George M. McCune facts for kids

George McAfee McCune (born June 16, 1908 – died November 5, 1948) was an American expert on Korea. He helped create a special system called McCune–Reischauer romanization. This system helped people write Korean words using the English alphabet. He taught about Korean history and language at colleges like Occidental College and the University of California, Berkeley.

Early Life and School

George McAfee McCune was born in Pyongyang, Korea, in 1908. His parents, Helen and George McCune, were American missionaries who moved to Korea in 1905. Korea was taken over by Japan in 1910.

George and his younger brother, Shannon, and two sisters, Catherine and Margaret, grew up in Korea. They went to elementary school there.

Later, George moved to the United States for college. He first went to Huron College and then to Rutgers University. He finished his first degree at Occidental College in 1930.

After college, McCune went back to Korea for a few years. He taught at Union Christian College in Pyongyang. He also ran a business called Taeon. This business helped him pay for more schooling.

He returned to the U.S. and earned his master's degree from Occidental College in 1935. He then started working on his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley. He spent a year in Korea studying old records for his research. In 1941, he earned his PhD from Berkeley.

In 1939, he and another expert, Edwin O. Reischauer, created their McCune-Reischauer system for writing Korean. This system was used for many years.

Family Life

George McCune married Evelyn Margaret Becker (1907-2012) in Honolulu, Hawaii, on April 22, 1933. She was also born in Pyongyang, Korea, because her parents were American missionaries there. They met in Korea while visiting their families.

Evelyn was teaching at the Seoul Foreign School in Seoul, Korea, after getting her degree. George had health problems because of rheumatic fever he had as a child. His heart was weaker because of it.

They had two daughters. Helen Louise McCune was born in 1934, and Heather McAfee McCune was born in 1939.

Career Highlights

McCune started teaching Korean language and history at Occidental College. He taught there from 1939 to 1946.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States joined World War II. In 1942, McCune took time off from teaching to help with the war effort. He worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). This was a government group that later became the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

After two years with the OSS, McCune worked for the State Department. During this time, he was known as the government's top expert on Korean issues.

In 1946, he began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1948, he became an associate professor of history there. Sadly, he passed away that same year due to his heart problems.

At Berkeley, he helped start a special course to learn the Korean language quickly. He also helped the East Asiatic Library get hundreds of Korean books. This made it one of the first big collections of Korean books in the country.

His brother, Shannon Boyd-Bailey McCune (1913–1993), became a geographer. He wrote several books about Korea for everyone to read.