Abstract
This chapter examines press coverage of the latter stages of the American occupation of Korea and the growth of the Korean Right as the dominant political force in the American occupation zone. It looks at the Washington lobbying activities of the American military government in Korea and Syngman Rhee, as well as the successful efforts by the military government to suppress critical reporting in the occupation zone. Although neither faction achieved their political goals, the Rhee lobby secured the support of key conservative media outlets, including Time, the Hearst press and the Chicago Tribune. Following UN-sponsored elections, liberal reporters became privately resigned to the inevitability of Rhee taking power and the possibility of violent conflict with North Korea.
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Notes
- 1.
Bunce to Atcheson, 23 January 1947, Box 2, General Correspondence 1947, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 2.
AP, “September Trouble in Korea Described,” New York Times, 15 December 1946.
- 3.
Drew Pearson, “The Washington Merry Go-Round,” 3 December 1946.
- 4.
Robert T. Oliver, Letter “Report on Korea,” New York Times, 10 November 1946.
- 5.
Johnston to Hodge, 27 January 1947, Box 2, General Correspondence 1947, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA. Johnston requested the meeting with the President so that he could deliver a historic Korean scroll as a gift from Rhee, although the Korean Desk at the State Department recommended that he not accept it: R. D. Muir to Woodward, 3 December 1946, Box 1453, Official File 471 Korea, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library.
- 6.
Goodfellow to Hodge, 6 September 1946, Box 1, Millard Preston Goodfellow Papers, Hoover Institution Archives.
- 7.
“Our Korean Colony?,” Daily Worker, 18 October 1946.
- 8.
There are conflicting accounts as to how Hodge felt about Rhee’s trip to the United States. While Oliver claimed Hodge urged Rhee not to leave, Hodge told Preston Goodfellow that he thought Rhee’s publicity campaign could bring Korea to the attention of the United States and “build up sympathy enough to get our people to demand action.” AMG intelligence officer Richard D. Robinson claimed that Hodge wanted Rhee out of the country so that the initiative for developing the Interim Legislative Assembly would pass to a less polarizing Korean political figure. Since the American military provided Rhee with transport from Korea to the United States, his trip must have had some level of official endorsement: Hodge to Goodfellow, 28 January 1947, Box 1, Millard Preston Goodfellow Papers, Hoover Institution Archives; Will Hamlin [Richard D. Robinson], “Korea: An American Tragedy,” Nation, 1 March 1946; Oliver, Syngman Rhee and American Involvement in Korea; 1942–1960, 55.
- 9.
According to Hodge, Rhee used the meeting with MacArthur to falsely claim to the press that Tokyo was not happy with the American occupation in Korea: Hodge to Goodfellow, 28 January 1947, Box 1, Millard Preston Goodfellow Papers, Hoover Institution Archives.
- 10.
Lindesay Parrott, “Korean Now Urges Partition,” New York Times, 5 December 1946.
- 11.
Langdon to Acheson, 4 January 1947, FRUS 1947, 6, 567.
- 12.
Oliver, 56.
- 13.
Vincent to Hilldring, 27 January 1947, FRUS 1947, 6, 603.
- 14.
Langdon to Marshall, 17 January 1947, FRUS 1947, 6, 599.
- 15.
Hodge to Goodfellow, 28 January 1947, Box 1, Millard Preston Goodfellow Papers, Hoover Institution Archives.
- 16.
“Korean Assails Hodge,” New York Times, 24 January 1947.
- 17.
Lerch to Hodge, 16 December 1946, Box 2, General Correspondence 1947, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 18.
UP, “Plan to Quit Korea is Denied by Lerch,” New York Times, 8 February 1947.
- 19.
For more on the bureaucratic divisions over Korea policy, see Millett, The War for Korea, 1945–1950: A House Burning, 109–10.
- 20.
Sidney Shalett, “Hodge says Soviet is Arming Koreans and Flouting Pact,” New York Times, 25 February 1947; “Korea- Danger Spot,” New York Times, 26 February 1947; “Hodge Less Gloomy in Korean Outlook,” New York Times, 4 March 1947.
- 21.
It is not clear why Rhee published this statement. While Rhee may have been hoping to force the State Department’s hand, Oliver claimed he was not consulted on the statement before its publication and thus it was most likely an attempt to boost Rhee’s prestige back in Korea: Oliver, Syngman Rhee and American Involvement in Korea; 1942–1960, 64–5.
- 22.
AP, “Korean Shift Predicted,” New York Times, 22 March 1947; C. L. Sulzberger, “U.S. to Act in Korea Now, Marshall Advises Molotov,” New York Times, 11 April 1947.
- 23.
“Korean Leader Urges Soviet and U.S. To Go,” New York Times, 29 January 1947.
- 24.
“Digging In,” Time, 17 March 1947.
