This dissertation narrates four stories about how a transnational community of interested parties helped shape American perceptions and understandings of Korea and Koreans, from a time when only certain groups knew or cared about Korea to a time when virtually every American was aware of the geopolitical significance of Korea. Two of the moments discussed here took place when Korea was a colony of Japan: a so-called “conspiracy case” in 1911 and the 1919 independence movement. The other two moments transpired in the context of the Cold War when Korean orphans and Korean exchange students came to the United States in the 1950s. In recounting these stories, I seek, not so much to chronicle state actions or the work of formal policy-makers but rather to analyze the experiences of Americans and Koreans who encountered each other outside the circles of foreign policy elites and the effects of those encounters. I argue that the interplay of perceptions, people , and official and unofficial policy can be seen in the work of people such as missionaries, mission board members, Korean expatriates, adoptive parents, social workers, journalists, and academics who tried to bind Americans and Koreans through empathetic connections. They did so by portraying Koreans as Christian converts, as supporters of democracy and democratic ideals, and as people embracing western or American cultural norms, including language, schooling, dress, and morals. In molding American perceptions of Koreans, the actors in this dissertation attempted to influence U.S. and Korean relations. They did not always succeed in their goals but, through their endeavors, they facilitated policy discussions, forged ties between the United States and Korea, and began to break down cultural barriers between Koreans and Americans.