The President of the Republic of Korea (Rhee) to President Eisenhower

795.00/7–2753

The President of the Republic of Korea (Rhee) to President Eisenhower^[1]

Seoul, July 27, 1953.

Confidential

My Dear Mr. President: I have much for which to be grateful to you, and much cause to rejoice that in these desperate days our beleaguered nation has found so good a friend. Your great generosity in rushing through this last week of the Congressional session an immediate appropriation of two hundred million dollars to speed our reconstruction is appreciated from the depths of our hearts. Your considerate understanding of my position during these most difficult days has been a heart-warming experience for me. But above all, I want to thank you and to congratulate you for the statesmanlike vision with which you have brought the relationships of your powerful nation and of our weaker one onto a basis of honest mutuality and two-way cooperation. Nothing could do more to reassure the disillusioned peoples of the Far East that there may be dawning a new day when they need no more fear the revival of the old and hated era of Western Colonialism.

With the signing of the truce, one phase of our problem ends and another begins. I am looking forward with hopefulness to my meeting soon with Mr. Dulles. We will have many trials in the future and there is much to be accomplished. You have labored with great patience and great skill to bring about the signing of the truce. I pray with all my soul that your hopes from it may be fulfilled and your statesmanlike objective of the unification of Korea may be obtained in peace. Never in all my life have I hoped so much that my own judgment should prove to be wrong.

With assurances of renewed appreciation and cordial friendship I am

Sincerely yours,

Syngman Rhee

^[1] This letter was transmitted to the Department of State in telegram 92, from Seoul, July 27, 1953.