- 25.
RTE to Hulburd, 7 March 1947, Time Inc. Dispatches from Time magazine correspondents: First Series, 1942–1955, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library; RTE to Hulburd, Jr., 6 March 1947, Time Inc. Dispatches from Time magazine correspondents: First Series, 1942–1955, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library.
- 26.
Rhee to Luce, 1 March 1947, Box 1, Henry Luce Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. A brief account of the dinner was given by Louise Yim in her memoir: Yim, My Forty Year Fight for Korea, 266–7.
- 27.
Luce’s business-oriented magazine Fortune ran a lengthy article calling for a long-term US commitment to Korea in June 1947: “Korea: The U.S. Gets to Work,” Fortune, June 1947.
- 28.
Walter Simmons, “Finds Rule by U.S. Fails to Win Over Koreans,” Chicago Daily Tribune, 30 December 1946.
- 29.
Walter Simmons, “See Freedom in Korea Injured by Acts,” Chicago Daily Tribune, 22 March 1947.
- 30.
Rhee to McCormick, 28 June 1946, “Korea, 1946–1955, (Syngman Rhee)” Folder, Box 48, Papers of Colonel Robert R. McCormick, First Division Museum.
- 31.
LEB memo, 20 January 1948, Box 63, RG5, Douglas MacArthur Papers, MacArthur Memorial Archives.
- 32.
Harold Sugg, “Watch Korea,” Harper’s, January 1947; Archibald T. Steel, “Search for a Middle Road in Korea,” New York Herald Tribune, 2 April 1947.
- 33.
Fisher to Evans, 25 March 1947, Box 2, General Correspondence 1947, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA; Hodge to Fisher, 3 May 1947, Box 2, General Correspondence 1947, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 34.
Lerch to Hodge, 18 July 1947, Box 2, General Correspondence 1947, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 35.
Hodge to Army, 14 April 1947, Box 2, General Correspondence 1947, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 36.
Fisher to Hodge, 19 April 1948, Box 3, General Correspondence 1947, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 37.
The amount of material coming out of Korea compelled AP to ask correspondent Roy Roberts to reduce the size of his dispatches: Turnblad to Roberts, 20 May 1947, Korea, Foreign Bureau Correspondence 1946–1947, General Files, AP Corporate Archives.
- 38.
In a letter to UP’s Far East representative, Hodge argued that Rich had a good nose for news and expressed a degree of paternal concern for his career: Hodge to Vaughn, 24 January 1948, Box 3, General Correspondence 1948, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 39.
Rhee lobbied the Times to send Johnston back to Korea, although it is unclear if this influenced the newspaper’s decision: Johnston to Hodge, 27 January 1947, Box 2, General Correspondence 1947, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 40.
Richard Johnston, “More Aid to Korea Pledged by Hodge,” New York Times, 15 April 1947; Richard Johnston, “Koreans Jubilant on Greeting Hodge,” New York Times, 24 April 1947.
- 41.
AP, “Morale Better in Korea,” New York Times, 29 April 1947.
- 42.
Fromm to Mark and Sally Gayn, 3 August 1947, Box 4, Mark Gayn Papers, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto.
- 43.
Carl Mydans, “A Scout Is Militant,” Time, 30 June 1947. Mark Gayn also wrote about the Korean National Youth in an article for PM in November 1947 based on his 1946 reporting trip: Mark Gayn, “Jap-Trained Police ‘Pacify’ South Korea,” PM, 6 November 1947.
- 44.
Planning for the junket began in response to what the Army felt was “unwarranted criticisms of conditions and policies in Korea,” as well as morale problems in the Philippines and foreign criticism of US occupation policies. While the Army believed that editors on such tours secured “sound fundamental knowledge and write intelligently and objectively on occupation,” General MacArthur disagreed and called for certain newspapers to be excluded based on their history of publishing articles critical of the occupation. A minor controversy ensued when MacArthur’s memo was described in detail by Drew Pearson in his 3 December 1946 column. No newspapers were ultimately excluded: Army to MacArthur, 1 November 1946, Box 158, RG9, Douglas MacArthur Papers, MacArthur Memorial Archives; Army to MacArthur, 9 December 1946, Box 158, RG9, Douglas MacArthur Papers, MacArthur Memorial Archives; Drew Pearson, “The Washington Merry Go-Round,” 3 December 1946.
- 45.
Fromm to Mark and Sally Gayn, 14 February 1947, Box 4, Mark Gayn Papers, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto.
- 46.
Brines to Gould, 12 February 1947, Korea, Foreign Bureau Records 1946–7, General Files, AP Corporate Archives.
- 47.
War to MacArthur, 12 April 1947, Box 158, RG9, Douglas MacArthur Papers, MacArthur Memorial Archives. Canham later wrote a positive account of his experiences in Korea for a magazine: Erwin D. Canham, “Between Two Worlds,” The Rotarian, June 1947.
