Word: ridgway
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...facing across table in stiff two-sided array. There would be no stenographers' reports, no press briefings on the progress of the subcommittee, and a bare minimum of newsmen in Kaesong. There would be every reason to get down to business, and no further need for what Matt Ridgway called "parroting of elaborate and illogical propaganda slogans...
...Communists had already admitted the illegal presence of their armed soldiers in Kaesong. Matt Ridgway insisted that he would resume the talks only if the Reds clearly understood that further violations would end the truce talks automatically. After digesting this for 52 hours, the Reds sent another message. The key paragraph: "It is inconceivable that there will be any further failure on our part to comply . . . unless you should deliberately fabricate incidents as an excuse to terminate the armistice negotiations." U.N. strategists ignored the insults, accepted the "inconceivable" assurance...
...first the Reds had portrayed themselves as victors, the U.N. as humbly begging for peace. But the tone of their propaganda had changed to one of whining complaint. They now accused the U.N. of being autocratic and arbitrary. When, during the five-day lapse, the Peking radio accused Ridgway of refusing to set a date for resumption of the truce talks, even illiterate peasants could reason that, if Ridgway could turn the talks off & on at will, it was he who had the whip hand...
Almost to a man, the troops seemed to admire Ridgway's handling of the truce negotiations, but groaned profanely every time the talks stalled. "Here we go again," some said, adding their personal cuss words. No one doubted that the Eighth Army, the most effective and self-confident army the U.S. has ever fielded, would fight angrily, hard and well if called on again...
...Ridgway statement did not report a situation; it expressed a hope, and its tone and content strongly suggested that it is an effort by some psychological warfare strategists to make a split where there is none...