The Making of the First Korean President

The Making of the First Korean President PDF Author: Young Ick Lew
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824839145
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 474

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Book Description
The only full-scale history of Syngman Rhee’s (1875–1965) early career in English was published nearly six decades ago. Now, in The Making of the First Korean President, Young Ick Lew uncovers little-known aspects of Rhee’s leadership roles prior to 1948, when he became the Republic of Korea’s first president. In this richly illustrated volume, Lew delves into Rhee’s background, investigates his abortive diplomatic missions, and explains how and why he was impeached as the head of the Korean Provisional Government in 1925. He analyzes the numerous personal conflicts between Rhee and other prominent Korean leaders, including some close friends and supporters who eventually denounced him as an autocrat. Rhee is portrayed as a fallible yet charismatic leader who spent his life fighting in the diplomatic and propaganda arena for the independence of his beleaguered nation—a struggle that would have consumed and defeated lesser men. Based on exhaustive research that incorporates archival records as well as secondary sources in Korean, English, and Japanese, The Making of the First Korean President meticulously lays out the key developments of Rhee’s pre-presidential career, including his early schooling in Korea, involvement in the reform movement against the Taehan (“Great Korean”) Empire, and his six-year incarceration in Seoul Prison for a coup attempt on Emperor Kojong. Rhee’s life in the U.S. is also examined in detail: his education at George Washington, Harvard, and Princeton universities; his evangelical work at the Seoul YMCA; his extensive activities in Hawai‘i and attempts to maintain prestige and power among Koreans in the U.S. Lew concludes that, despite the manifold shortcomings in Rhee’s authoritarian leadership, he was undoubtedly best prepared to assume the presidency of South Korea after the onset of the Cold War in the Korean Peninsula. 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.

The Making of the First Korean President

The Making of the First Korean President PDF Author: Young Ick Lew
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824839145
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 474

Get Book Here

Book Description
The only full-scale history of Syngman Rhee’s (1875–1965) early career in English was published nearly six decades ago. Now, in The Making of the First Korean President, Young Ick Lew uncovers little-known aspects of Rhee’s leadership roles prior to 1948, when he became the Republic of Korea’s first president. In this richly illustrated volume, Lew delves into Rhee’s background, investigates his abortive diplomatic missions, and explains how and why he was impeached as the head of the Korean Provisional Government in 1925. He analyzes the numerous personal conflicts between Rhee and other prominent Korean leaders, including some close friends and supporters who eventually denounced him as an autocrat. Rhee is portrayed as a fallible yet charismatic leader who spent his life fighting in the diplomatic and propaganda arena for the independence of his beleaguered nation—a struggle that would have consumed and defeated lesser men. Based on exhaustive research that incorporates archival records as well as secondary sources in Korean, English, and Japanese, The Making of the First Korean President meticulously lays out the key developments of Rhee’s pre-presidential career, including his early schooling in Korea, involvement in the reform movement against the Taehan (“Great Korean”) Empire, and his six-year incarceration in Seoul Prison for a coup attempt on Emperor Kojong. Rhee’s life in the U.S. is also examined in detail: his education at George Washington, Harvard, and Princeton universities; his evangelical work at the Seoul YMCA; his extensive activities in Hawai‘i and attempts to maintain prestige and power among Koreans in the U.S. Lew concludes that, despite the manifold shortcomings in Rhee’s authoritarian leadership, he was undoubtedly best prepared to assume the presidency of South Korea after the onset of the Cold War in the Korean Peninsula. 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.

The Making of the First Korean President

The Making of the First Korean President PDF Author: Yong-Ik Yu
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780824831684
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Book Description


Nation Building in South Korea

Nation Building in South Korea PDF Author: Gregg Brazinsky
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1458723178
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 590

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Book Description
Brazinsky explains why South Korea was one of the few postcolonial nations that achieved rapid economic development and democratization by the end of the twentieth century. He contends that a distinctive combination of American initiatives and Korean agency enabled South Korea's stunning transformation. Expanding the framework of traditional diplomatic history, Brazinsky examines not only state-to-state relations, but also the social and cultural interactions between Americans and South Koreans. He shows how Koreans adapted, resisted, and transformed American influence and promoted socioeconomic change that suited their own aspirations. Ultimately, Brazinsky argues, Koreans' capacity to tailor American institutions and ideas to their own purposes was the most important factor in the making of a democratic South Korea.

A New History of Korea

A New History of Korea PDF Author: Ki-baik Lee
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674255267
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
The first English-language history of Korea to appear in more than a decade, this translation offers Western readers a distillation of the latest and best scholarship on Korean history and culture from the earliest times to the student revolution of 1960. The most widely read and respected general history, A New History of Korea (Han’guksa sillon) was first published in 1961 and has undergone two major revisions and updatings. Translated twice into Japanese and currently being translated into Chinese as well, Ki-baik Lee’s work presents a new periodization of his country’s history, based on a fresh analysis of the changing composition of the leadership elite. The book is noteworthy, too, for its full and integrated discussion of major currents in Korea’s cultural history. The translation, three years in preparation, has been done by specialists in the field.

The Making of the First Korean President

The Making of the First Korean President PDF Author: Yŏng-ik Yu
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780824871000
Category : Presidents
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Book Description


The Park Chung Hee Era

The Park Chung Hee Era PDF Author: Byung-Kook Kim
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674061063
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 753

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Book Description
In 1961 South Korea was mired in poverty. By 1979 it had a powerful industrial economy and a vibrant civil society in the making, which would lead to a democratic breakthrough eight years later. The transformation took place during the years of Park Chung Hee's presidency. Park seized power in a coup in 1961 and ruled as a virtual dictator until his assassination in October 1979. He is credited with modernizing South Korea, but at a huge political and social cost. South Korea's political landscape under Park defies easy categorization. The state was predatory yet technocratic, reform-minded yet quick to crack down on dissidents in the name of political order. The nation was balanced uneasily between opposition forces calling for democratic reforms and the Park government's obsession with economic growth. The chaebol (a powerful conglomerate of multinationals based in South Korea) received massive government support to pioneer new growth industries, even as a nationwide campaign of economic shock therapy-interest hikes, devaluation, and wage cuts-met strong public resistance and caused considerable hardship. This landmark volume examines South Korea's era of development as a study in the complex politics of modernization. Drawing on an extraordinary range of sources in both English and Korean, these essays recover and contextualize many of the ambiguities in South Korea's trajectory from poverty to a sustainable high rate of economic growth.

Truman and Korea

Truman and Korea PDF Author: Paul G. Pierpaoli
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 0826261310
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
"Detailing for the first time the story of America's homefront during the Korean War, Truman and Korea fills an important gap in the historical scholarship of the era. Paul Pierpaoli analyzes the political, economic, social, and international ramifications of America's first war of Soviet containment, never losing sight of the larger context of the Cold War. He focuses on how and why the Truman administration undertook a bloody, inconclusive war on the Korean peninsula while permanently placing the nation on a war footing." "Based upon extensive research in the papers and official presidential files of Harry S. Truman, as well as many manuscript collections and records of wartime and government agencies, Truman and Korea offers a new perspective on the Korean War era and its inextricable ties to broader Cold War decision making."--Jacket.

Moon Jae-in: President of South Korea

Moon Jae-in: President of South Korea PDF Author: Cynthia Kennedy Henzel
Publisher: North Star Editions, Inc.
ISBN: 1641855363
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 51

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Book Description
Introduces readers to the political career of South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Engaging infographics, thought-provoking discussion questions, and eye-catching photos give the reader an invaluable look into South Korea and the office of its current leader.

New Dawn

New Dawn PDF Author: Young Lee
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781632498366
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Modern Korean history is an important subject for future generations of Korean immigrants to learn their background and their ancestors' struggles for independence and democracy. The search for simple English storytelling on the subject found no easy answer. The Author, having lived in both Korea and the U.S., presents an objective and panoramic view of history through the life of Syngman Rhee(1875-1965), the reformer and the first president of the Republic of Korea. The Author depicts international politics in the colonial period and follows the life of a young man destined to be an enlightened and courageous spiritual and political leader. He bridged the old Korean dynasty engulfed in colonization with a vibrant Republic, a bulwark of democracy in the Far East which was swept by communism. The book is essential reading for the new generation interested in the dazzling progress of the new republic, the war to thwart communism, and the people's will for democracy and freedom.

Within Limits

Within Limits PDF Author: Wayne Thompson
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 0788140094
Category : Korean War, 1950-1953
Languages : en
Pages : 65

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Book Description
Despite American success in preventing the conquest of South Korea by communist North Korea, the Korean War of 1950-1953 did not satisfy Americans who expected the kind of total victory they had experienced in WW II. In Korea, the U.S. limited itself to conventional weapons. Even after communist China entered the war, Americans put China off-limits to conventional bombing as well as nuclear bombing. Operating within these limits, the U.S. Air Force helped to repel 2 invasions of South Korea while securing control of the skies so decisively that other U.N. forces could fight without fear of air attack.