President Truman appealed to the United Nations to take "police action" against the attack. Under the "name of the United Nations", the United States was able to send troops and forces. By the end of the first phase of the Korean War, 111,000 South Koreans died and 57,000 were missing. .
By the beginning of Phase 2 the conditions in Korea worsened causing extreme desperation throughout the country. One can only imagine the chaos not only in Seoul, which exchanged hands 4 times, but also in every major city in both North and South Korea. Koreans frantically fled their homes in search for refugee camps, safety, shelter, and food. .
Phase 3 began in April of 1951. The beginning of this phase was marked by a sort of "see-saw" fighting along the thirty-eighth parallel with neither unit really advancing beyond the parallel. By summer of 1951, talks for an armistice began. By June 1953, the basic agreement over the POW issue was settled. Both sides agreed to release their POW's. By June 17, agreement on the final truce line became finalized. There was however, one final attack in which 7,400 Koreans were killed and U.S. forces were threatened. The United States agreed to take responsibility in enforcing the agreement of the armistice. The armistice was finally signed on July 27, 1953.
Guatemala.
In 1953 the CIA contacted a group of Guatemalan exiles under the command of Carlos Acastillo Armas to start an uprising over then president Jacob Arbenz. In 1954 a mercenary army, trained by the CIA launched an invasion from Honduras. American analysts had hoped that the invasion would spark a popular uprising against the Guatemalan government. When the citizens of Guatemala failed to revolt against their own government the CIA decided to take a more active role in the plot to overthrow Arbenz. U.S. pilots began a bombing campaign on the capitol of Guatemala and other cities around the country. In the end, president Arbenz lost the support of his military forcing him to relinquish his power and leave the presidency.
