Word: blunt
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...blunt Syngman Rhee, there was only one answer. "The way to survival . . . is not the way of wishfully hoping for peace where there is no peace; not by trusting that somehow the Soviet government may be persuaded to abandon its monstrous effort to conquer the world . . . but by swinging the world balance of power so strongly against the Communists that, even when they possess the weapons of annihilation, they will not dare use them...
Jitters & Blunt Greetings. Such unorthodox behavior at the beginning of President Rhee's 14-day state visit to the U.S. was enough to keep the State Department in constant jitters, and to emphasize the fact that Syngman Rhee is no ordinary chief of state. If the brusque old man decided he wanted to visit an old neighbor, or to thank a newspaper for its support-or to scold the U.S. for faintheartedness-he did just that. When he received the key to the city, Rhee grinned broadly. "I will drive as fast as I want to," he said...
...reception that he threw away his prepared speech and spoke extemporaneously for 20 minutes, throwing his schedule out of kilter and forcing Host Dwight Eisenhower to wait and sweat in the sweltering heat on the White House porch. Rhee's words of greeting at the airport were characteristically blunt: "If we only had a little more courage, we could have reached the Yalu . . . But some people had a little cold feet and we could not do what we were ready...
...Blunt Man. In the last busy week, Mendès' first concern was to strengthen his own hand. He cajoled John Foster Dulles as far as Paris, made a hectic flying visit from Geneva to Paris (accompanied by Britain's admiring Anthony Eden) to meet him. Mendès did not stand on protocol. He rushed right over to the U.S. embassy to see Dulles. He wanted to make it clear that he was not a "peace-at-any-price...
Mendès was blunt. He told Dulles that France had lost the war in Indo-China. Since neither the U.S. nor Britain was willing to intervene with ground forces to alter that fact, he felt that his allies should support him in getting the best settlement that he could. If the U.S. stayed away, he told Dulles, the Communists would conclude that the U.S. had deserted France, and would demand stiffer terms than he could accept. If no settlement was reached, all the world would blame...