week, black people persisted in their attempts to register. Sheriff Clark responded by arresting organizers, including Amelia Boynton and Hosea Williams. Eventually, 225 registrants were arrested as well at the county courthouse. Their cases were handled by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. On January 20, 1965, President Johnson gave his inaugural address but did not mention voting rights. Up to this point, the overwhelming majority of registrants and marchers were sharecroppers, blue-collar workers, and students. On January 22, Frederick Reese, a black schoolteacher who was also DCVL President, finally convinced his colleagues to join the campaign and register en masse. When they refused Sheriff Clark's orders to disperse at the courthouse, an ugly scene commenced. Clark's posse beat the teachers away from the door, but they rushed back only to be beaten again. The teachers retreated after three attempts and marched to a mass meeting where they were celebrated as heroes by the black community. On January 25, U.S. District Judge Daniel Thomas issued rules requiring that at least 100 people must be permitted to wait at the courthouse without being arrested. After Dr. King led marchers to the courthouse that morning, Jim Clark began to arrest all registrants in excess of 100, and corral the rest. Annie Lee Cooper, a fifty-three-year-old practical nurse who had been part of the Selma movement since 1963, struck Clark after he twisted her arm, and she knocked him to his knees as Cooper used self-defense. Four deputies seized Cooper, and photographers captured images of Clark beating her repeatedly with his club. The crowd was inflamed, and some wanted to intervene against Clark, but King ordered them back as Cooper was taken away. Although Cooper had violated nonviolent discipline, the movement rallied around her. Jim Clark and those officers were cowardly for assaulting a black woman desiring voting rights. James Bevel, speaking at a mass meeting, deplored her actions because "then [the press] don't talk about the registration." But when asked about the incident by Jet magazine, Bevel said, "Not everybody who registers is nonviolent; not everybody who registers is supposed to be nonviolent." The incident between Clark and Cooper was a media sensation, putting the campaign on the front page of The New York Times. When asked if she would do it again, Cooper told Jet, "I try to be nonviolent, but I just can't say I wouldn't do the same thing all over again if they treat me brutish like they did this time."
By February of 1965, more events happened. Dr. King wanted to get arrested to call attention to the voting rights issues in Selma. On February 1, King and Ralph Abernathy refused to cooperate with Chief Baker's traffic directions on the way to the courthouse, calculating that Baker would arrest them, putting them in the Selma city jail run by Baker's police, rather than the county jail run by Clark's deputies. Once processed, King and Abernathy refused to post bond. On the same day, SCLC and SNCC organizers took the campaign outside of Dallas County for the first time; in nearby Perry County, 700 students and adults, including James Orange, were arrested. On the same day, students from Tuskegee Institute, working in cooperation with SNCC, were arrested for acts of civil disobedience in solidarity with the Selma campaign. In New York and Chicago, Friends of SNCC chapters staged sit-ins at federal buildings in support of Selma black people, and CORE chapters in the North and West also mounted protests. Solidarity pickets began circling in front of the White House late into the night.
Fay Bellamy and Silas Norman attended a talk by Malcolm X to 3,000 students at the Tuskegee Institute, and invited him to address a mass meeting at Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church to kick off the protests on the morning of February 4, 1965. When Malcolm X arrived, SCLC staff initially wanted to block his talk, but he assured them that he did not intend to undermine their work. During his address, Malcolm X warned the protesters about "House Negroes" who, he said, were a hindrance to black liberation. Dr. King later said that he thought this was an attack on him. But Malcolm told Coretta Scott King that he thought to aid the campaign by warning white people what "the alternative" would be if Dr. King failed in Alabama. Bellamy recalled that Malcolm told her he would begin recruiting in Alabama for his Organization of Afro-American Unity later that month (Malcolm was assassinated two weeks later).
On February 4, President Lyndon Johnson made his first public statement in support of the Selma campaign. At midday, Judge Thomas, at the Justice Department's urging, issued an injunction that suspended Alabama's current literacy test, ordered Selma to take at least 100 applications per registration day, and guaranteed that all applications received by June 1 would be processed before July. In response to Thomas' favorable ruling, and in alarm at Malcolm X's visit, Andrew Young, who was not in charge of the Selma movement, said he would suspend demonstrations. James Bevel, however, continued to ask people to line up at the voter's registration office as they had been doing, and Dr. King called Young from jail, telling him the demonstrations would continue. They did so the next day, and more than 500 protesters were arrested.
On February 5, King bailed himself and Abernathy out of jail. On February 6, the White House announced that it would urge Congress to enact a voting rights bill during the current session and that the vice-president and Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach would meet with King in the following week. On February 9, King met with Attorney General Katzenbach, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and White House aides before having a brief, seven-minute session with President Johnson. Following the Oval Office visit, King reported that Johnson planned to deliver his message "very soon." Throughout that February, King, SCLC staff, and members of Congress met for strategy sessions at the Selma, Alabama home of Richie Jean Jackson. In addition to actions in Selma, marches and other protests in support of voting rights were held in neighboring Perry, Wilcox, Marengo, Greene, and Hale counties. Attempts were made to organize in Lowndes County, but fear of the Klan there was so intense from previous violence and murders that black people would not support a nonviolent campaign in great number, even after Dr. King made a personal appearance on March 1.
Overall, more than 3,000 people were arrested in protests between January 1 and February 7, but black people achieved fewer than 100 new registered voters. In addition, hundreds of people were injured or blacklisted by employers due to their participation in the campaign. DCLV activists became increasingly wary of SCLC's protests, preferring to wait and see if Judge Thomas' ruling of February 4 would make a long-term difference. SCLC was less concerned with Dallas County's immediate registration figures, and primarily focused on creating a public crisis that would make a voting rights bill the White House's number one priority. James Bevel and C. T. Vivian both led dramatic nonviolent confrontations at the courthouse in the second week of February. Selma students organized themselves after the SCLC leaders were arrested. King told his staff on February 10 that "to get the bill passed, we need to make a dramatic appeal through Lowndes and other counties because the people of Selma are tired." By the end of the month, 300 black human beings were registered in Selma, compared to 9500 whites.
By the end of February, activists planned for the first Selma to Montgomery march. On February 18, 1965, C. T. Vivian led a march to the courthouse in Marion, the county seat of neighboring Perry County, to protest the arrest of James Orange. State officials had received orders to target Vivian, and a line of Alabama state troopers waited for the marchers at the Perry County courthouse. Officials had turned off all of the nearby streetlights, and state troopers rushed at the protesters, attacking them. Protesters Jimmie Lee Jackson, his grandfather and his mother fled the scene to hide in a nearby café. Alabama State Trooper corporal James Bonard Fowler followed Jackson into the café and shot him, saying he thought the protester was trying to get his gun as they grappled. Jackson died eight days later at Selma's Good Samaritan Hospital of an infection resulting from the gunshot wound. The death of Jimmie Lee Jackson prompted civil rights leaders to bring their cause directly to Alabama Governor George Wallace by performing a 54 mi (87 km) march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery. Jackson was the only male wage-earner of his household, which lived in extreme poverty. Jackson's grandfather, mother, wife, and children were left with no source of income. The truth is that Jimmie Lee Jackson was trying to protect the life of his mother, Viola Jackson, in a cafe, and the police shot him twice in the abdomen for no reason. Jackson was beaten by the police after he was shot and collapsed in front of the bus station. He died in the hospital. The police also beat an 82-year-old grandfather of Jackson, Cager Lee in the Mack's Cafe too.
During a public meeting at Zion United Methodist Church in Marion on February 28, after Jackson's death, emotions were running high. James Bevel, as director of the Selma voting rights movement for SCLC, called for a march from Selma to Montgomery to talk to Governor George Wallace directly about Jackson's death, and to ask him if he had ordered the State Troopers to turn off the lights and attack the marchers. Bevel strategized that this would focus the anger and pain of the people of Marion and Selma toward a nonviolent goal, as many were so outraged that they wanted to retaliate with violence. The marchers wanted to bring attention to the many violations of black people's constitutional rights by marching to Montgomery. Dr. King agreed with Bevel's plan of the march, which they both intended to symbolize a march for full voting rights. They were to ask Governor Wallace to protect black registrants. SNCC had severe reservations about the march, especially when they heard that King would not be present. They permitted John Lewis to participate, and SNCC provided logistical support, such as the use of its Wide Area Telephone Service (WATS) lines and the services of the Medical Committee on Human Rights, organized by SNCC during the Mississippi Summer Project of 1964. Governor Wallace denounced the march as a threat to public safety; he said that he would take all measures necessary to prevent it from happening. "There will be no march between Selma and Montgomery," Wallace said on March 6, 1965, citing concern over traffic violations. He ordered Alabama Highway Patrol Chief Col. Al Lingo to "use whatever measures are necessary to prevent a march."
