Background

Syngman Rhee was born on March 26, 1875 in Neungnae-dong, Daegyeong-ri, Masan-myeon, Pyeongsan County, Hwanghae, Joseon (present-day North Hwanghae, North Korea). Rhee was born into a rural family of modest means as the third son out of three brothers and two sisters. His two older brothers both died in infancy. Rhee's family traced its lineage back to King Taejong of Joseon. In 1877, Rhee and his family moved to Seoul.

Education

Syngman Rhee studied Chinese readers and classics in various seodang (private village schools providing elementary education during the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties of Korea) in Nakdong and Dodong. In 1894 he entered Pai Chai School, a Methodist school, where he studied English. Upon graduation from Pai Chai School in 1985, he was employed by the academy as an English instructor.

Later Syngman Rhee studied at the George Washington University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1907. After that he attended Harvard University where he received a Master of Arts degree in 1908. In 1910, Rhee obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Princeton University.

Career

Syngman Rhee started his career as a teacher of English at Pai Chai School. He became interested in Western enlightenment ideas and joined reform movements which bitterly criticized the anachronistic and impotent Korean government. Rhee was arrested and imprisoned in 1897 and in 1904 he was released from prison. Later he traveled to the United States where he studied and also wrote his first book The Spirit of Independence. When an international conference of Methodist delegates was held in Minneapolis in 1912, Rhee attended the meeting as the lay delegate of the Korean Methodists. In 1913, Rhee accepted the head position at the Han-in Jung-ang Academy in Honolulu and began publishing the Pacific Ocean Magazine.

In 1919, Syngman Rhee was chosen to lead the Korean Provisional Government in exile in Washington, District of Columbia. The provisional government was subsequently located in Shanghai, and Rhee continued to lead the independence movement mostly from the United States, where he was best known. In March 1925, Rhee was dismissed as the provisional government's president after conflicts arose with other members. When Korean leader Kim Ku became the president of the government in exile, Rhee simply ignored his dismissal and continued to claim the title of president. During his years in the United States, Rhee became a very successful fundraiser, earning himself the money to live, travel, and publicize the Korean cause. During this time he wrote another book, Japan Inside Out, that predicted Japan's aggression toward the United States.

When Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial domination in 1945 by the Allied Powers, Rhee was flown back to Korea. He became the leader of conservative, right-wing political forces in South Korea. During the first general elections in Korean history, to elect the members of the National Assembly that were held on May 10, 1948, Rhee's Association for the Rapid Realization of Independence won a plurality of seats. When the National Assembly convened for the first time, on May 31, 1948, Rhee was elected as Assembly chairman. On July 20, 1948, Rhee was elected president of the Republic of Korea and on August 15, 1948, he formally took over power from the United States military.

During the Korean War Syngman Rhee hoped that the United Nations forces would continue to fight and eventually unite North and South Korea under one government. That is why he hindered the truce talks by ordering the release in June 1953 of some 25,000 anticommunist North Korean prisoners. As the result the communists broke off the negotiations and renewed their attack, largely ignoring the United Nations forces and concentrating their fire on Rhee's South Korean troops. Having made their point, the communists then resumed negotiations, and on July 27, 1953 armistice agreement, maintaining the divided Korea, was signed at Panmunjom. Syngman Rhee continued his dictatorial grip over the next several years until he was forced to resign on April 27, 1960, following violent civil disorders sparked by numerous charges of election fraud, corruption and the death of 142 students at the hands of police during a student revolution. Following his resignation, he went into exile in Hawaii.

Achievements

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  Syngman Rhee was a South Korean politician and statesman who was known as the first and the last Head of State of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea and President of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. During his presidency Rhee introduced a significant social reform through expanded education opportunities at the secondary and university level. He also implemented the Land Reform Act which helped millions of tenant farmers become small landowners, thereby reducing socio-economic disparity.
  
  At the same time, Rhee's government was characterised by authoritarianism, corruption, limited economic development which led to growing political instability and public opposition. Despite this fact Rhee's former residence in Seoul, Ihwajang, is currently used as a presidential memorial museum, and the Woo-Nam Presidential Preservation Foundation has been set up to honor his legacy. Rhee also was depicted on a 1959-issued 100 hwan coin.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Spirit of Independence: A Primer of Korean Modernization and Reform

    (This first English translation of Rhee's magnum opus, The...)

    1910
  • Japan Inside Out: The Challenge of Today

    (Japan Inside Out was written as a warning to the United S...)

    1957

Religion

After Syngman Rhee was arrested he converted to Christianity. He believed that Christianity was a fitting set of beliefs for political reform, that helping others was the way to mend the world.

Politics

Syngman Rhee became interested in politics while studying at Pai Chai School. Later he became a member of the Independence Club, a group seeking reform and Korean independence, that was founded in 1896 by Philip Jaisohn. Rhee was the editor of a school paper and participated in various movements opposed to the obsolete and ineffective government of the Korean regime. In 1898, Rhee was arrested, presumably for his involvement in the Independence Club. After Rhee was released from prison in 1904, he went to the United States and plead for help against the Japanese. It took him another six months to get an appointment to see President Theodore Roosevelt to ask for United States aid to help Korea rid itself of the Japanese. However, when Rhee was ready to meet with Theodore Roosevelt, the United States had already agreed to recognize Japan's interests in Korea.

