Readers React: Roosevelt met with Stalin. Why can’t Trump meet with Kim?

To the editor: During World War II, Presidents Roosevelt and then Truman met with Soviet leader Josef Stalin, the most murderous dictator in history. (“Trump’s Potemkin diplomacy in North Korea,” column, July 3)

The Soviet Union surely would have suffered many millions of more casualties and years of war with the Nazis without the help of the United States. Stalin may have even fallen from power.

Mao Zedong, who also killed millions of people, met with President Nixon. We have not had conflicts with either China or Russia — proxy wars for sure, but no direct conflict between these nuclear nations.

President Trump reaches out to another murderous dictator of a nuclear power, and somehow this is an ill-timed, poorly thought-out photo opportunity. I would say that Trump’s meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will prevent another war on the Korean peninsula and may even lead to a positive outcome.

Sometimes diplomacy is an ugly affair. It just is worse when Trump does it and not Roosevelt, Truman or Nixon.

Michael Hite, Long Beach

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To the editor: I was sickened to view the video of our draft-dodging, lying president and that murderous, communist dictator walking together in the Korean demilitarized zone, a strip of land paid for with the lives of nearly 37,000 American soldiers.

America, look at what you have done to the memories of those who have given their lives so that others may remain free.

Kevin H. Park, Westlake Village

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To the editor: After the president’s trip to Japan and Korea, there has been a lot of negativity written about President Trump and his family, especially regarding his daughter and advisor, Ivanka Trump.

The president has great faith in his daughter’s intelligence. True, Ivanka Trump does not come from this country’s diplomatic corps, but she did graduate cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

The media regard Trump as a disaster, yet he is presiding over historically low unemployment and high economic growth. They take exception to the president’s apparent closeness to dictators like North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Apparently, the phrase “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” rings hollow to them.

Barry Wasserman, Huntington Beach

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