Bloody Sunday existed on March 7, 1965. On that day, an estimated 525 to 600 civil rights marchers headed southeast out of Selma on U.S. Highway 80. The march was led by John Lewis of SNCC and the Reverend Hosea Williams of SCLC, followed by Bob Mants of SNCC and Albert Turner of SCLC. The protest went according to plan until the marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where they saw a wall of state troopers and county posse waiting for them on the other side. County sheriff Jim Clark had issued an order for all white men in Dallas County over the age of twenty-one to report to the courthouse that morning to be deputized. Commanding officer John Cloud told the demonstrators to disband at once and go home. Rev. Hosea Williams tried to speak to the officer, but Cloud curtly informed him there was nothing to discuss. Seconds later, the troopers began shoving the demonstrators, knocking many to the ground and beating them with nightsticks. Another detachment of troopers fired tear gas, and mounted troopers charged the crowd on horseback. Televised images of the brutal attack presented Americans and international audiences with horrifying images of marchers left bloodied and severely injured, and roused support for the Selma Voting Rights Campaign. Amelia Boynton, who had helped organize the march as well as marching in it, was beaten unconscious. A photograph of her lying on the road of the Edmund Pettus Bridge appeared on the front page of newspapers and news magazines around the world. Another marcher, Lynda Blackmon Lowery, age 14, was brutally beaten by a police officer during the march and needed seven stitches for a cut above her right eye and 28 stitches on the back of her head. John Lewis suffered a skull fracture and bore scars on his head from the incident for the rest of his life. In all, 17 marchers were hospitalized and 50 treated for lesser injuries; the day soon became known as "Bloody Sunday."
After the march, President Johnson issued an immediate statement "deploring the brutality with which a number of Negro citizens of Alabama were treated." He also promised to send a voting rights bill to Congress that week, although it took him until March 15. SNCC officially joined the Selma campaign, putting aside their qualms about SCLC's tactics to rally for "the fundamental right of protest." SNCC members independently organized sit-ins in Washington, DC, the following day, occupying the office of Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach until they were dragged away.
The executive board of the NAACP unanimously passed a resolution the day after "Bloody Sunday", warning, "If Federal troops are not made available to protect the rights of Negroes, then the American people are faced with terrible alternatives. Like the citizens of Nazi-occupied France, Negroes must either submit to the heels of their oppressors or they must organize underground to protect themselves from the oppression of Governor Wallace and his storm troopers." In response to "Bloody Sunday", labor leader Walter Reuther sent a telegram on March 9 to President Johnson, reading in part: "Americans of all religious faiths, of all political persuasions, and from every section of our Nation are deeply shocked and outraged at the tragic events in Selma Ala., and they look to the Federal Government as the only possible source to protect and guarantee the exercise of constitutional rights, which is being denied and destroyed by the Dallas County law enforcement agents and the Alabama State troops under the direction of Governor George Wallace. Under these circumstances, Mr. President, I join in urging you to take immediate and appropriate steps including the use of Federal marshals and troops if necessary, so that the full exercise of constitutional rights including free assembly and free speech be fully protected." After Bloody Sunday, the Selma Voting Rights Movement entered a new and final phase.
By 2010, LeBron was in a new era of his career. He was in his physical prime in the 2010s. James officially signed a 6-year, $110 million contract with the Heat on July 10, 2010, through a sign-and-trade deal which sent two second- and two first-round draft picks to the Cavaliers and gave the team the option to swap first-round picks with the Heat in 2012. As part of the first player-created NBA superteam, he became only the third reigning MVP to change teams and the first since Moses Malone in 1982. That evening, the Heat threw a welcome party for their new "Big Three" at the American Airlines Arena, an event that took on a rock concert atmosphere. During the gathering, James predicted a dynasty for the Heat and alluded to multiple championships. Outside of Miami, the spectacle was not well-received, furthering the negative public perception of James.
Throughout the 2010–11 season, the media and opposing fanbases treated James and the Heat as villains. To begin the year, they struggled to adjust to these new circumstances, going only 9–8 after 17 games. James later admitted that the constant negativity surrounding the team made him play with an angrier demeanor than in years past. On December 2, James faced the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland for the first time since departing as a free agent. He scored 38 points and led Miami to a victory while being booed every time he touched the ball. The Heat eventually turned their season around and finished as the East's second seed, with James averaging 26.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 7.0 assists per game on 51 percent shooting. In the Eastern Conference Semifinals, James and his teammates found themselves matched up with the Boston Celtics for the second consecutive year. In Game 5, he scored Miami's last 10 points to help seal a series-clinching win. After the final buzzer, James famously knelt on the court in an emotional moment, later telling reporters that it was an extremely personal victory for him and the team. The Heat eventually advanced to the Finals, where they lost to the Dallas Mavericks in six games. James received the brunt of the criticism for the loss, averaging only three points in fourth quarters in the series, and scored just eight points in Game 4, a game Miami lost by just three points. His Finals scoring average of 17.8 points per game signified an 8.9-point drop from the regular season, the largest point drop-off in league history. LeBron James won back-to-back championships with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013. The 2011–2012 season was delayed by a lockout, and during that extended summer, James worked with Hakeem Olajuwon in order to improve his post-up game. Humbled by the Heat's loss to the Mavericks, the experience inspired James to leave behind the villain role that he had been embracing, which helped James regain a sense of joy on the court. Behind his expanded skillset, Miami began the year with a franchise-best 18–6 record. James was eventually named MVP for the third time, finishing with averages of 27.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 1.9 steals per game on 53 percent shooting.
