英国人HASTINGS写的朝鲜战争史记载道:“西方对中国人的态度基于一种根深蒂固的信念:中国人不是人,而是接近于动物”("Western treatment of the Koreans and the Chinese was dictated by a deeply rooted conviction that they were not people like themselves, but near-animals...")。一个英国军官回忆到,美国士兵对他说:“These people (Chinese or Koreans) are savages." 美国士兵在其回忆录中,回忆到,他们本来以为中国人就是那种逆来顺受的样子。
朝鲜战争开始时,因担心战争扩大,杜鲁门曾经亲自飞到威克岛,问麦克阿瑟将军如果中国出兵怎么办。麦克阿瑟这位西点军校的高材生轻蔑地说:“如果中国人敢来,那将是一场最大规模的屠宰。” (“there would be the greatest slaughter.”)当中国警告美国不得越过38线、否则中国将干预时,杜鲁门也轻蔑地说这是"a bald attempt to blackmail the U.N."