page_title: Peer de Silva
section_title: Park's coup d'état
hierarchical_section_title: Peer de Silva / Chief of Station (COS) / Seoul 1959 to 1962 / Park's coup d'état
caption_attribution_description: Title: Deutsch: Berlin, Staatsbesuch Präsident von Süd-Korea&#160; People in the image: Deutsch: Park Chung Hee: Präsident, General, Republik Korea For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Factual corrections and alternative descriptions are encouraged separately from the original description. Additionally errors can be reported at this page to inform the Bundesarchiv. Alemannisch&#160;| Boarisch&#160;| Беларуская&#160;| Беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎&#160;| Català&#160;| Česky&#160;| Deutsch&#160;| English&#160;| Esperanto&#160;| Español&#160;| Suomi&#160;| Français&#160;| हिन्दी&#160;| Hrvatski&#160;| Magyar&#160;| Italiano&#160;| 한국어&#160;| Македонски&#160;| Plattdüütsch&#160;| Polski&#160;| Português&#160;| Română&#160;| Русский&#160;| Slovenčina&#160;| Slovenščina&#160;| Svenska&#160;| Українська&#160;| 中文（简体）&#160;| 中文（繁體）&#160;| +/− Original historic description:&#160; Deutsch: Berlin (West) Staatsbesuch Korea, General Park Ankunft: Flughafen Tempelhof
context_page_description: Peer de Silva was a station chief in the Central Intelligence Agency. A 1941 West Point graduate, during World War II he served as an Army officer providing security for the Manhattan Engineer District; this undercover project sought to build the first atomic bomb. After the war, he joined a pre-CIA military intelligence unit. Then, having learned Russian, he worked in central Europe, frequently traveling to Moscow. Resigning from the Army, he rose within CIA ranks, becoming a chief of station. He first held such rank in Vienna, 1956-1959.
  He next led the CIA station at the American Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, where he played a role in two major events. First was the democratic April Revolution in 1960. Yet in 1961 a successful May coup d'état installed General Pak Chung Hee. De Silva then was assigned to Hong Kong as COS.
  Following the November 1963 military overthrow of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, President Johnson personally ratified de Silva as the CIA's new Chief of Station in Saigon. He quickly came to view the Vietnam War as political. He then advocated a counterinsurgency strategy, and took an active role in fostering such programs.
context_section_description: The following year in May ROK General Park Chung Hee and accomplice senior officers staged the 1961 South Korean coup d'état, overthrowing the elected regime of Chang Myon. Yet prior to the coup, the American-inspired political order had been functioning anemically. The discredited police of the Rhee era could not maintain order, while massive student demonstrations often worked to manipulate and debilitate the regime's agenda. An incoherent governance impaired the already weak economy. Consequently, the national purpose was obscured by the ongoing conflict and confusion, which the gentlemanly Chang evidently could not cure.
  The ROK Army then moved to reimpose a traditional authoritarian order and its values, undoing the nascent democracy. General Carter Magruder, the top American military officer, had understood that General Park was a Communist, and figured that the coup was mutiny, defying elected civilian authority and his own UN command. McConaughy had left Korea, the new US Ambassador had not yet arrived, leaving only the embassy's chargé d'affaires. Eventually Chang Myon came to visit de Silva, who had warned Chang before the coup. Yet however pleased by the visit, other circumstances compelled de Silva to turn to several ROK Army officers, Captain Pak Chong Gyu and Colonel Kim Chong Pil.
  This led to de Silva's first interview with coup-leader General Park Chung Hee. American intelligence had concluded Park was not a Communist, and de Silva counseled Park to initiate a mutual understanding with the Americans. Yet continuing conflicts caused a nationalist ROK battalion to surround the US Embassy. The Pentagon, according to de Silva, now saw the danger in the impasse and Magruder met with Park. As the new US Ambassador Samuel Berger arrived, the situation became functional.
  Thereafter the South Korean economy staged its remarkable take off, initiating an era of rapid growth. The authoritarian General and later President Park Chung Hee, however, remains a pivotal, controversial figure in South Korean history.
caption: Pres. Park Jung-hee
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