Category Archives: Laos

An American Who Has Helped Clear 815,000 Bombs From Vietnam

Posted on March 16, 2024 by 1960s: Days of Rage

Chuck Searcy, 79, co-founder of a group that works to deactivate unexploded bombs in Vietnam, a legacy of the war. He stood next to deactivated ordnance in Dong Ha City, Quang Tri Province, last month.  NY Times, March 15, 2024: … Continue reading →

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Henry Kissinger and the Vietnam War

Posted on November 30, 2023 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“American diplomat Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) played an important and controversial role in the Vietnam War. Starting out as a supporter, Kissinger came to see it as a drag on American power. In 1968, Kissinger leaked information about the status of the peace talks in … Continue reading →

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Daniel Ellsberg, Who Leaked the Pentagon Papers, Is Dead at 92

Posted on June 16, 2023 by 1960s: Days of Rage

Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press, surrenders at the U.S. Courthouse in Boston on June 28, 1971, accompanied by his wife at the time, Patricia. “Daniel Ellsberg, a military analyst who after experiencing a sobbing antiwar … Continue reading →

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‘We’re Going to Publish’ An Oral History of the Pentagon Papers

Posted on June 10, 2021 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“On Oct. 1, 1969, Daniel Ellsberg walked out of the RAND Corporation offices, where he worked as a Defense Department consultant, into the temperate evening air of Santa Monica, Calif. In his briefcase was part of a classified government study … Continue reading →

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Vienna summit

Posted on June 4, 2021 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“The Vienna summit was a summit meeting held on June 4, 1961, in Vienna, Austria, between President John F. Kennedy of the United States and Premier Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union. The leaders of the two superpowers of the … Continue reading →

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Vietnam War Photos That Made a Difference

Posted on January 15, 2021 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“A group of people are huddled together in a jungle clearing, some with arms reaching toward a light from above. At first glance, perhaps an allegorical painting from the age of da Vinci. But on closer examination, it’s a black … Continue reading →

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The Secret War That Transformed the CIA

Posted on December 1, 2020 by 1960s: Days of Rage

American helicopters land at Khe Sanh base, on the Laos border on February 1, 1971. “If you work at it, you can make a case that Americans fought on the right side in Vietnam. There is an argument — not … Continue reading →

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Revisiting Godard’s ‘Tout Va Bien,’ a manifesto for post-1968 class struggle

Posted on September 2, 2020 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“Starring a newly radicalized Jane Fonda, Jean-Luc Godard’s masterpiece of radical cinema documented a workers strike at a French sausage factory, and revealed the stratification of the leftist movement. Is revolution impossible? Movements like March for Our Lives and #metoo … Continue reading →

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Russell Tribunal

Posted on April 17, 2020 by 1960s: Days of Rage

Nine-year-old Do Van Ngoc exhibits injuries from napalm in Vietnam. “The Russell Tribunal, also known as the International War Crimes Tribunal, Russell-Sartre Tribunal, or Stockholm Tribunal, was a private People’s Tribunal organised in 1966 by Bertrand Russell, British philosopher and … Continue reading →

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The Fantasy World of US Empire

Posted on December 7, 2019 by 1960s: Days of Rage

American helicopters hover above armed U.S. soldiers, preparing to lift them from combat back to their base in Tay Ninh. “In US social memory, the Vietnam War is typically imagined to have been a civil war between two sides: South … Continue reading →

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Vietnam, Vietnam – Pete Hamill (April 1985)

Posted on September 9, 2019 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“Sometimes, in odd places, it all comes back. You are walking a summer beach, stepping around oiled bodies, hearing only the steady growl of the sea. Suddenly, from over the horizon, you hear the phwuk-phwuk-phwuk of rotor blades and for … Continue reading →

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The Penguin History of Modern Vietnam by Christopher Goscha – review

Posted on September 2, 2019 by 1960s: Days of Rage

A destroyed French tank and an aircraft propeller that are still kept as war relics in the Dien Bien Phu valley. “In 40 years, the relationship between the United States and Vietnam has swung about as widely as is possible … Continue reading →