In the second round of the playoffs, Miami temporarily lost Bosh to an abdominal injury and found themselves trailing the Indiana Pacers 2–1. James responded with a 40-point, 18-rebound, and nine-assist outing in Game 4 to help even the series. To compensate for Bosh's absence, the Heat embraced a small-ball lineup with James at power forward, which they retained even after Bosh's return in the conference finals against the Boston Celtics. Facing elimination in Game 6, James recorded 45 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Heat to victory in what The New York Times called a "career-defining performance." Miami won Game 7 to advance to the Finals, earning them a matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder and James' budding rival Kevin Durant. Late in Game 4 of the series, James hit a three-pointer to give the Heat a lead, helping them win the game despite missing time with leg cramps. In Game 5, he registered a triple-double as Miami defeated Oklahoma City for their second-ever championship and James' first championship. James was unanimously voted the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player with averages of 28.6 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 7.4 assists per game. His full postseason run, in which James averaged 30.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game, was later ranked the second best in modern NBA history by ESPN. LeBron James winning his first championship in 2012 took almost 10 years, but it was product of hard work and teamwork.
In February of the 2012–13 season, James averaged 29.7 points and 7.8 assists per game while setting multiple shooting efficiency records. That same month, the Heat also began a 27-game winning streak, which is the third longest in NBA history. Based on these accomplishments, James' performance was described as a "month for the ages" by Sports Illustrated. Miami eventually finished the year with a franchise and league best 66–16 record, and James was named MVP for the fourth time, falling just one vote shy of becoming the first player in NBA history to win the award unanimously. His final season averages were 26.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 1.7 steals per game on 56.5 percent shooting. In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, James scored a buzzer-beating layup to give Miami a one-point victory against the Pacers. Throughout the series, his supporting cast struggled significantly, and his added scoring load prompted James to compare his responsibilities to those of his "Cleveland days." Despite these struggles, the Heat advanced to the Finals for a meeting with the San Antonio Spurs, signifying a rematch for James from his first Finals six years earlier. At the beginning of the series, he was criticized for his lack of aggressiveness and poor shot selection as Miami fell behind 2–3. In Game 6, James recorded his second triple-double of the series, including 16 fourth quarter points, to lead the Heat to a comeback victory. In Game 7, he tied the Finals record for most points scored in a Game 7 victory, leading Miami over San Antonio with 37 points. James was named Finals MVP for the second straight season, averaging 25.3 points, 10.9 rebounds, 7.0 assists, and 2.3 steals per game for the championship round.
LeBron James had his final season in Miami from the 2013-2014 season. On March 3, 2014, he scored a career high and franchise record of 61 points against the Charlotte Bobcats. He converted on his first eight three-point field goal attempts through three quarters, setting a new record for the most three-point field goals made in a 60-point game. James also set the record for most points in a single game while wearing a mask. Throughout the year, he was one of the few staples for a Heat roster that used 20 different starting lineups due to injuries, finishing with averages of 27.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 6.4 assists per game on 56.7 percent shooting. In the second round of the playoffs, James tied a career-scoring postseason-high by scoring 49 points in Game 4 against the Brooklyn Nets. In the next round, Miami defeated the Pacers to earn their fourth consecutive Finals berth, becoming one of only four teams in NBA history to do so. In Game 1 of the NBA Finals, James missed most of the fourth quarter because of leg cramps, helping the San Antonio Spurs take an early series lead. In Game 2, he led the Heat to a series-tying victory with 35 points on a 64 percent shooting rate. San Antonio eventually eliminated the Heat in five games, ending Miami's quest for a three-peat. For the Finals, James averaged 28.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game. By this time, he already had the gold medal in the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games for the USA Men's basketball team. After LeBron's career in Miami, he knew that it was time to go home to Cleveland to win a championship in his home state of Ohio. It was time.
