RHEE SYNGMAN: (1875-1965)

RHEE SYNGMAN: (1875-1965) South Korean politician who served as the first President of South Korea 1948-60. Typed statement signed, Syngman Rhee, one page, slim 4to, n.p., 1st July 1958. The patriotic statement reads, in full, ´My heart lies with my thirty million fellow countrymen, to weld them together into one nation. Then my work will be done and I will retire to the beauty of the mountainside and live out my life in quiet and peace´. Signed by Rhee at the conclusion. Some light, very minor foxing to the edges, otherwise VG

Although Rhee writes of a peaceful retirement in his statement, his actual political path was much more turbulent. Rather than retiring after his work was ´done´, he repeatedly amended the constitution to remove term limits and stayed in power for twelve years. His presidency ended not in a peaceful retreat to the mountains, but in a forced resignation following student-led protests against rigged elections, known as the April Revolution. And instead of a quiet life on a Korean mountainside, Rhee spent his final years in exile in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he died in 1965.