The CIA's Forgotten War in Laos

Video Description

2025 Audience Survey: https://forms.gle/CVsqYQX5JHh9HSZo7 Support this channel on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/CasualHistorian Give a one time contribution on PayPal https://www.paypal.me/GrantHurst Buy me a book from my Amazon Wish List https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/7MKSHMHG14U5?ref_=wl_share Primary Sources Dwight D. Eisenhower, The White House Years: Mandate for Change 1953-1956, (1963) Dwight D. Eisenhower, The White House Years: Waging Peace 1956-1961, (1965) Lyndon Banes Johnson, The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency 1963-1969, (1971) Richard Nixon, The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, (1978) Henry Kissinger, White House Years, (1979) Charles Yost, History And Memory, (1980) William Sullivan, Obbligato: Notes on a Foreign Service Career, (1984) Secondary Sources Joshua Kurlantzick, A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA, (2017) Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam, (1988) Max Hastings, Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975, (2018) Ben Kiernan, The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the khmer Rouge, 1975-9, (1996) Max Boot, The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam, (2018) Grant Evans, A Short History of Laos: The Land in Between, (2002) Hamilton Fish Armstrong, “U.N. On Trial,” Foreign Affairs, (April 1961) https://www.foreignaffairs.com/u-n-trial Donald Zagoria, “The Sino-Soviet Conflict and the West,” Foreign Affairs, (October 1962) https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/1962-10-01/sino-soviet-conflict-and-west “Laotian Civil War,” Wikipedia, (retrieved August 20, 2025) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laotian_Civil_War?wprov=sfla1 Footnotes [1] Kurlantzick, p. 55-7 [2] Evans, p. 39 [3] ibid, p. 82-4 [4] Kurlantzick, p. 57-9, Evans, p. 88-92 [5] Eisenhower, Mandate, p. 166-9 [6] Kurlantzick, p. 57-9, Hastings, p. 43 [7] Evans, p. 104, Kurlantzick, p. 31-3, 39-40 [8] Kurlantzick, p. 3-4, 10-2, 39-40 [9] Eisenhower, Mandate, p. 368, Kurlantzick, p. 31-3 [10] Wikipedia, Kurlantzick, p. 31-3, 70, Evans, p. 112 [11] Kurlantzick, p. 62-4, Evans, p. 106-9 [12] Kurlantzick, p. 62-4, Evans, p. 106-9, Wikipedia [13] Evans, p. 109-12, Wikipedia [14] Kurlantzick, Wikipedia, Evans, p. 109-12 [15] Evans, p. 112-5 [16] Kurlantzick, p. 62-4, Evans, p. 112-5 [17] Boot, p. 332-4 [18] Hastings, p. 119-20, Boot, p. 332-4, Evans, p. 112-5 [19] Boot, p. 332-4, Hastings, p. 119-20 [20] Hastings, p. 119-20, Zagoria [21] Eisenhower, Waging, p. 431-2 [22] Evans, p. 116-9, Kurlantzick, p. 70-3 [23] Eisenhower, Waging, p. 607-10, Evans, p. 116-9 [24] ibid [25] ibid [26] Kurlanzick, p. 70-3, Eisenhower, Waging, p. 607-10, Evans, p. 116-22 [27] Kurlantzick, p. 73-7 [28] Eisenhower, Waging, p. 610-2 [29] Hastings, p. 127-8, Kurlantzick, p. 3-4, 83-6, Johnson, p. 50-2 [30] Kurlantzick, p. 83-6, Nixon, p. 256-8 [31] Evans, p. 120-4, Kurlantzick, p. 83-6 [32] Evans, p. 124-7 [33] Kurlantzick, p. 26-30, 78-82 [34] Kurlantzick, p. 65-8, Wikipedia [35] Kurlantzick, p. 1-3, 5-7, 33-9 [36] ibid, p. 78-82, 39-40 [37] ibid, p. 1-7 [38] ibid, p. 13-5 [39] Kurlantzick, p. 87-8, Sullivan, p. 209-10, Johnson, p. 59-60 [40] Kurlantzick, p. 89-97 [41] ibid, 115-9, 131-3 [42] ibid, p. 115-9, 126-9 [43] ibid, 123-6 [44] Evans, p. 124-7, 147-9, Sullivan, p. 196-7 [45] Kurlantzick, p. 40-5, Sullivan, p. 211-3 [46] Kurlantzick, p. 119-22, 141-2 [47] Johnson, p. 135-6 [48] Sullivan, p. 216-9, Evans, p. 124-7 [49] Kurlantzick, p. 107-10, 40-5 [50] Kurlantzick, p. 112-5 [51] Johnson, p. 367-9 [52] Evans, p. 147-9, Kurlantzick, p. 131-7, 147-50 [53] Kissinger, p. 236, Kurlantzick, p. 147, Sullivan, p. 211-3 [54] Nixon, p. 256-8, 270, 347 [55] Kurlantzick, p. 154-5, 160 [56] Kissinger, p. 451-3, Kurlantzick, p. 173-5 [57] Sheehan, p. 745-6, Nixon, p. 445 [58] Evans, p. 149-50, Sheehan, p. 745-6, Nixon, p. 448-9 [59] Sheehan, p. 745-6, Kiernan, p. 82-6 [60] Nixon, p. 497-9, Kissinger, p. 990-1,000 [61] Kurlantzick, p. 162-8, Evans, p. 147-9 [62] Kurlantzick, p. 162-8 [63] Kurlantzick, p. 160-2, Evans, p. 149-50 [64] Kutlantzick, p. 169-72, Kissinger, p. 451-3 [65] Kurlantzick, p. 189-95, 211-20 [66] Kurlantzick, p. 176, Kissinger, p. 453-7 [67] Kurlantzick, p. 181-3 [68] Kurlantzick, p. 208-10, Kissinger, p. 970 [69] Kissinger, p. 979, 1354, Kurlantzick, p. 220-4, Nixon, p. 691-2 [70] Evans, p. 165-9 [71] ibid, p. 171-4, 165-9 [72] ibid, p. 165-71 [73] ibid, p. 169-74 [74] ibid, p. 174-5 [75] Kurlantzick, p. 12-3, Wikipedia Get a 50% Discount on a Armchair History TV subscription by using the code "CASUALHISTORIAN". https://armchairhistory.tv/ This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to purchase after clicking a link, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you If you're feeling spicy, you can feed my Warhammer and Gunpla addictions https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/K9OM2ZLX9V2T?ref_=wl_share