Edward Lansdale's Cold War

Acknowledgments

xi Acknowledgments B o o k s t a k e t i m e , and it is because of friends and family that this one was finally able to appear. First and foremost there are my parents, Richard and Susan Nashel. They believed in me and provided me with unfailing support. I am dedicating my book to them with gratitude for their love and for the love of learning they passed on to me. Graduate school seems to have taken place in another lifetime, but some of the first people I met at Rutgers proved to be not only good friends but my best critics. George Sirgiovanni, Roy Domenico, John Rossi, Jim Fisher, Greg Stone, and Robert Johnston provided me with perspective and humor. David Engerman, William Bartlett, Brian Roberts, and Rosanne Currarrino heard more stories about Edward Lansdale than humanely should be allowed . Lloyd Gardner, Michael Adas, David Oshinksy, and Marilyn Young inspired me and supported my work: each of them offered a vision of history and a model of scholarship that I have tried to emulate. In Indiana, I became fast friends with a wonderful group of newly minted Hoosiers. Steven Gerencser, Lyle and Erika Zynda, Lesley Walker, and Peter O’Keefe all greatly eased my adjustment to the Midwest, and I consider myself very lucky to have met them. I am professionally indebted to the tireless efforts of Maureen Kennedy in the inter-library loan office and the support and good humor of Linda Fisher and Michele Russo at the IUSB library. At the University of Massachusetts Press I was fortunate to have Clark Dougan and Chris Appy support my work and provide a critical eye. They have both been perceptive readers and very, very patient editors. Mrs. Pat Lansdale was gracious in allowing me to interview her and pore over photographs of her and her husband. Cecil Currey provided me with a wealth of information about Lansdale. Nick Cullather has been most helpful in broadening my understanding of the Philippines and Ramon Magsaysay. The staff at the Hoover Archives, especially Becky Mead, Sondra Bierre, and xii Acknowledgments Linda Bernard were unflaggingly patient with my demands and equally giving of their time in tracking down my many requests. Douglas Pike, then at the Indochina Archives in Berkeley, provided me with generous assistance. Archivists and librarians at Rutgers University, the Seely Mudd Library at Princeton University, the Stanford University Library, the New York Public Library, the CIA, the Columbia Oral History Research Office, the Harry S. Truman Library, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, the John F. Kennedy Library, the Lyndon B. Johnson Library, and the Gerald Ford Library were also friendly and informative. Of particular help were Dennis Bilger, David Haight, David Plotkin, John D. Wilson, and Michael Warner. Larry Haapanen and Chester Pach provided me with documents, and H. Bruce Franklin helped me think more about Lansdale and “The Quiet American.” For anyone who has toiled in the fields of government documents or attempted to make sense of the surreal world of FOIs, the National Security Archives in Washington is a shining star. William Burr, Wil Ferragono, and a legion of other individuals there offered me support and directed me to some of the most astonishing documents that I have incorporated into this work. Finally, Rebecca Brittenham helped me in so many ways that I’m not quite sure where to begin. Her canny insights, love, and unending support were crucial in making this book a reality. Near the end of my writing this book, Samuel Britt Nashel was born. He has brought us a level of joy that is impossible to describe, yet is very real. Edward Lansdale’s Cold War This page intentionally left blank ...