Eagle Books

Price: $14.99

AN AGREEMENT WITH CHINA, a novel by Dick Hansen, deals with an alternative to the bloody three year Korean war. The author, a veteran of Korea both before and during that war, deals with the "people problems" of that tragedy in a way that results in a truncated conflict and a united Republic of Korea. Also by this author are short stories "TWO MULES FROM EL PASO" and "TAILSPIN ".
5 x 8, 180 pages, b/w photos.

Dick Hansen, a rural Iowan, joined the U.S. Army in 1946. He arrived in Korea that October. After a year in that country, he returned to college until 1950, when, with the start of what became known by different names, the most common of which were “Korean Conflict,” “Korean War,” and “Police Action,” he was recalled to active duty. He returned to Korea in February 1951 and was serving at Andong with the 32nd Engineering Construction Group on April 17, 1951 when General Douglas MacArthur was relieved as Supreme Commander, Far East Command.

Upon receiving a degree in accounting from Drake University in 1953, Mr. Hansen went on to pass the CPA exam that May. After holding various positions during the following 35 years, he became Controller of the Great Plains Gas Division of National Propane Corporation, from which he retired in 1994. After retiring, Mr. Hansen studied the Korean War. He visited Korea with a group of Friendship Force ambassadors in the year 2000. A decades-long rumination over what he thought to be an ill-administered war led him to conclude that had President Truman relieved General MacArthur during their October 15, 1950 meeting at Wake Island, during which meeting General MacArthur assured the President that the Chinese Communists would not enter the Korean War, war with China would likely have been avoided.

But the President did not relieve the General in October 1950, and war with China did take place. Despite the toll taken in the bloody first four months of the conflict, the bulk of the 36,00 American lives lost occurred after the Chinese became involved.

In this story, the author fantasizes a nondescript person, someone with no career to protect, being thrust into a circumstance in which he is used by the 8th Army Commander to out-maneuver the Supreme Commander, make a deal with the Chinese Army, and avoid war with China. He further fantasizes the reunification of Korea into what would become a military and industrial powerhouse on a par with Germany and Great Britain.