Syngman Rhee

Official portrait, 1948 Syngman Rhee (, ;.}} 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee is also known by his art name Unam (). Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea from 1919 to his impeachment in 1925 and from 1947 to 1948. As president of South Korea, Rhee's government was characterised by authoritarianism, limited economic development, and in the late 1950s growing political instability and public opposition.

Born in Hwanghae Province, Joseon, Rhee attended an American Methodist school, where he converted to Christianity. He became a Korean independence activist and was imprisoned for his activities in 1899. After his release in 1904, he moved to the United States, where he obtained degrees from American universities and met President Theodore Roosevelt. After a brief 1910–12 return to Korea, he moved to Hawaii in 1913. In 1919, following the Japanese suppression of the March First Movement, Rhee joined the right-leaning Korean Provisional Government in exile in Shanghai. From 1918 to 1924, he served as the first President of the Korean Provisional Government until he was impeached in 1925. He then returned to the United States, where he advocated and fundraised for Korean independence. In 1939, he moved to Washington, DC. In 1945, he was returned to US-controlled Korea by the US military, and on July 20, 1948 he was elected the first president of the Republic of Korea by the National Assembly, ushering in the First Republic of Korea.

As president, Rhee continued his hardline anti-communist and pro-American views that characterized much of his earlier political career. Early on in his presidency, his government put down a communist uprising on Jeju Island, and the Mungyeong and Bodo League massacres were committed against suspected communist sympathisers, leaving at least 100,000 people dead. Rhee was president during the outbreak of the Korean War (1950–1953), in which North Korea invaded South Korea. He refused to sign the armistice agreement that ended the war, wishing to have the peninsula reunited by force.

After the fighting ended, South Korea's economy lagged behind North Korea's and was heavily reliant on US aid. After being re-elected in 1956, he pushed to modify the constitution to remove the two-term limit, despite opposition protests. He was reelected uncontested in March 1960, after his opponent Chough Pyung-ok died from cancer before the election took place. After Rhee's ally Lee Ki-poong won the corresponding vice-presidential election by a wide margin, the opposition rejected the result as rigged, which triggered protests. These escalated into the student-led April Revolution, in which police shot demonstrators in Masan. The resulting scandal caused Rhee to resign on 26 April, ushering in the Second Republic of Korea. Despite this, protesters continued to converge on the presidential palace, leading to the CIA covertly evacuating him on 28 April by helicopter. He spent the rest of his life in exile in Honolulu, Hawaii, and died of a stroke in 1965. Provided by Wikipedia
Showing 1 - 20 results of 46 for search 'Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965', query time: 0.33s Refine Results
1
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
Seoul?] Office of Public Information, Republic of Korea, 1954

Book
2
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
Sŏul Tʻŭkpyŏlsi : Chosŏn Ilbosa, 1995
Chʻopʻan.

Book
3
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
New York ; London ; Edinburgh : Fleming H. Revell co., 1941

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Book
4
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
[Sŏul] : Kongboch'ŏ, 1953

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Book
5
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
Sŏul : Chayudang Sŏnjŏnbu, 1954

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Book
6
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
[Sŏul] : Taehan Min'guk Kongboch'ŏ, 1952

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Book
7
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
Sŏul : T'aep'yŏngyang Ch'ulp'ansa, 1954
Chaekwan.

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Book
8
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
Honolulu : [Seoul, Korea] : University of Hawaii Press ; Institute for Modern Korean Studies, 2001

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Electronic Book
9
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
Princeton, [publisher not identified], 1912

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Book
10
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
New York : Revell, 1941

Book
11
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1912

Thesis Book
12
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1912

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Thesis Book
13
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
Honolulu : [Seoul, Korea]: University of Hawaii Press; Institute for Modern Korean Studies, 2001

Book
14
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
Sŏul Tʻŭkpyŏl-si : Tongsŏ Chʻulpʻansa, 1961

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Book
15
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
Sŏul T'ŭkpyŏlsi : Yŏnse Taehakkyo Ch'ulp'an Munhwawŏn, 2023
1-p'an.

Book
16
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
Sŏul : Pibong Ch'ulp'ansa, 2018
Ch'op'an.

Book
17
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
Sŏul-si : Puk aen P'ip'ŭl, 2015
Ch'op'an.
Other Authors: ...Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965...

Book
18
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
[Seoul] : Chʻŏng Midiŏ, 2008
Chʻopʻan.

Book
19
by Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965
[Seoul?] Office of Public Information, Republic of Korea, 1954

Book
20

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Manuscript