#127 - Syngman Rhee

In the early hours of June 25, 1950, North Korean forces attacked across the 38th parallel that divided the country into a pro-Western regime in the south and a pro-Soviet regime in the north. It officially kicked off the first major conflict of the Cold War. The Korean War. According to Paul M Edwards, the founder and Executive Director of the Center for the Study of the Korean War in Missouri: "Whether intentional or not, America’s history of misunderstandings, misjudgments, misdirections, denials, and bold-faced lies to Americans and others, has greatly weakened the memory of the Korean War , and led to the loss of many of the significant lessons it might well have taught us." According to Bruce Cumings, former chair of the history department at the University of Chicago: "Least known to Americans is how appallingly dirty this war was, with a sordid history of civilian slaughters amid which our ostensibly democratic ally was the worst offender, contrary to the American image of the North Koreans as fiendish terrorists." On our first episode about the Korean War we delve into the background of the guy who was hand-picked by the United States to be the first President of South Korea: Syngman Rhee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices