Before the Quagmire: American Intervention in Laos, 1954-1961

Images

(Above) President Dwight D. Eisenhower at a May 1956 press conference. (National Archives and Records Administration) (Below) A French officer addressing a Laotian NCO in 1954. (U.S. Army Military History Institute) (Above) Secretary of State John Foster Dulles making a statement to the press at the 1954 Manila conference establishing SEATO. (National Archives and Records Administration) (Below) Hauling teak in Laos, “the land of a million elephants.” (Joel M. Halpern Laotian Slide Collection, University of Wisconsin) Allen W. Dulles, director of Central Intelligence and the brother of the secretary of state. (National Archives and Records Administration) Laotian Foreign Minister Phoui Sananikone with U.S. Minister Charles W. Yost, John Foster Dulles, and Janet Dulles on the steel-plank airstrip outside of Vientiane . (Charles W. Yost Papers, Princeton University Library) (Above) Yost and Prime Minister Katay Don Sasorith in July 1955. (Charles W. Yost Papers, Princeton University Library) (Below) Assistant Secretary of State Walter S. Robertson at the United Nations, opposing the admission of the People’s Republic of China to the world body. (National Archives and Records Administration) Crown Prince Savang Vatthana, a resolute anticommunist, became the king of Laos in 1959. (National Archives and Records Administration) A Lao military camp with uniforms drying on a fence. (Joel M. Halpern Laotian Slide Collection, University of Wisconsin) (Below) President Eisenhower meeting with Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma in January 1958. Back row, left to right: Ambassador J. Graham Parsons; Tiao Souk, minister of public works; Leuam Insisiengmay, minister of finance; Ngon Sananikone, minister of national defense; Ouret Souvannavong, ambassador to the United States; and Assistant Secretary of State Robertson. (Dwight D. Eisenhower Library) (Above) The Laotian driver’s license of Rothwell H. Brown, the first chief of the Programs Evaluation Office (PEO), the semicovert U.S. military assistance effort. (U.S. Army Military History Institute) Prince Souphanouvong, the halfbrother of Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma and the public face of the Pathet Lao leadership. (National Archives and Records Administration) Lao paratroopers in Luang Prabang. (Joel M. Halpern Laotian Slide Collection, University of Wisconsin) Horace H. Smith, American ambassador to Laos, 1958–1960. (National Archives and Records Administration) Hmong hunters posing with their muskets. (Joel M. Halpern Laotian Slide Collection, University of Wisconsin) Brigadier General John A. Heintges, chief of the PEO, 1959–1960. (National Archives and Records Administration) J. Graham Parsons, the Eisenhower administration official most closely identified with Laos, served as assistant secretary of state for far eastern affairs from 1959 until 1961. (J. Graham Parsons Papers, Georgetown University Special Collections) Pathet Lao forces in 1959. (Library of Congress) A Lao general pointing out terrain features to a UN fact-finding team in October 1959. (National Archives and Records Administration) With Undersecretary of State Livingston T. Merchant looking on, Winthrop G. Brown is sworn in as American ambassador to Laos. (National Archives and Records Administration) General Phoumi Nosavan. (Getty Images) The formal investiture of the Boun Oum–Phoumi Nosavan government at Sisaket Wat in January 1961. (National Archives and Records Administration) Admiral Harry D. Felt, commander-in-chief of U.S. forces in the Pacific, 1958–1964. (National Archives and Record Administration) Secretary of State–designate Dean Rusk, Secretary of State Christian A. Herter, President-elect John F. Kennedy, and President Eisenhower on January 19, 1961. (John F. Kennedy Library) President Kennedy discussing the crisis in Laos at a press conference on March 23, 1961. (John F. Kennedy Library) ...