Word: laotians
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During World War II, Tra at first led a 200-man guerrilla band near the Laotian border but rose rapidly in the ranks of the Viet Minh, the Communist-led liberation movement. In 1945, as the leader of a Viet Minh force that occupied the imperial capital of Hue, he was quartered in the former French Resident's master bedroom. After the first night, Tra complained that the bed was too soft; he wound up sleeping on the floor. In 1946 Tra became chief of staff of the Viet Minh in central Viet Nam. Not long after...
What then should the U.S. do? With regard to Cambodia, the question may already be academic. Obviously Washington would gladly settle for a neutralist regime based on the Laotian model as a replacement for Lon Nol, but there is little reason to believe the Khmer Rouge would now accept anything less than full power. There is a chance, of course, that nationalists will temper the ardor of the Communists in the insurgent movement. Perhaps the clever Sihanouk will play a larger role than is now anticipated. The Khmer Rouge, which lacks a strong cadre of leaders, may be forced...
...example, Kennedy was evidently considering basing American war planes in Laos as early as 1961, three years before the first large-scale American attacks on insurgent areas of Laos, and almost nine years before stepped-up systematic bombing of the Laotian Plaine des Jarres made refugees of 600,000 people...
...Seno airport near Savannakhet could handle 60 stories by C-124 and C-130 aircraft daily, the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Kennedy in August 1961, in response to his "expressed interest in the current status" of two Laotian fields...
Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-Mont.) was another softliner on a number of issues. The day after Kennedy's inauguration, Mansfield relayed to him Laotian Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma's complaints about U.S. overreaction to Laotian communists and obstruction of Phouma's neutralist policy. "These shortcomings, in my opinion, exist not only in Laos but elsewhere in comparable situations around the world," Mansfield added...