Editing Syngman Rhee (section)

{{Short description|President of South Korea from 1948 to 1960}}
{{About|the first president of South Korea|the Presbyterian minister|Syngman Rhee (clergyman)}}
{{Family name hatnote|[[Lee (Korean surname)|Rhee]]||lang=Korean}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[His Excellency]]
| name                = Syngman Rhee
| native_name         = {{nobold|이승만}}
| native_name_lang    = 
| image               = Rhee Syng-Man in 1948.jpg
| caption             = Official portrait {{c.}}1948
| office              = 1st [[President of South Korea]]
| primeminister       = {{Collapsible list|title={{nobold|''See list''}}
| [[Lee Beom-seok (prime minister)|Lee Beom-seok]]
| [[Shin Song-mo]] (acting)
| [[Chang Myon]]
| [[Yi Yun-yong]] (acting)
| [[Chang Taek-sang]]
| [[Paik Too-chin]]
| [[Pyon Yong-tae]]
}}
| vicepresident       = {{plainlist|
* [[Yi Si-yeong]]
* [[Kim Seong-su]]
* [[Ham Tae-young]]
* Chang Myon
}}
| term_start          = 24 July 1948
| term_end            = 27 April 1960{{efn|At 2:00 p.m. on April 26, the National Assembly voted unanimously for Rhee to step down immediately, to hold the presidential election, and to amend the Constitution to a cabinet system. At 3:00 p.m. on April 27, Rhee's resignation submitted to the National Assembly was accepted.}}
| predecessor         = ''Office established''
| successor           = [[Yun Po-sun]]
| office4             = President of the [[Korean Provisional Government]]
| term_start4         = 11 September 1919
| term_end4           = 23 March 1925
| predecessor4        = ''Office established''
| successor4          = [[Park Eunsik]]
| primeminister4      = {{plainlist|
* [[Yi Donghwi]]
* [[Yi Dongnyeong]]
* Sin Gyu-sik
* No Baek-rin
* Park Eunsik
}}
| office3             = President of the [[People's Republic of Korea]]
| term_start3         = 6 September 1945
| term_end3           = 19 February 1946
| predecessor3        = ''Office established''
| successor3          = ''Office abolished''
| vicepresident3      = [[Lyuh Woon-hyung]]
| office2             = Chairman of the State Council of the [[Korean Provisional Government]]
| term_start2         = 3 March 1947
| term_end2           = 15 August 1948
| predecessor2        = [[Kim Ku]]
| successor2          = ''Office abolished''
| deputy2             = Kim Ku
| office1             = [[Speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea|Speaker of the National Assembly]]
| term_start1         = 31 May 1948
| term_end1           = 24 July 1948
| predecessor1        = [[Kim Kyu-sik]]{{efn|As Chairman of the Interim Legislative Assembly}}
| successor1          = [[Shin Ik-hee]]
| birth_name          = Rhee Syng-man
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|df=yes|1875|3|26}}
| birth_place         = Nungnae-dong, Taegyong-ri, Masan-myon, [[Pyongsan County]], [[Hwanghae Province|Hwanghae]], [[Joseon]]
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1965|7|19|1875|3|26}}
| death_place         = [[Honolulu]], [[Hawaii]], U.S.
| restingplace        = [[Seoul National Cemetery]]
| citizenship         = {{plainlist|
* [[Korean Empire|Korea]] (until 1910)
* [[Statelessness|Stateless]] (1910&ndash;1948)
* [[South Korea]] (1948&ndash;1965)
}}
| spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{Marriage|Seungseon Park|1891|1909|end=divorced}}
* {{Marriage|[[Franziska Donner]]|1934}}
}}
| party               = [[Liberal Party (South Korea)|Liberal]] (1951–1961)
| otherparty          = [[National Association (South Korea)|National Association]]<br>(1946–1951)<br/>[[People's Joint Association]] (1897–1899)
| signature           = Syngman Rhee Signature.svg
| alma_mater          = {{plainlist|
* [[George Washington University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
* [[Harvard University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])
* [[Princeton University]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
}}
| module              = {{Infobox Korean name/auto
| hangul = %이승만
| hanja  = 李承晩
| hangulho       = %_우남
| hanjaho        = 雩南
| child  = yes}}
| module2             = {{Listen voice
| filename        = Syngman Rhee discusses with the U.S Congress about the Korean War.ogg
| description     = Rhee on the [[Korean War]]
| recorded        = 28 July 1954
}}
}}
{{Korean nationalism|Politicians}}
'''Syngman Rhee''' ({{Korean/auto|hangul=이승만|hanja=李承晚|ko_ipa=iː.sɯŋ.man|ko_iparef={{efn|See {{slink|North–South differences in the Korean language|Consonants}}.}}}}; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965), also known as '''Rhee Syng-man''', or by his [[art name]] '''Unam''', ({{Korean|hangul=우남|hanja=雩南|labels=no}})<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |script-title=ko:이승만 (李承晩) |url=https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0044938 |access-date=5 April 2023 |website=[[Encyclopedia of Korean Culture]]}}</ref>  was a Korean politician who served as the first [[president of South Korea]] from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last president of the [[Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea]] from 1919 to his [[impeachment]] in 1925 and from 1947 to 1948. And he was also the president of the [[People's Republic of Korea]] from 1945 to 1946. As president of South Korea, [[First Republic of Korea|Rhee's government]] was characterised by authoritarianism, limited [[economic development]], and in the late 1950s growing [[political instability]] and [[public opposition]] to his rule.

