Eisenhower and Dulles Brothers

• Stalin's death in 1953.
• An inconclusive conclusion of the Korean War (1953).
• Dien Vien Pu disaster in Vietnam (1954).
• Hungarian revolt in 1956.
• Suez crisis in 1956.
• The first satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1957.
• Quemoi-Matsu crisis in China (1958).

Even before becoming the secretary of state, he carried out several important diplomatic missions for the Truman administration. He was the architect of the peace treaty with Japan in 1952. In 1950, President Harry Truman appointed John Foster Dulles as a special envoy to Japan to negotiate a peace treaty with Japanese Prime Minister Yohida Shigeru. He also had a mission to go to Korea to assess the situation there. The crucial question was whether the United States should include Korea within its region of interest. Dulles was invited to the 38th parallel (boundary between North Korea supported by the Soviet Union and the South supported by the United States).

This photo was taken one week before the North Korean army launched a full-scale attack against the South on June 25, 1950. North Korean authorities used this photo to "prove" that Dulles ordered South Korean troops to attack the North. Because of this photo, there are still many in the United States who think the South attacked first. There are also many who ask me what my opinion is on this issue. I was at the spot on the 38th parallel where North Korean tanks came through three weeks before the war broke out. The South Korean army was equipped with US-made M1 rifles, but they did not have enough ammunition even for target practices. Even with ammunition, the M1 rifles are totally ineffective against Soviet-built Stalin tanks. This is one of the most controversial photos of the 20th Century.

In 1961, Dwight Eisenhower came to Princeton to give a speech during the dedication ceremony of John Foster Dulles room at the Firestone Library. He had a lunch with Robert Goheen (the president of the University) at the Prospect Garden and walking toward the Library. I was waiting outside, and clapped my hands as soon as he emerged from the Garden gate. He saw me and said "Hello There." He was regarded as a very inactive president at that time, and that was the reason why John F. Kennedy got elected in 1960. However, these days, he is praised as a very forward-looking president.

Twice he said No to military intervention by the United States. In 1954, there was a pressure on him to intervene in Vietnam after the Dien Vien Pu disaster. In 1956, Britain, France, and Israel launched an attack against Egypt to prevent the Egyptian nationalization of the Suez Canal. They assumed the United States would support their military action. Eisenhower said No to them. Eisenhower had a deep knowledge of Europe because he was the supreme commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II.

During his presidency, the United States built up a formidable military power. In addition to many thousand nuclear warheads, the U.S. industry built one thousand B-52 bombers which we still use, and developed nuclear submarines. After the Soviets launched the first artificial satellite in 1957, his administration accelerated the developments of rockets and missiles. Furthermore, he drastically increased the science research budgets. These days, almost all research projects are funded by the federal government.

He appeared to be a very inactive president playing gold all the time, but we now realize that he was a very forward-looking president. After building up a formidable military power with vast nuclear stockpiles, he invented the the word "military industrial complex." I like him and I like Ike!

John Foster's younger brother Allan also went to Princeton. He was the first director of a branch of the U.S. government called the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). Indeed, the Dulles brothers were the founders of this intelligence gathering agency. By its design, the CIA remained as an obscure agency, but became known to the world after the one of the U-2 flights was shot down over the Soviet territory. Allan had to resign in 1961, and came to the 1962 alumni reunion. He was He was enjoying his regained freedom, and was talking with everybody who wanted to talk with him. I even exchanged greetings with him. I took this photo with my Canon camera.