Key PlayersBy Times Staff Writer © St. Petersburg Times
published July 20, 2003 Became president on April 12, 1945,
after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. After World War II,
U.S. troops occupied the southern half of Korea until U.N.
sponsored elections could be held. When North Korean troops
invaded the south in 1950, Truman had to decide whether sending
U.S. troops to South Korea was worth the risk of starting World
War III. Truman left office on Jan. 20, 1953, and retired to his
home in Missouri. He died Dec. 26, 1972. The former war hero was
elected president in November 1952, in part because of a promise
to go to Korea, which he secretly did before his inauguration.
After a second term, Eisenhower retired to his farm in
Gettysburg, Penn. He died of heart failure on March 28, 1969.
Became president of the Republic of Korea on July 20, 1948, and
his government took over operations in the south from the U.S.
military that August. The Soviet Union chose this former
guerrilla fighter to run the northern pa