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Home > Cold War Cast > Korean War POWs and the Code of Conduct
Podcast: Cold War Cast
Episode:

Korean War POWs and the Code of Conduct
Category: Society & Culture
Duration: 00:44:54
Publish Date: 2019-07-26 12:25:07
Description:

The nature of warfare didn’t change in the atomic age, but being a prisoner of war had some new complications during the Cold War – prisoners now had political and propaganda value. With the world watching, prisoners could be used to undermine the enemy’s cause in various ways.

The American (and other allied) POWs went through a hellish ordeal topped off with communist propaganda from their Chinese captors. Many played along with the ruse in order to make their lives a bit easier, which wasn’t very well received back home in the US. It was believed that many of these servicemen showed weakness in the face of the enemy and at worse we could have communist infiltrators in our midst from the barrage of commie propaganda the prisoners were subject to.

The Department of Defense responded by putting out the Code of Conduct in 1955 that outlined what was expected in the face of the enemy, be it in combat or captivity of the American fighting man. The Code of Conduct still stands today and I think it ranks among the great documents of the Cold War. While NSC 68 and Kennan’s Long Telegram called for sweeping reforms at the institutional level to face down communism, the Code called for the individual who would actually stand toe-to-toe with Ivan (or Charlie!?!) to steel their spine in the face of the red menace. Enjoy!

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