The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1965
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The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1965 |
At 10:30 am, on Friday, June 25th, our Leader (Sun Myung Moon) and his party (Mrs. Won Pok Choi, Col, Bo Hi Pak, Mrs. Pak, Kenji Onuki and I) stepped through the front door of General Eisenhower's office in Gettysburg, Pa. The secretary greeted us and ushered us into a small conference room on the lower floor. We assumed we were to meet him upstairs, so imagine our surprise when the General walked in! He gave each of us a firm handshake and a warm smile, Daikan (K, Onuki) began taking pictures as we sat down around the small conference table.
Our Leader thanked the ex-President for the honor of meeting him, at which General Eisenhower chuckled and said that he was only too happy to meet our Leader, Our Leader then asked the General if he was aware that June 25, 1965, marked the 15th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.
The General replied that he had been on a fishing trip in Canada at that time. He received a notice requesting his immediate return to the United States, and learned of the invasion upon his arrival at the airport.
In the discussion which followed, our Leader focused his attention on three points: -- the need for a strong anticommunist ideology and movement; the need to bring a halt to moral decay; the need for an active, dynamic religion; and the solution to all three needs. Our Leader said that the world needs not just an anti-communist movement, but one which would give men an ideal to work for. He said that the youth of the world were the key to overthrowing communism. If one could instill in them a strong conviction, give them a firm belief in God, and train them to set the example in active service to men, then they could overcome the communist threat. General Eisenhower agreed wholeheartedly!
Our Leader continued by saying that youth needed a new challenge in order to combat the forces working for moral decay. He said that the Divine Principle movement was presenting a dynamic new challenge to the youth of the world, that the youth in Korea and Japan were meeting the challenge and joining the Divine Principle movement by the thousands, that the Divine Principle movement was also growing rapidly in America, England and Europe, and that the lives of the members bore witness to their high moral standards and rapid spiritual growth.
Our Leader said that religion should not be confused with church attendance; religion is a way of life; it must be lived actively every day. Eisenhower exclaimed, "I'm all for it."
"I have personal admiration for you as a General, and am grateful for all that you did for us in Korea," our Leader continued, "You are not a senior citizen of the United States alone, but a senior citizen of the world. Today. as you know, communism is a world power which cannot be destroyed by an atom bomb. Only higher ideologies can defeat the ideology of communism. So far, we have been approaching the problem from a military standpoint. We must band together the youth of the world and all religions to stand against communism. If we try to destroy communism by armed warfare, the communists will join with the Arabs or Moslem world in a fight against the Western world. Already they are making ventures in this direction."
During the time that our Leader was speaking, the ex-President of the United States had been nodding his head in total agreement with the words.
General Eisenhower then said, "Man is a spiritual being. We must bring to bear a greater moral strength based on moral law to stand against the communists. It will take the vigor of youth to do this."
Our Leader continued, "The Korean nation has been divided since 1945. As you know, South Korea is now trying to have a free election by the people of North and South Korea together under the supervision of the United Nations. But if the election is held, it is possible that the Communists will win control over the entire nation. To thwart this possibility, I have been sending out the youth of South Korea in our movement to every city and village in order to form the strongest movement against Communism. It will be the strongest, because it is a spiritual movement which instills in the youth a strong conviction, a firm belief in God, and which trains them to actively serve their fellow men.
Eisenhower showed great interest, and asked, "What is the name of your movement?" Our Leader replied, "The Unification Church." He then thanked the General again for the honor of meeting him, and asked for his help and continued interest in the Divine Principle movement. The General nodded his head and said that he certainly would follow the movement's progress.
Col. Pak then presented General Eisenhower with the newly printed biography of our Leader, and showed him pictures of the wedding of the 120 couples. The General's eyes grew very round and he exclaimed in amazement, "Never saw anything like this before!" He was clearly impressed as he viewed a folder of newspaper clippings on current activities of the group in Korea. Our Leader then presented the General with a framed painting, on the back of which he had written a greeting and signed his name. Eisenhower was delighted with the gifts, and said he would give the bouquet of flowers to Mrs. Eisenhower at lunch.
The light in the room alternated from dim to bright as Daikan, Col. Pak and I took both motion and still pictures of the meeting. The famous veteran of so many wars remarked humorously, "You are well-armed with cameras, I see."
He then invited us to see his upstairs quarters. Although we knew that the General was a very busy man, it was plain that he didn't want us to leave. In his private office upstairs, he began to explain the origin and significance of every gift on display. It seemed he could not do enough to make our Leader feel comfortable. He presented Mrs. Choi and Mrs. Pak with silver dollars as a "memorial of your visit."
On the way downstairs again, he stopped to point to a lone nail on the wall and described a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill which used to hang there. We went back into the conference room and he pointed out more gifts. Finally, no gifts remained to be explained. Escorting our Leader to the door, he said that he was honored by this visit and wished our Leader the greatest success. Our Leader smiled broadly, thanked him again for his hospitality, and said goodbye.
Time originally allotted for our Leader's visit -- 5 minutes. Time spent with General Eisenhower -- 45 minutes! Truly a successful day!