After the London 2012 historic Summer Olympics, Carmelita Jeter was in a new era of track and field career. In the Lausanne Diamond League's women 100m race, she won a close finish against many great women athletes, including Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce. Carmelita Jeter had the time of 10.86 seconds. Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce of Jamaica was number 2, and Kelly Ann Baptiste of Trinidad and Tobago was third. On January 26, 2013, Carmelita Jeter ran in the 60m race at the British Athletics Glasgow International Match. She was second place in an upset by the athlete from Germany, Verena Sailer. Yet, Jeter will come back. By 2013, Carmelita Jeter ran in more races like the Caymen 2013 Invitational in the women's 100m race. She had the time of 10.95 seconds and she won the race. It took place on May 8, 2013. Carmelita Jeter was first, Barbara Pierr was 2nd with the time of 11.02 seconds, then Deandre Whithoren, Me'Lisa Barber, Schillonie Calvert, Sheri Ann Brooks, Kerron Stewart, and Gloria Asumnu. By 2013, there has been a new generation of track and field athletes like Brianna Rollins, Dalilah Muhammad, Nicole Bush, English Gardner, and other human beings.
Later, there will be the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow. It lasted from August 10 to 18, 2013. It would be a life-changing event for Carmelita Jeter, showing her courage and determination as a track and field icon. Usain Bolt would win many gold medals like the 100m and the 200m, solidifying himself as the greatest sprinter in human history. Jamaica's men won the 4x100 m relay, and the American men won the 4x400m relay. As for the women, Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce won the gold in the 100m and the 200m. Brianna Rollins is a Sister from America who won gold in the 100m hurdles. Jamaica's women won the 4x100m relay, and Americans won the 4x400m relay (with Jessica Beard, Natasha Hastings, Ashley Spencer, Francena McCorory, and Joanna Atkins). During the 100m's women race, Carmelita had a torn quadriceps. Most athletes would throw in the throw in dealing with such a brutal injury. Yet, Jeter isn't built like that. Carmelita Jeter ran and won bronze with a great time of 10.94 seconds in the 100m race at Moscow. Jeter had to heal from the quadricep injury. Later, she ran sixth in the race at Sainsbury, UK. Michelle-Lee Ahye from Trinidad and Tobago won the race, and Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce from Jamaica won 2nd. By this time, she has her own track and field camp to promote track and field culture for young people. Carmelita Jeter won silver in the 4X100m relay race at the World Relay Championships in Nassau, Bahamas, in 2015. She wanted to go to the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Brazil, but she had an injury and retired from track and field in 2017. Yet, Carmelita Jeter had a powerful career winning gold medal, inspiring people, and being a living legend of a sport that she loves a great deal.
The existence of the Cold War caused the Korean War to exist. Imperial Japan ruled Korea from 1910 to 1945. In China, the nationalist National Revolutionary Army and the communist People's Liberation Army (PLA) helped organize Korean refugees against the Japanese imperialist military, which had occupied parts of China during WWII. Yi Pom-Sok led the Nationalist-backed Koreans to fight in the Burma campaign from 1941 to 1945. The communists were led by Kim II Sung and other people to fight the Japanese forces in Korean and Manchuria. At the Cairo Conference in 1943, China, the UK, and America agreed to allow Korea to be free and independent. At the Tehran Conference in 1943 and the Yalta Conference in February 1945, the Soviet Union promised to join the Allies in the Pacific War within three months of the victory in Europe. The USSR declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria by August 8, 1945. What people like Scarborough don't get is that Stalin is wrong on civil liberty issues, but the Soviets contributed heavily to allowing the Allied forces to win the Western front. Roosevelt didn't want to justify Stalin's authoritarianism, but he desired a more peaceful world creating a system where colonialism would be abolished in the world. Likewise, Churchill was a lifelong supporter of imperialism and colonialism. By August 10, 1945, the Soviet forces came to northern Korea and secured most major cities in the north by August 25. By this time, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt passed away in 1945, and then Truman was President. Truman would be influenced by war mongering, many of them members of the Pilgrim Society and CFR foreign policy members. FDR wanted the world to not be dominated by the totalitarian systems of Imperialism or Stalinist Communism. That is why true freedom deals with respecting and protecting all of the basic freedom of people, be they political, spiritual, and material. For example, we should have political freedom where people can elect their representatives, spiritual freedom to worship in any manner that we want (or have no faith), to have material freedom allowing the government to provide the general welfare of society and ensure economic justice for all people. FDR wanted America, China, Great Britian, and Russia to work together in promoting peaceful existence.