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Sihanouk Trail

Posted on March 23, 2019 by 1960s: Days of Rage

Map of the Communist forces in South Vietnam, 1964, showing areas controlled by the Viet Cong and the Ho Chi Minh trail that brought reinforcements from the North. “The Sihanouk Trail was a logistical supply system in Cambodia used by … Continue reading →

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Vietnam War – Khan Academy

Posted on November 30, 2018 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“… In order to have a respectable understanding of the Vietnam War, we have to rewind all the way back to the late 1800s when France was colonizing Southeast Asia. And in particular, it colonized what is now Laos, Vietnam, … Continue reading →

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Revolutionary monument to CIA’s fall in Laos

Posted on November 2, 2018 by 1960s: Days of Rage

Air America helicopters land on top of Phou Pha Thi mountain during the US’ ‘secret war’ in Laos. “Half a century after North Vietnamese sappers scaled sheer 200-meter cliffs in the dead of night to overrun a strategic US Air … Continue reading →

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CIA activities in Laos

Posted on September 4, 2018 by 1960s: Days of Rage

Vietnamese soldiers in Laos “CIA activities in Laos started in the 1950s. In 1959, U.S. Special Forces began to train some Laotian soldiers in unconventional warfare techniques as early as the fall of 1959 under the code name Erawan. Under … Continue reading →

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The Vietnam War Is Over. The Bombs Remain.

Posted on July 10, 2018 by 1960s: Days of Rage

Bombs, Agent Orange and the Lethal Legacy of Bombs in Quang Tri “Shading my eyes from the bright sun, I stared into the bomb crater amid the verdant rice paddies. While it had been nearly 50 years since the last … Continue reading →

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Laotian Civil War

Posted on April 30, 2018 by 1960s: Days of Rage

Laos became drawn into the Vietnam War primarily because the North Vietnamese began moving men and supplies through Laos as part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The photograph was dated March 18, 1970. “The Laotian Civil War (1953–75) was … Continue reading →

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Vietnam War Hearing: John Kerry Testimony – Vietnam Veterans Against the War (1971)

Posted on March 16, 2018 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“I would like to talk on behalf of all those veterans and say that several months ago in Detroit we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged, and many very highly decorated, veterans testified to war crimes committed … Continue reading →

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Street without Joy – Bernard Fall (1961)

Posted on March 4, 2018 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“Street without Joy is a 1961 book originally about the First Indochina War (1946-1954). It was written by Bernard Fall, a Franco-American professor, who had been a French soldier, and later an American war correspondent. The book’s first-hand investigation of … Continue reading →

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What Went Wrong in Vietnam – New Yorker

Posted on February 27, 2018 by 1960s: Days of Rage

In Lansdale’s counter-insurgency approach, soldiers were fighters but also salesmen. (Audio) “For almost thirty years, by means financial, military, and diplomatic, the United States tried to prevent Vietnam from becoming a Communist state. Millions died in that struggle. By the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Cambodia, CIA, Cuban Revolution, Hanoi, Henry Kissinger, Ho Chi Minh, Ho Chi Minh Trail, John Kennedy, Laos, Lyn. Johnson, Nixon, R. McNamara, Rob. Kennedy, Saigon, Tet 1968, Viet Cong, Vietnam War | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Story of the Tet Offensive

Posted on January 31, 2018 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“At the end of January, the media will commemorate the fifty-year anniversary of one of the Vietnam War’s most pivotal moments: the Tet Offensive. On January 30, 1968, the combined forces of the Viet Cong, the People’s Liberation Armed Forces … Continue reading →

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The Snake-Eaters and the Yards

Posted on January 28, 2018 by 1960s: Days of Rage

An American officer sits with a group of Montagnards in a military camp in central Vietnam in 1962. “In 1965, syndicated columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak used a frontier metaphor to describe the American Special Forces’ advisory role with … Continue reading →

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Did America Commit War Crimes in Vietnam?

