CDKW00037 - Americans “Caught Napping” on the Job

In this briefing sent out to every External Affairs office abroad on 28 June, Undersecretary of State for External Affairs Arnold Heeney revealed the diplomatic responses undertaken by Canada in response to the invasion of South Korea. In particular, this memo is interesting because it states that strategically, losing Korea “would not result in any substantial weakening of the forces now available to the anti-Communist world.” Furthermore, Heeney stated that the United States must have been expecting to lose Korea at some point. Washington appeared to have had no intelligence or foresight that the North Koreans were planning an attack, though, indicating to the Canadians that it was “clear that they [the Americans] were caught napping by the events of last weekend.” For Heeney, the real cause of Canadian involvement and interest was the moral element; losing Korea would demoralize new democracies in Asia and undermine the United Nations, which had effectively formed the Republic of Korea. However, Heeney noted that in Canada’s view, “there will not be a chain reaction,” whilst still arguing that there was the remote possibility of “far-reaching and catastrophic events” precipitated by the invasion across the 38th parallel.