Political foreign policy leaders Harriman and Kennan were more hawkish agreeing with Winston Churchill's views. The big irony is that Stalin supported the Chinese Nationalist Chiang for a time bringing him weapons and equipment. This would change by 1950 when there was the first Sino-Soviet Treaty of 1950. Harry Truman has been praised for integrating the Armed Forces which was right and correct. Also, it is important to note that Truman shifted into being more hawkish on foreign policy. Truman supported the overt war crime of America dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The lie is that the bomb saved a million American lives, but even General Douglas MacArthur said that the bombs were cruel and unnecessary as negotiation for the Japanese surrender were forthcoming. Truman helped to create the CIA and promote imperialism globally. Even Truman had reservations about some of the policies of the CIA before his death. The Truman Doctrine claimed to want to contain Communism, but when American imperialists targeted non-Communist and nationalist nations for the sake of promoting Western interests, not because of ideological disagreements with Communism. These nations refused to submit to Anglo-American/Western corporate domination. The Cold War's problem and paradox is that the Americans and Soviets wanted to divide the world into their images, instead of allowing nations to create their own nations independently and with the consent of the people of those actions. We have to allow nations to grow in their growing pains that we Americans have and be a beacon of hope and democracy at the same time without coercion or imperialism. That is the truth.
The peninsula of Korea has been a location that imperialists wanted to control for centuries. After WWII, America became the largest Empire in the world. America wanted to change world capitalism to make it control the world's resources. The Soviet Stalinist bureaucracy made compromises with America in Korea, and the Korean war still started. The Stalinist communist parties were told to force the working class to accept disarming the partisans and promote bourgeois parties. Many Stalinist leaders suppressed strikes and protests even in Eastern Europe. In Asia, the Soviet Union accepted compromises with America in dealing with Korea too. General John Hodge of the U.S. military came to Korea on September 8, 1945, to start the occupation of South Korea called the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK). On September 7, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur issued Proclamation No. 1 to the people of Korea, announcing US military control over Korea south of the 38th parallel and establishing English as the official language during military control The USAMGIK banned workers' strikes by December 8, 1945. America, British, and the Soviet Union decided to divide Korea into North and South from December 16-27, 1945. Syngman Rhee ruled South Korea being far right. By 1946, there were Korean working people forming strikes in 1946. There was a repression of these strikes. People had inflation and rising food prices along with unemployment. Former Japanese collaborators worked with the U.S. occupation forces and the right-wing regime of Rhee. It is estimated that 100,000 - 200,000 Koreans were murdered, who opposed the U.S. occupation before the Korean War started. The Rhee regime was corrupt. By the fall of 1949, there were clashes across the border, mostly initiated by South Korea. Fighting continued into 1950.
Citing the inability of the Joint Commission to make progress, the US government decided to hold an election under UN auspices to create an independent Korea. The Soviet authorities and Korean communists refused to cooperate on the grounds it would not be fair, and many South Korean politicians boycotted it. The 1948 South Korean general election was held in May. The resultant South Korean government promulgated a national political constitution on July 17, 1948, and elected Syngman Rhee as president on July 20. The Republic of Korea (South Korea) was established on August 15, 1948. In the Soviet-Korean Zone of Occupation, the Soviets agreed to the establishment of a communist government led by Kim Il Sung. The 1948 North Korean parliamentary elections took place in August. The Soviet Union withdrew its forces in 1948 and the US in 1949.
By 1948, a North Korea-backed insurgency had broken out in the southern half of the peninsula. This was exacerbated by the undeclared border war between the Koreas, which saw division-level engagements and thousands of deaths on both sides. The ROK was almost entirely trained and focused on counterinsurgency, rather than conventional warfare. They were equipped and advised by a force of a few hundred American officers, who were successful in helping the ROKA to subdue guerrillas and hold its own against North Korean military (Korean People's Army, KPA) forces along the 38th parallel. Approximately 8,000 South Korean soldiers and police officers died in the insurgent war and border clashes.
The first socialist uprising occurred without direct North Korean participation, though the guerrillas still professed support for the northern government. Beginning in April 1948 on Jeju Island, the campaign saw arrests and repression by the South Korean government in the fight against the South Korean Labor Party, resulting in 30,000 violent deaths, among them 14,373 civilians, of whom ~2,000 were killed by rebels and ~12,000 by ROK security forces. The Yeosu–Suncheon rebellion overlapped with it, as several thousand army defectors waving red flags massacred right-leaning families. This resulted in another brutal suppression by the government and between 2,976 and 3,392 deaths. By May 1948, both uprisings had been crushed.
Insurgency reignited in the spring of 1949 when attacks by guerrillas in the mountainous regions (buttressed by army defectors and North Korean agents) increased. Insurgent activity peaked in late 1949 as the ROKA engaged so-called People's Guerrilla Units. Organized and armed by the North Korean government, and backed by 2,400 KPA commandos who had infiltrated through the border, these guerrillas launched an offensive in September aimed at undermining the South Korean government and preparing the country for the KPA's arrival in force. This offensive failed. However, the guerrillas were now entrenched in the Taebaek-san region of the North Gyeongsang Province and the border areas of the Gangwon Province. While the insurgency was ongoing, the ROKA and KPA engaged in battalion-sized battles along the border, starting in May 1949. Border clashes between South and North continued on August 4, 1949, when thousands of North Korean troops attacked South Korean troops occupying territory north of the 38th parallel. The 2nd and 18th ROK Infantry Regiments repulsed attacks in Kuksa-bong, and KPA troops were "completely routed." Border incidents decreased by the start of 1950.