Posted on December 7, 2017 by 1960s: Days of Rage

Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, center, participating in a tribunal that determined the United States had violated human rights and international law in Vietnam. “On Dec. 1, 1967, the last day of the International War Crimes Tribunal’s second session, … Continue reading →

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The Laotian Fragments – John Clark Pratt (1974)

Posted on November 11, 2017 by 1960s: Days of Rage

John Clark Pratt: “After my long, long year (1969-70) at war (first in Vietnam, then in Thailand flying combat missions into Laos and writing official Air Force histories about the ‘secret war’), I vowed to put the experience behind me. … Continue reading →

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The War of Leaks

Posted on November 2, 2017 by 1960s: Days of Rage

Lyndon Johnson with Dean Rusk at the White House in 1967. “Leaks have been in the news a lot lately, but unauthorized disclosures of secret information have long been a staple of Washington politics and journalism — including during the … Continue reading →

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Hồ Chí Minh Trail

Posted on October 8, 2017 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“The Hồ Chí Minh trail (also known in Vietnam as the ‘Trường Sơn trail’) was a logistical system that ran from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) to the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) through the kingdoms of Laos … Continue reading →

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The Vietnam War Is Not Over

Posted on September 27, 2017 by 1960s: Days of Rage

Marines marching in Danang, Vietnam, March 15, 1965 “‘The Vietnam War’ Ken Burns says in a recent interview, ‘was the most important event in American history since World War II.’ But, he explains, it’s also an event that tore the … Continue reading →

Posted in ARVN, Cambodia, Documentary, Henry Kissinger, Ho Chi Minh, Ho Chi Minh Trail, John Kennedy, Laos, Lyn. Johnson, My Lai, Napalm, Nixon, NVA, R. McNamara, Rob. Kennedy, Saigon, Tet 1968, Viet Cong, Vietnam War, Weather Underground | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Battle of Lang Vei

Posted on September 17, 2017 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“The Battle of Lang Vei (Vietnamese: Trận Làng Vây) began on the evening of 6 February and concluded during the early hours of 7 February 1968, in Quảng Trị Province, South Vietnam. Towards the end of 1967 the 198th Tank … Continue reading →

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Đông Hà

Posted on September 11, 2017 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“Đông Hà ( listen) is the capital of Quảng Trị Province, Vietnam. Đông Hà is situated at the crossroads of National Highway 1A and Route 9, part of the East–West Economic Corridor (EWEC). It lies on the North–South Railway (Reunification Express) … Continue reading →

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Domino theory

Posted on September 5, 2017 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“The domino theory was a theory prominent from the 1950s to the 1980s, that posited that if one country in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. The domino … Continue reading →

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Bill Moyers Journal on LBJ’s Path to War

Posted on August 22, 2017 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“The origins of the Vietnam War lie in 1945, when the British ignored Ho Chi Minh’s declaration of independence and restored French rule to the country. After a protracted conflict with Ho Chi Minh’s nationalist forces and a massive defeat … Continue reading →

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End of and Empire – Walter Cronkite (1962)

Posted on August 3, 2017 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“This 1962 episode of the TV show ‘The 20th Century’ presents the story of the French involvement in Indochina and the devastating collapse at Dien Bien Phu. The program starts with a short history of the region, beginning with the … Continue reading →

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Blood Road (2017)

Posted on July 25, 2017 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“Halfway along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Rebecca Rusch finally learned to slow down. The now 48-year-old endurance mountain biker had come to Southeast Asia in February 2015 to find her father, who had disappeared near the end of the … Continue reading →

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Vietnamizing the War (1968–1973), Cambodia and Laos

Posted on July 20, 2017 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“By Christmas 1969, American troops were being withdrawn under President Nixon’s policy of having more of the ground fighting transferred to the South Vietnamese army. That year as many as 4000 South Vietnamese soldiers were being killed every week. The … Continue reading →

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The Meaning of Vietnam – Noam Chomsky (The New York Review of Books, June 12, 1975)

Posted on July 20, 2017 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“The US government was defeated in Indochina, but only bruised at home. No outside power will compel us to face the record honestly or to offer reparations. On the contrary, efforts will be devoted to obscuring the history of the … Continue reading →

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Pentagon Papers

Posted on July 1, 2017 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“The Pentagon Papers, officially titled United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States‘ political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. The … Continue reading →

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