2. “A Soft Buffer”: Laos in the Eisenhower Administration’s Grand Strategy

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. Introduction 1
5. 1. “A Long Country Inhabited by Lotus Eaters”: Washington Encounters Laos 21
6. 2. “A Soft Buffer”: Laos in the Eisenhower Administration’s Grand Strategy 50
7. 3. “Help the Seemingly Unhelpable”: “Little America” and the U.S. Aid Program in Laos 82
8. 4. “Foreigners Who Want to Enslave the Country”: American Neocolonialism, Lao Defiance 129
9. 5. “Doctor Tom” and “Mister Pop”: American Icons in Laos 171
10. 6. “Retarded Children”: Laos in the American Popular Imagination 209
11. 7. “No Place to Fight a War”: Washington Backs Away from Laos 235
12. Epilogue 271
13. Notes 275
14. Index 303