President Harry Truman lived in these times and won the 1948 election against the progressive candidate Henry Wallace. There was the McCarthy era in the 1950s, more suppression of political dissent in America, and cultural changes in America. There was the Chinese Revolution led by Mao and other people against the Nationalist forces of Chiang. The Stalinist CCP or the Chinese Communist Party and Chiang Kai-shek's KMT were ironically allies against Japanese occupation during WWII. Now, they are fighting each other for the future of China. The Communists won the Chinese civil war causing the creation of the People's Republic of China in October 1949. The Truman administration was heavily criticized by conservatives and KMT for China going Communists. So, Truman became more hawkish going beyond containment into being in support of the invasion of Korea in 1950. Truman withdrew troops in June 1949 like the Soviets did in December 1948. Republican Senator William Knowland (who was from California) supported Chiang Kai-Shek and criticized Truman for the Chinese Revolution being won by Communist. Truman made the NSC 68 to promote a massive U.S. military buildup to prepare to fight the Soviet Union. Truman, Churchill, Kennan, Harriman, and others believed that the Kremlin wanted global domination, in wanting a global dictatorship which isn't true. Still, the Soviet Union was wrong to have anti-human rights policies, execution of political dissidents in the Soviet Union, etc., as Stalin became increasingly anti-Semitic and psychologically unstable after the Korean War.
In April 1950, Stalin permitted Kim to attack the government in the South, under the condition that Mao would agree to send reinforcements if needed. For Kim, this was the fulfillment of his goal to unite Korea. Stalin made it clear Soviet forces would not openly engage in combat, to avoid a direct war with the United States. Full scale fighting happened in Korea on June 25, 1950, when North Korean forces attacked South Korea against Rhee's regime. The North Korean army overwhelming the South Korean military towards the southeastern corner of the peninsula, because Rhee's regime didn't have massive support. At dawn on 25 June 1950, the KPA crossed the 38th parallel behind artillery fire. It justified its assault with the claim ROK troops attacked first and that the KPA were aiming to arrest and execute the "bandit traitor Syngman Rhee." Fighting began on the strategic Ongjin Peninsula in the west. There were initial South Korean claims that the 17th Regiment had counterattacked at Haeju; some scholars argue the claimed counterattack was instead the instigating attack, and therefore that the South Koreans may have fired first. However, the report that contained the Haeju claim contained errors and outright falsehoods.
KPA forces attacked all along the 38th parallel within an hour. The KPA had a combined arms force including tanks supported by heavy artillery. The ROK had no tanks, anti-tank weapons, or heavy artillery. The South Koreans committed their forces in a piecemeal fashion, and these were routed in a few days. On June 27, 1950, Rhee evacuated Seoul with some of the government. At 02:00 on 28 June the ROK blew up the Hangang Bridge across the Han River in an attempt to stop the KPA. The bridge was detonated while 4,000 refugees were crossing it, and hundreds were killed. Destroying the bridge trapped many ROK units north of the river. In spite of such desperate measures, Seoul fell that same day. Some South Korean National Assemblymen remained in Seoul when it fell, and 48 subsequently pledged allegiance to the North. On June 28, 1950, Rhee ordered the massacre of suspected political opponents in his own country. In five days, the ROK, which had 95,000 troops on 25 June, was down to less than 22,000 troops. In early July, when US forces arrived, what was left of the ROK was placed under US operational command of the United Nations Command.
The Truman administration was shocked at the scale of the invasion. Korea wasn't a major priority in their strategic Asian Defense Perimeter outlined by United States Secretary of State Dean Acheson. Many military strategists focused on Europe more than East Asia. Truman intervened, because he was afraid that Korea's war would escalated if America did nothing Diplomat John Foster Dulles wanted American intervention. Truman wanted Korea to be a buffer against possible attacks against a newly democratic Japan. Truman used United Nations Council resolutions to justify American troops to go into Korea. The United Nations Security Council condemned the North Korean invasion of South Korea with Resolution 82. The Soviet Union opposed American involved because they said that ROK intelligence which Resolution 83 was based came from American intelligence. They felt that North Korea was not involved as a temporary member of the UN, which violated UN Charter Article 32, and the fighting was beyond the Charter's scope being a civil war. ROK soldiers of the Rhee regime retreated to came to the KPA, the northern side. Acheson told Truman that North Koreans had invaded South Korea. Truman and Acheson opposed appeasement and wanted America to act to compare the North Korean invasion with Hitler's aggressions of the 1930s. Truman wanted to promote containment as outlined in the National Security Council Report 68 (NSC 68). By August 1950, Truman and Acheson got the consent of Congress to promote 12 billion dollars for military action. General MacArthur was ordered by Truman to transfer military supplies to the South Korean military. Truman didn't want unilateral bombing of North Korean forces and ordered the U.S. Seventh Fleet to protect Taiwan, whose government was asked to fight in Korea. Truman didn't allow Taiwan to intervene as not to cause China to attack Taiwan. So, the United Nations created a police force filled with American troops and other soldiers from other nations to help defend South Korea.