- 48.
Fromm to Mark and Sally Gayn, 14 February 1947, Box 4, Mark Gayn Papers, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto.
- 49.
Hodge to Parks, 8 March 1948, Box 3, General Correspondence 1948, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 50.
Richard Johnston, “Korean Fighting Is Expected Soon,” New York Times, 26 July 1947.
- 51.
Gordon Walker, “Koreans Dread Trusteeship, Blame U.S. for Blocking Independence,” Christian Science Monitor, 2 August 1947.
- 52.
For more on the background of this trip see Samuel Walker, In Defense of American Liberties: A History of the ACLU (Carbondale, IL: SIU Press, 1999), 205.
- 53.
“’Korea Is Police State,’ Roger Baldwin Reports,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 23 June 1947.
- 54.
“Democracy is Seen as Gaining in Japan,” New York Times, 27 June 1947.
- 55.
Baldwin to Villard, 13 November 1947, Folder 22, Box 1167, American Civil Liberties Union Records, Princeton University.
- 56.
Baldwin wrote to Kim to inform him that their views were “almost identical”: Baldwin to Kim, 12 August 1947, Box 1, Yong-jeung Kim Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University in the City of New York; “Danger of Chaos is Seen,” New York Times, 30 July 1947; Yong-jeung Kim, Letter “Conditions in Korea,” New York Times, 12 August 1947.
- 57.
Marn J. Cha, Koreans in Central California (1903–1957): A Study of Settlement and Transnational Politics (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2010), 101.
- 58.
Kim found himself under public attack from Robert T. Oliver, who in a letter to the Times argued that Kim was simply lashing out at Rhee because of a decades-long personal feud: Robert T. Oliver, Letter “Program for Korea,” New York Times, 15 August 1947.
- 59.
Kim to Hodge, 4 August 1947, Box 1, Yong-jeung Kim Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University in the City of New York; Baldwin to Hodge, 28 May 1947, Box 2, General Correspondence 1947, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 60.
Jacobs to Marshall, 12 August 1947, FRUS 1947, 6, 750.
- 61.
Jacobs to Marshall, 22 August 1947, FRUS 1947, 6, 762.
- 62.
Oliver, Syngman Rhee and American Involvement in Korea; 1942–1960, 90.
- 63.
Interim Directive to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, 24 July 1947, FRUS 1947, 6, 714–31; Report by the Ad Hoc Committee on Korea, 4 August 1947, FRUS 1947, 6, 738–41.
- 64.
“Sham in Korea,” Washington Post, 5 October 1947.
- 65.
“INS Honors Two Writers Killed in Korea,” Milwaukee Sentinel, 4 February 1951.
- 66.
Greg Robinson, Larry and Guyo Tajiri and Japanese American Journalism in the World War II Era (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2012), 147.
- 67.
Ian Mugridge, View from Xanadu: William Randolph Hearst and United States Foreign Policy (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1995), 142.
- 68.
Hodge to Hearst, January 1948, Box 3, General Correspondence 1948, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA; Col. B. C. Limb to Hearst, “Korean Leader Thanks Hearst Newspapers,” Milwaukee Sentinel, 29 September 1947.
- 69.
Ray Richards, “Fate and Ballots Made Korean President,” Milwaukee Sentinel, 7 October 1947.
- 70.
Hodge to Hearst, January 1948, Box 3, General Correspondence 1948, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 71.
Hodge to Parks, 17 January 1948, Box 3, General Correspondence 1948, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 72.
McCormick to Simmons, 3 September 1947, Travel Folder, Box 31, Papers of Colonel Robert R. McCormick, First Division Museum.
- 73.
Col. Robert McCormick, “Journey to Korea,” Chicago Daily Tribune, 16 November 1947.
- 74.
Robert P. Martin, “Korean Police Denounced as Terrorists,” New York Post, 3 December 1947. Martin was the Post’s China correspondent until 1949 and regarded as a member of the leftist clique by authorities in Tokyo. Attempts by SCAP to stop him reporting from Japan in February 1947 caused an outcry amongst the Tokyo press corps: Fromm to Mark and Sally Gayn, 14 February 1947, Box 4, Mark Gayn Papers, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto.
- 75.
Lyuh was assassinated by a North Korean with ties to right-wing nationalists. In his write-up of the assassination, however, Richard Johnston hinted that the murder was orchestrated by communist elements unhappy with Lyuh’s failure to toe the party line: Richard Johnston, “Lyuh, Leftist Chief is Killed in Korea,” New York Times, 20 July 1947.
- 76.
Stephen R. MacKinnon and Oris Friesen, eds., China Reporting: An Oral History of American Journalism in the 1930’s and 1940’s (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1987), 104–5.