Born in [[Hwanghae Province]], Joseon, Rhee attended an American [[Methodist]] school, where he [[converted to Christianity]]. He became a [[Korean independence movement|Korean independence activist]] and was imprisoned for his activities in 1899. After his release in 1904, he moved to the United States, where he obtained degrees from American universities and [[Treaty of Portsmouth#Portsmouth Peace Conference|met]] Presidents [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and [[Woodrow Wilson]]. After a brief 1910–12 return to Korea, he moved to [[Territory of Hawaii|Hawaii]] in 1913. In 1919, following the [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] suppression of the [[March First Movement]], Rhee joined the right-leaning Korean Provisional Government in exile in Shanghai. From 1918 to 1924, he served as the first [[List of presidents of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea|President of the Korean Provisional Government]] until he was impeached in 1925. He then returned to the United States, where he advocated and fundraised for Korean independence. In 1939, he moved to Washington, DC. In 1945, he was returned to [[United States Army Military Government in Korea|US-controlled Korea]] by the US military, and he led the anti-trusteeship movement against both the [[United States Army Military Government in Korea|U.S. military government]] and the [[Soviet Civil Administration|Soviet military administration]].<ref>{{citation |last1=Park |first1=Myung-soo |title=The Second Anti-trusteeship Campaign and Korean Political Landscapes in Early 1947 |journal=kci |date=2017 |volume=74 |pages=65–93 |publisher=[[Korea Citation Index]] |url=https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002297403}}</ref> [[1948 South Korean presidential election|On July 20, 1948]], he was elected the first president of the Republic of Korea by the [[Constituent National Assembly (South Korea)|National Assembly]], ushering in the First Republic of Korea.

As president, Rhee continued his hardline [[anti-communist]] and [[pro-American]] views that characterized much of his earlier political career. Rhee was president during the outbreak of the [[Korean War]] (1950–1953), in which North Korea invaded South Korea. He refused to sign [[Korean Armistice Agreement|the armistice agreement]] that ended the war, wishing to have the peninsula reunited by force.<ref name="Ashgate Publishing, Ltd">{{Cite book|last1=Kollontai|first1=Ms Pauline|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FhAEmcLqrA8C&pg=PA111|title=Peace and Reconciliation: In Search of Shared Identity|last2=Kim|first2=Professor Sebastian C. H.|last3=Hoyland|first3=Revd Greg|date=2 May 2013|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-1-4094-7798-3|pages=111|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Cha 2010, p. 174">Cha (2010), p. 174</ref>

After the fighting ended, South Korea's economy lagged behind North Korea's and was heavily reliant on US aid, despite successful efforts to battle illiteracy. After being [[1956 South Korean presidential election|re-elected in 1956]], he pushed to modify the constitution to remove the two-term limit, despite opposition protests. He was reelected uncontested [[March 1960 South Korean presidential election|in March 1960]], after his opponent [[Chough Pyung-ok]] died from cancer before the election took place. After Rhee's ally [[Lee Ki-poong]] won the corresponding vice-presidential election by a wide margin, the opposition rejected the result as rigged, which triggered protests. These escalated into the student-led [[April Revolution]], in which police shot demonstrators in [[Masan]]. The resulting scandal caused Rhee to resign on 26 April, ushering in the [[Second Republic of Korea]]. Following his resignation, he spent a month at the residence [[Ihwajang]] and departed for exile in Hawaii by plane on 29 May.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kim |first1=Ki-Boem |title=Dr. Syngman Rhee's Life in Hawaii: In Search of Forgotten Memories|date=2020 |newspaper=[[Kyunghyang Shinmun]]|url=https://www.khan.co.kr/article/202008070001001/amp}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=dong-woo |title=As his longing for his homeland deepened, his beloved dog 'Happy' stayed by his side.|date=2025 |newspaper=[[The Financial News]]|url=https://www.fnnews.com/news/202501071858287652#_PA}}</ref> However, according to Rhee, he went to Hawaii for medical treatment. He says he was never in exile &ndash; he simply was not able to return to his homeland.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=dong-woo |title=He never went into exile; he simply couldn't return to his homeland|date=2025 |newspaper=[[The Financial News]]|url=https://www.fnnews.com/news/202501011912031027}}</ref> He spent the rest of his life in exile in [[Honolulu]], Hawaii, and died of a stroke in 1965.