In 1919, Rhee became Head of the Korean Provisional Government, however, Rhee failed to efficiently act in the capacity of Acting President due to conflicts inside the provisional government in Shanghai. He went to the United States in order to participate in the Washington Naval Conference. During the conference, he attempted to set the problem of Korean independence as part of the agenda. He campaigned for independence but was unsuccessful. In 1925, Rhee was impeached by the Provisional Assembly for the misuse of his authority. In 1940, he moved to Washington and tried to put pressure on the Department of State to recognize the Korean Provisional Government. He was not very successful in his efforts and by 1943, Rhee had begun blaming the Soviet Union for the many of the ills in Asia. His anticommunist stand won him some support.

When Syngman Rhee became speaker of South Korean Constitutional Assembly he was a firm advocate of independence, and although he enjoyed the appearance of United States support, at times he fought to get the military government out of Korea. Soon he became President of South Korea and after that he went to work consolidating his power. In the six months that followed his inauguration, about 81,000 people were arrested, including a good number of elected members of the National Assembly. Rhee had never allowed any opposition to his rule and as the war continued, he was losing support in his country. The end of his first four-year term came in 1952 and it was obvious that he would lose the election if it was carried out as the constitution directed. That is why he placed the area of Pusan, in southern Korea, where his government was temporarily stationed, under martial law and had some of the members of the National Assembly arrested. They were forced to vote on the changes to the constitution. The members of the National Assembly bowed to his will and changed the constitution and Rhee was elected for a second term.

During Korean War Rhee didn't support negotiations with the communists and let it be known that he would never go along with a truce as long as the Korean nation was divided in two. Later he did finally go along with the armistice after obtaining promises of millions of dollars in U.S. aid, enough arms and equipment to enlarge the Republic of Korea Army from sixteen to twenty divisions, and the prolonged presence of United States troops in the Republic of Korea. However, Rhee became less able to compromise and work with others. He was determined to keep his hold on power. In April 1960, following his fourth successful bid for the presidency, massive student protests and violence in several South Korean cities forced Rhee to resign the presidency and once again flee Korea.

Personality

Syngman Rhee was known as a tough, cunning, and manipulative person.

Quotes from others about the person

• Joseph C. Goulden: "Rhee has devoted his life to the cause of an independent Korea with the ultimate objective of personally controlling the country. In pursuing this end he has shown few scruples [guiding principles about what is right and proper] about the elements which he has been willing to utilize for his personal advancement, with the important exception that he has always refused to deal with Communists. He has also been unscrupulous in his attempts to thrust aside any person or group he felt to be in his way. Rhee's vanity has made him highly susceptible to the contrived flattery of self-seeking interests. His intellect is a shallow one, and his behavior is often irrational and literally childish. Yet Rhee, in the final analysis, has proved himself to be a remarkably astute politician. Although he has created for himself the combination role of Korean Moses and Messiah, he has very rarely permitted himself to forget the hard political realities of his position."

Connections

Syngman Rhee married Seungseon Park in 1890. However, in 1910 they divorced after the death of their son Rhee Bong-su in 1908. In February 1933, Syngman Rhee met Francesca Donner, an Austrian delegate, at a League of Nations conference in Geneva. They married in October 1933. The wedding vows of Rhee and Francesca Donner were conducted in two languages – Korean and German.

Syngman Rhee had three adopted children throughout his life. The first adopted son was Rhee Un-soo, but Rhee ended the adoption in 1949. Later Syngman Rhee adopted Lee Kang-seok. In 1960, Lee Kang-seok committed suicide. After that Syngman Rhee adopted Rhee-In-soo.

Father:

Yi Gyeong-seon

(1839 – December 2, 1912)

Mother:

Kim Gim-hae

(1833 – 1896)

ex-wife:

Seungseon Park

Son:

Rhee Bong-su

(died 1908)

Wife:

Franziska Donner

Franziska Donner (June 15, 1900 – March 19, 1992) was the inaugural First Lady of South Korea, from 1948 to 1960.

Son:

Lee Kang-seok

(1937 – April 28, 1960)

Son:

Rhee-In-soo

Rhee-In-soo (born September 1, 1931) is a political scientist of the Republic of Korea who served as an air force soldier of the Republic of Korea.

References

• Syngman Rhee: The Man Behind the Myth A book by Robert T. Oliver.
  1954
• Korea's Syngman Rhee: An Unauthorized Portrait A book by Richard C. Allen.
  1960
• The Making of the First Korean President: Syngman Rhee's Quest for Independence Essential reading for anyone with an interest in modern Korean history, this work will serve as a lasting portrait of one of the pivotal figures in the evolution of Korea as it journeyed from colonial suppression to freedom and security.
  2013