US State Department

Through its embassies, missions, consulates, and foreign service personnel, the US State Department was entrusted by the US Government to gather and disseminate information about the political, economic, and social stability of nations. From 1950 to 1957, the US State Department relayed telegrams and reports about Korea back to the United States Executive Branch for action. Following World War Two, US State Department missions in Southeast Asia had forewarned the US Presidency of political instability with the removal of Japanese occupation forces. In 1950, foreign service personnel began to send urgent messages regarding the movement of scattered communist guerrilla forces southward. During the Korean War, 1950 to 1953, the US State Department maintained a steady flow of messages to President Harry S Truman concerning civil, political, and military actions in Korea and, following the armistice in 1953, continued to inform the Executive Branch of Korean economic and social stability programmes.