The morning of June 25, 1950 marked the beginning of the terrible devastation known today as the Korean War. The leader of the People's Republic of Korea, Kim Il Sung, with the approval of Stalin and the promised support of Mao Zedong, invaded the 38th parallel in an effort to unite the divided country into one. The attack was largely unexpected, with the Central Intelligence Agency and the United Nations failing to notice the impending attack even after North Korean troops were mobilized to the South Korean peninsula. Around 5 million lives were lost during the war, including soldiers and civilians. It was the first Communist-led military initiative of the Cold War and the first U.S. military involvement on behalf of South Korea and its containment policy. American incentives for war were due to fears of a communist victory over East Asia and, although Korea was not part of the Asian strategic defense perimeter, the Truman administration feared that if Korea of the invaded South should be left alone, this would trigger internationalization. of communism through military violence. The dominant domino theory of communism inferred that if one country fell to the communist Soviet Union, the contingent countries would all begin to "fall" to communist power. It was therefore imperative for the United States to at least delay and, at best, prevent South Korea's fall to North Korea. “If we let Korea go,” President Harry Truman said, “the Soviets will go ahead and gobble it up one by one.” As a result, it is reasonable to assume that the Korean battlefield was not a battle of soldiers but of ideologies. Nevertheless, citizens and media disagreed...... middle of paper ...... amounts to political and psychological censorship." As the New York Times reported, they believed that "censorship, introduced here for 'security' purposes...was being used to cover up military errors and defeats." " The government was both compelled and desperate to try to at least delay the overwhelming flood of media propaganda and information that was shaping public opinion like clay. In July 1951, peace talks began in Panmunjom. Fighting continued along the 38th parallel, but after two years of painstaking negotiations, the adversaries signed the Korean Armistice Agreement on July 27, 1953 to end the protracted ideological struggle. The Korean War helped to highlight the role of the media as a powerful tool for propaganda and the formation of public opinion. The media blitz during the war showed how powerful this media can become..