Research Catalog

At war in the shadow of Vietnam : U.S. military aid to the Royal Lao government, 1955-1975

Title

At war in the shadow of Vietnam : U.S. military aid to the Royal Lao government, 1955-1975 / Timothy N. Castle.

Author

Castle, Timothy N. (Timothy Neil)

Publication

New York : Columbia University Press, [1993]
©1993.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Not available - Please for assistance.	Text	Use in library	DS558.6.L3 C37 1993	Off-site

Details

Description

xvii, 210 pages : map; 24 cm

Summary

On December 2, 1975, the Lao monarchy was abolished and replaced by the Lao People's Democratic Republic. This marked the end of a controversial U.S. policy in which the State Department, the CIA, the Department of Defense, and the United States Agency for International Development supplied covert military aid to a nation that was technically neutral. At War in the Shadow of Vietnam is the first book to recount the full story of U.S. covert activity in Laos from 1955 to 1975. Based on newly declassifled materials as well as interviews with scores of key American and Laotian participants, it describes in detail the structure and execution of America's "secret war" and the long-term consequences. In an effort to defend the Lao kingdom - and to disrupt the flow of communist arms, material, and soldiers traversing Laos en route to South Vietnam - the U.S. created and clandestinely administered a covert military aid plan that fueled a unique and little-known conflict. Castle chronicles the close relationship between the CIA and the Lao army, the role of the CIA's proprietary airline, Air America, and the evolution of U.S.-Thailand cooperation and the impact of Thai support on the Lao military assistance program. Until now, the covert war in Laos has been documented only in fragmented and speculative fashion. By synthesizing an enormous amount of source material - much of it gathered in Laos - Castle not only deepens our understanding of American intervention in Southeast Asia but also provides a masterful reconstruction of a secretive and ultimately tragic episode in United States foreign policy.

Subject

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (p. [177]-196) and index.

Contents

Neutrality that doesn't work -- Conflict, diplomacy, and covert operations -- The Geneva facade: see, hear, and speak no evil -- SECSTATE theater of war -- William Sullivan's war -- Changing war; changing rules -- The denouement of U.S. military aid to the royal Lao government -- Conclusions on a "nonattributable" war.

ISBN

0231079761
9780231079761
023107977X
9780231079778

LCCN

92044151

OCLC

ocm27146454
27146454
SCSB-1991634

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library