- 77.
Hugh Deane, “Moderates Hard Hit in U.S. Korea Zone,” China Weekly Review, 4 October 1947.
- 78.
Hodge to MacArthur, 8 January 1948, Box 3, General Correspondence 1948, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 79.
Hodge to MacArthur, 9 January 1948, Box 3, General Correspondence 1948, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 80.
Hodge to MacArthur, 22 March 1948, Box 3, General Correspondence 1948, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 81.
According to Mark Gayn, UP’s Stanley Rich and AP’s Roy Roberts were told to be “more patriotic” at a meeting with the occupation’s G2 commander, Colonel Walter F. Choinski: Diary Entry for 20 March 1948, Box 98, Mark Gayn Papers, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto.
- 82.
Gordon Walker, “Slight Outbreaks in Korea Fail to Shake UN Decision,” Christian Science Monitor, 9 February 1948; Gordon Walker, “UN Inquiry: Answer Inside Jails?,” Christian Science Monitor, 23 January 1948.
- 83.
Hodge to Canham, 8 March 1948, Box 3, General Correspondence 1948, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA; Gratke to Hodge, 7 April 1948, Box 3, General Correspondence 1948, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 84.
Jacobs to Marshall, 27 April 1948, FRUS 1948, 6, 1183.
- 85.
Correspondents disagreed on whether Kyu-Sik and Koo opposed the UN elections after they returned from Pyongyang. Richard Johnston wrote that Kyu-Sik was noticeably disillusioned by what he saw in North Korea and would not oppose elections in just the south while UP’s correspondent claimed that he was still fiercely against them. AMG sources suggest that UP’s version was more accurate.
- 86.
“Korea’s Leaders,” Washington Post, 9 May 1948.
- 87.
Hodge to Carty, 28 June 1948, Box 3, General Correspondence 1948, USAFIK Commandant’s Office, RG554, NARA.
- 88.
Turnblad to Brines, 13 May 1948, Korea, Foreign Bureau Correspondence 1946–1947, General Files, AP Corporate Archives.
- 89.
“Korea Tries Freedom,” Chicago Daily Tribune, 23 May 1948; Robert T. Oliver, “Korea Battles Communist Flood,” Baltimore Sun, 10 May 1948.
- 90.
Gordon Walker, “U.S. Policy in Korea Faces Test as Rightists Win Election,” Christian Science Monitor, 26 May 1948.
- 91.
“Korea Votes,” New York Times, 11 May 1948.
- 92.
Life reporter Carl Mydans wrote about the incident in his dispatches back to the United States but the story was not used: Carl Mydans Picture Captions for Korea, 10 May 1948, LIFE Picture Collection Picture Captions, Time Corporate Archives.
- 93.
In his memoir, Deane claimed he was almost denied entry when Hodge saw a pile of his clippings from 1947. A reprieve was granted only when a former AP colleague and AMG official, James Stewart, suggested that his exclusion would be unwise: Deane, The Korean War: 1945–1953, 29.
- 94.
Deane, The Korean War: 1945–1953, 67–70.
- 95.
Walter Simmons, “U.N. Chief Calls Korea Election ‘Too Efficient’,” Chicago Daily Tribune, 14 May 1948.
- 96.
Richard Johnston, “Election in South Korea is a Vote Against Russia,” New York Times, 15 May 1948.
- 97.
“Problem in Division,” Time, 24 May 1948.
- 98.
Rhee to Oliver, 20 March 1948, quoted in Oliver, Syngman Rhee and American Involvement in Korea; 1942–1960, 152.
- 99.
The Americans ultimately decided to press ahead with reforms before the elections: Oliver, 156.
- 100.
“Rhee’s Responsibility,” Washington Post, 13 June 1948.
- 101.
UP, “Radio Is Called Big But Faulty Aid of Religion,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 3 September 1937.
- 102.
Baker to MacArthur, 19 February 1948, Box 63, RG 5, Douglas MacArthur Papers, MacArthur Memorial Archives.
- 103.
Allen Raymond, “Army in Korea Denies Political Prisoners Exist,” New York Herald Tribune, 14 January 1948.
- 104.
Allen Raymond, “Korea…Tiger by the Tail,” New York Herald Tribune, 16 January 1949.
- 105.
Allen Raymond, “Farm Reform Is Sped by U.S. in South Korea,” New York Herald Tribune, 5 May 1948.
- 106.
Stewart Maxwell, “Blunder in Korea,” Nation, May 1948.
- 107.
Diary Entry, 20 March 1948, Box 98, Mark Gayn Papers, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto; Deane, The Korean War: 1945–1953, 61.
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Elliott, O. (2018). Occupation 1947–1948: Division and Independence. In: The American Press and the Cold War. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76023-0_3
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