"The Face of American Goodwill in Asia: Ralph Millard, Howard Rusk, and the Curious Beginnings of Double Eyelid Surgery in 1950s Korea" A Thesis Presentation by Karl Schutz '14 Dartmouth College, East Asian Studies Department, 14 May 2014

1. The Face of “American
Goodwill in Asia”
Ralph Millard, Howard Rusk, and
the Curious Beginnings of ‘Double
Eyelid’ Surgery in 1950s Korea
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By Karl Schutz

2. Korea Today Introduction

3. Miss Korea Candidates, 2013

5. –The Atlantic, May 2013
“One in five South Korean women has had
some form of cosmetic surgery, compared to
around one in 20 in the United States.”

7. “Plastic Surgery Capital
of the World”
A Subway Ad in Seoul

8. –The Atlantic, May 2013
“None of this was so when the American
plastic surgeon Dr. Ralph Millard arrived in
South Korea in 1954… He performed what
Korean academic journals say was
the first recorded double eyelid operation
in South Korea.”

9. Who was Dr. Ralph Millard?

10. Korea, 1953 Millard’s MASH Unit near Seoul

11. “This was indeed a plastic
surgeon’s paradise.”
– Ralph Millard on Korea, 1955

12. The Cold War Context Korean Refugees, June 1953

13. South Korea and the
Cold War, circa 1953
• 1948 – Division of the Korean
peninsula
• 1949 – “Loss” of China
• 1950-1953 – Korean War
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“A critical stage upon which the
U.S. could dramatize liberal
development in East Asia”

14. “Visible evidence of
American Goodwill in
Asia”
Plastic Surgery’s Role in the
American Aid Effort

15. –Ralph Millard
“We Americans are naïve babes in the Asian wood
never knowing whether we are feeding the
mouths of friends or loading the guns of
communists. Yet we can be relatively certain that
after each deformity was corrected or
improved and the Korean returned home,
America had won the heart of the patient, his
family and possibly even a part of his village.”

16. The “Occidentalization”
Program
Millard’s Double Eyelid Surgery

17. Innovator, not Inventor
Ralph Millard’s true place in the
history of double eyelid surgery in
East Asia
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Pictured right:
Uchida Junichi, Biyō Seikei

18. “…because of the squint in his slant eyes, Americans could not
tell what he was thinking and consequently could not trust him.”

19. “Several Oriental girls requested to be occidentalized in order to
be more attractive to the American troops.”

20. Dr. Howard Rusk and the
American-Korean Foundation
A Counterpoint to Millard

21. The Rusk Missions
1st Mission – March 11-18, 1953
2nd Mission – August 20-27, 1953

22. –Report of the Second Rusk Mission to Korea, August 1953
“Korea must have the warm, personal
assistance of ‘people to people.’”

24. Physician Training An Example of an AKF Program

25. –Eisenhower to Rusk, 1956
“When young physicians from overseas receive
specialized training in the United States, it gives
them an opportunity to become familiar with
our history, government, and cultural activities.
When these physicians return home, they will
be trained in the latest techniques of
rehabilitation and also serve as interpreters
of the American way of life.”

26. “From Gooks to
Friends”
Perceived Identity Transformation
in the AKF’s People-to-People
Aid Programs

27. –Howard Rusk, July 1953
“I think probably the greatest thing that has
happened in Korea is the change in the G.I.’s
attitude. Koreans no more are gooks;
they are buddies.”

28. Millard, Rusk, and the
“Great American Mission”
Conclusion