Since 2018, I have exquisitely learned about my ancestry into another level. Today, I have lived on this Earth for almost half of a century. That is certainly very surreal to me, a blessing and a privilege as life is very precious in the Universe. Sometimes, life will go through a rigid pattern, and sometimes events in life can be spontaneous or unexpected. That is why one authentic lesson in life is to not only plan for things but have a sense of purpose, boundaries, and self-control. So, you can flourish to exist in life more fruitfully. For over seven years now, this journey has allowed me to find out about distant cousins, grow my understanding about various subjects (from science, politics, various mysteries of life, culture, mathematics, etc.), and to realize that what truly matters is the truth. From the truth, all things make perfect sense to evaluate, to know, and to inspire future generations to achieve their destinies as human beings. Loving our family, friends, and loved ones encapsulates what authenticity corresponds to. Future chapters in our lives will be written in the years and decades of our longevity. Despite the joy and pain of life, we have the right to improve ourselves to achieve greatness. Greatness isn't about egoism or being narcissistic in an obnoxious fashion. Precisely, greatness is about respecting our accomplishments in a gracious, humble way. Greatness is having the peace of mind in respecting our own value along with honoring the humanity of other people. Greatness deals with being humble and acknowledging our contributions to the world without downplaying the legacies of other human beings who made a difference in the world too. From Zilphy Claud to George and Esther Perkins, my family tree is powerful, prominent, and still will exist in the Earth's whole historical framework.
I found some new information about my distant paternal cousins who are part of the Peace family. They live in the Philadelphia area and throughout America from Texas to other areas of Pennsylvania. Kaina Anderson (b. 1975) is my 5th cousin whose parents are the late George Eugene Munroe Anderson (1951-2014) and Debra Renee Peace (b. 1954). There is a newspaper article entitled, "Peace Family has 9th in" written by the Daily Times's Staff Writer Harry Maitland. The article mentioned that Debra Renee Peace, when she was 18 years old, enlisted to the United States Army. She is a graduate of the Delaware County Vocational Technical School in Marple. She is the first woman of the Peace family to serve in the Armed Services. She said that: "I didn't know this until the other day when my father told me. It made me feel kind of proud to be the first girl in the family to enlist." Debra went to Alabama to have basic training at Ft. McClellan in the Women's Army Corps (WAC). Debra's uncle Milton C. Peace, served in the Army in World War II. Her father and two other uncles of Alfred J. Peace and Cornelius D. Peace of Philadelphia, served in the Korean War. Her fourth uncle, Bernard Peace, had a career in the U.S. Air Force. Her uncle, Pfc. Charles Lamont Peace was killed in Vietnam while he was under a truck (via a mine). Debra's cousin, Charlton E. Peace, son of Milton Peace, served in Vietnam with the Marines. The parents of Debra Renee Peace are John Edward Peace Sr. (1932-2009) and Clara Elizabeth Holloway (1934-2009). The parents of John Edward Peace Sr. were Milton Peace Sr. (1908-1998) and Margaret Collins (1909-1998). All of the children of Milton Peace and Margaret Collins were: Milton Peace Jr. (1928-1975), Alfred James Peace (1929-2004), John Edward Peace Sr. (1932-2009), Cornelius Donald Peace (1935-1992), Bernard Clifford Peace (1937-1987), Wayne Wright Peace (1941-1984), Mary Frances Peace (1943-2016), and Charles Lamont Peace (1949-1971). The parents of Milton Peace were Bossie Peace and Lillie Thomas (1893-1981). The parents of Lillie Thomas were Jerry Thomas (1850-1910) and Martha Perkins (b. 1866). The parents of my 1st cousin Martha Perkins were James Perkins (b. 1841) and Drusilla Perkins (b. 1830). The parents of my 3rd great-granduncle James Perkins were my 4th great-grandparents of George Perkins (b. 1815) and Esther Perkins (b. 1816).
By Timothy
