<--PREV Doc #350  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #352 Document #351; July 27, 1953 To Syngman Rhee Series: EM, AWF, International Series: Rhee ; Category: Telegram. Confidential The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIV - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part II: Settling into "the long pull"; May 1953 to August 1953 Chapter 5: "So much to do in the world"   Dear President Rhee: Thank you very much for the cordiality of your letter.1 Permit me to say also that I have been most deeply appreciative of your agreement not to obstruct the implementation of the armistice in spite of your misgivings as to the final outcome.2 In the hope of doing something to facilitate future cooperation between your country and mine and between you and me, our Secretary of State, Mr. Dulles, presently plans to leave for Korea within a matter of days. As you know, he enjoys my full confidence and will be able to expound upon my sentiments of admiration and respect for you personally, as well as to outline those directions in which we hope to be of immediate assistance to the government and people of the Korean Republic.3 With assurances of my continued friendship and esteem 1 "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," Rhee had written in a letter of this same date. He thanked Eisenhower for seeking $200 million for Korean reconstruction (see no. 346) and expressed appreciation for the President's "considerate understanding" of his position "during these most difficult days" (State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. XV, Korea, pt. 2, pp. 1444-45). 2 For background see nos. 232 and 252. 3 In Seoul on August 7 Dulles and the South Korean foreign minister would initial a draft of a U.S.-Republic of Korea mutual defense treaty. The two governments would sign the agreement in Washington on October 1, 1953 (see "Text of Draft U.S.-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty," U.S. Department of State Bulletin 29, no. 738 [August 17, 1953], 204; "Mutual Defense Treaty with Korea Signed," ibid. 29, no. 746 [October 12, 1953], 484. On plans for Korean economic relief see no. 346). Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Telegram. Confidential To Syngman Rhee, 27 July 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 351. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/351.cfm <--PREV Doc #350  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #352

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