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Act of war : Lyndon Johnson, North Korea, and the capture of the spy ship Pueblo / Jack Cheevers.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, New York : NAL Caliber, [2013]Description: xiv, 431 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780451466198 (hardback)
  • 0451466195 (hardback)
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 359.3/4320973 23
Contents:
Spies ahoy -- Don't start a war out there, Captain -- Along a dread coast -- SOS SOS SOS -- We will now begin to shoot your crew -- A minefield of unknowns -- Suicide in a bucket -- At the Mad Hatter's tea party -- The endurance of men -- Allies at odds -- Summer of defiance -- An unapologetic apology -- Hell week -- Bridge of no return -- A Christmas present for the nation -- Bucher's Gethsemane -- Everyone's worst nightmare -- Balm of mercy -- A day in the sun.
Summary: Tells the true story of the crew of the USS Pueblo who were forced to surrender to the North Koreans the day after an attempt on the assassination of the President of South Korea in 1968.Summary: "In 1968, a small, dilapidated American spy ship set out on a dangerous mission: to pinpoint military radar stations along the coast of North Korea. Packed with advanced electronic-surveillance equipment and classified intelligence documents, the USS Pueblo was poorly armed and lacked backup by air or sea. Its crew, led by a charismatic, hard-drinking ex-submarine officer named Pete Bucher, was made up mostly of untested sailors in their teens and twenties. On a frigid January morning while eavesdropping near the port of Wonsan, the Pueblo was challenged by a North Korean gunboat. When Bucher tried to escape, his ship was quickly surrounded by more patrol boats, shelled and machine-gunned, and forced to surrender. One American was killed and ten wounded, and Bucher and his young crew were taken prisoner by one of the world's most aggressive and erratic totalitarian regimes. Less than forty-eight hours before the Pueblo's capture, North Korean commandos had nearly succeeded in assassinating South Korea's president in downtown Seoul. Together, the two explosive incidents pushed Cold War tensions toward a flashpoint as both North and South Korea girded for war-with fifty thousand American soldiers caught between them. President Lyndon Johnson rushed U.S. combat ships and aircraft to reinforce South Korea, while secretly trying to negotiate a peaceful solution to the crisis. Act of War tells the riveting saga of Bucher and his men as they struggled to survive merciless torture and horrendous living conditions in North Korean prisons. Based on extensive interviews and numerous government documents released through the Freedom of Information Act, this book also reveals new details of Johnson's high-risk gambit to prevent war from erupting on the Korean peninsula while his negotiators desperately tried to save the sailors from possible execution. A dramatic tale of human endurance against the backdrop of an international diplomatic poker game, Act of War offers lessons on the perils of covert intelligence operations as America finds itself confronting a host of twenty-first-century enemies"--
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Holdings
Item type Current library Home library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode
Book Parsons Public Library Adult Non-Fiction Parsons Public Library Adult Books 359.3 Cheevers, J. (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 34315000477374
Book Toronto Public Library Adult Non-Fiction Toronto Public Library Adult Books 359.3 Cheevers (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 35313000112389

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Spies ahoy -- Don't start a war out there, Captain -- Along a dread coast -- SOS SOS SOS -- We will now begin to shoot your crew -- A minefield of unknowns -- Suicide in a bucket -- At the Mad Hatter's tea party -- The endurance of men -- Allies at odds -- Summer of defiance -- An unapologetic apology -- Hell week -- Bridge of no return -- A Christmas present for the nation -- Bucher's Gethsemane -- Everyone's worst nightmare -- Balm of mercy -- A day in the sun.

Tells the true story of the crew of the USS Pueblo who were forced to surrender to the North Koreans the day after an attempt on the assassination of the President of South Korea in 1968.

"In 1968, a small, dilapidated American spy ship set out on a dangerous mission: to pinpoint military radar stations along the coast of North Korea. Packed with advanced electronic-surveillance equipment and classified intelligence documents, the USS Pueblo was poorly armed and lacked backup by air or sea. Its crew, led by a charismatic, hard-drinking ex-submarine officer named Pete Bucher, was made up mostly of untested sailors in their teens and twenties. On a frigid January morning while eavesdropping near the port of Wonsan, the Pueblo was challenged by a North Korean gunboat. When Bucher tried to escape, his ship was quickly surrounded by more patrol boats, shelled and machine-gunned, and forced to surrender. One American was killed and ten wounded, and Bucher and his young crew were taken prisoner by one of the world's most aggressive and erratic totalitarian regimes. Less than forty-eight hours before the Pueblo's capture, North Korean commandos had nearly succeeded in assassinating South Korea's president in downtown Seoul. Together, the two explosive incidents pushed Cold War tensions toward a flashpoint as both North and South Korea girded for war-with fifty thousand American soldiers caught between them. President Lyndon Johnson rushed U.S. combat ships and aircraft to reinforce South Korea, while secretly trying to negotiate a peaceful solution to the crisis. Act of War tells the riveting saga of Bucher and his men as they struggled to survive merciless torture and horrendous living conditions in North Korean prisons. Based on extensive interviews and numerous government documents released through the Freedom of Information Act, this book also reveals new details of Johnson's high-risk gambit to prevent war from erupting on the Korean peninsula while his negotiators desperately tried to save the sailors from possible execution. A dramatic tale of human endurance against the backdrop of an international diplomatic poker game, Act of War offers lessons on the perils of covert intelligence operations as America finds itself confronting a host of twenty-first-century enemies"--

20140220 Master record variable field(s) change: 100 UPDATED.

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