Massive Entanglement, Marginal Influence: Carter and Korea in Crisis

Using extensive documentation, this book examines how President Jimmy Carter's troop withdrawal and human rights policies--conceived in abstraction from East Asian realities--contributed to the demise of Korean President Park Chung Hee. The author suggests that some lessons are relevant beyond Korea, for example, in our treatment of human rights problems in China today.

William H. Gleysteen Jr., a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, served as U.S. Ambassador to Korea during the Carter administration. Born and raised in Beijing, China, he spent three decades as a career foreign service officer assigned to Taipei, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Seoul. Among his Washington assignments, he served as deputy assistant secretary for East Asian affairs as well as senior staff member for East Asia in the National Security Council. After leaving government service, he was president of the Japan Society in New York (1989-95).