Neutrality as Influenced by the United States: A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Princeton University in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
By Syngman Rhee
I was reading the following passages about the break up of the Independence Club by the Korean King which gave me details about future President Rhee I had never heard before — one of which was that he had written a book on democracy in secret while a prisoner…
….which got me to thinking — to look at Google Books to see if I could find someone he’d authored - which resulted in the above (the only work listed from between 1900-1925).
I’ll have to check that out later, but here are the interesting passages from the current book I’m reading:
Popularity: 2%
6:27 am on September 17th, 2008 1
Interesting read.
It puts into perspective why Rhee disliked the Japanese so much when years later he became Korea’s first president.
The book goes on to say that Rhee was one of the most honored and loved men in all of Korea after his release. I wonder if that view of Rhee still persisted with the Korean public when over 40 years later he was installed as President?
8:54 am on September 17th, 2008 2
From what little I’ve read, Rhee became president because that popularity remained strong. What I took from the sections of books I’ve read on that time period (1945) — the people did not know much about Rhee of that day, but they remembered him and his name from the past - and that was good enough to move him up in the pecking order in what was a very confusing time with lots of players — most of them coming back from exile abroad - jockeying for position.
They way I read it from history books written in the 1990s and up, the US as much accepted Rhee as they promoted him. How can I put it? - that it was not a natural marriage because of what some US officials felt and feared about Rhee - but he was the non-communist with the best chance of winning public favor because he was already winning it…
I know from a prof I had once, that the Koreans in Hawaii were NOT happy with Rhee 40 years later - by the time he was back in Korea - but that was because he married a white woman and betrayed them all……(my prof completely understood and agreed, by the way….)