Syngman Rhee with Harry Truman

Symgman Rhee was Korea's first president. During his tour in the United States in 1954, Rhee visited Harry Truman's house in Independence, Missouri to thank Truman for his role in setting up the Korean government in 1948 and his decision to send American troops to Korea shortly after the invasion by the Soviet-backed North Korean army in 1950.

Harry Truman was of course the president of the United States from 1945 to 1953. He was not afraid of making tough decisions. Among his decisions were to drop nuclear bombs on two cities in Japan (Hiroshima and Nagaaski) in 1945, to send troops to Korea in 1950, and to fire Douglas MacArthur in 1951.

He was a straight-talking president, and once called himself "damn fool" in the White House." During the presidential campaign of 1964, Truman, still on the side of the Democratic Party, said that Barry Goldwater, the Republican presidential candidate, was a damn fool. Goldwater replied "the Democrat had one damn fool in the White House, but he was not too bad."

The photo of Syngman Rhee with Truman is from the New York Times (July 20, 1965, the day after he died in Hawaii).