FOREIGN OFFICE FILES: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Series Two: Vietnam, 1959-1975

Part 2: Laos, 1959-1963

Key Personalities

Laos:

Sisavang Vong King 19??-1946, & 1953-1959
Savang Vattahana King 1959-1975

Souvanna Phouma Prime Minister 1951-1954
Katay Don Sasorith Prime Minister 1954-1955
Souvanna Phouma Prime Minister 1955-1958
Phoui Sananikone Prime Minister 1958-1959 ?
Sunthone Patthamavong Prime Minister 1959-1960 ?
Kou Abhay Prime Minister 1960 ?
Prince Tiami Somsanith Prime Minister 1960 ?
Souvanna Phouma Prime Minister 1960
Quinim Pholsena Prime Minister 1960
Boun Oum Na Champassak Prime Minister 1960-1962
Souvanna Phouma Prime Minister 1962-1975

Kaysone Phomvihan Chairman of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party 1955-1992
General Phoumi Nosavan
Phoumi Minister of National Defense
Captain Kong Le Captain, Laotian 2nd Parachute Battalion and leader of August 1960 coup
Deuane Sunnalath Founder of Patriotic Neutralists

Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (North Vietnam):

Ho Chi Minh Founder of the Vietminh. First president of the DRV (North Vietnam), until his death in 1969.
Vo Nguyen Giap Commander of the DRV military strategy against the French, and then the Americans.
Xuan Thuy Foreign Minister of DRV, 1963-1965.
Le Duan General Secretary of the Vietnamese Workers’ Party.

Republic of Viet Nam (South Vietnam):

Bao Dai Head of state from 1949-1955 and the last emperor of Vietnam. He was removed by Diem in 1955 and went into exile.
Ngo Dinh Diem Became prime minister in Bao Dai’s government in 1954 after a number of years in exile in the USA. He ousted the emperor in the 1955 referendum and declared South Vietnam a republic. He was president of South Vietnam from 1955 until his murder in the 1963 military coup.
Duong Van Minh Known as ‘Big Minh’. He headed the military coup against Diem in 1963, but was himself soon replaced by General Khanh as leader, but returned to power in 1975.
Ngo Dinh Nhu The younger brother of Diem. Nhu was a trusted advisor to the president and member of the government. He was killed with Diem after the 1963 coup.
Nguyen Huu Tho Leader of the NLF (Vietcong) in South Vietnam.

USA - Kennedy Administration:

John F Kennedy United States President (1960-1963)
Lyndon Baines Johnson Vice-President (1960-1963)
McGeorge Bundy Special Assistant for National Security (1961-1966)
Robert S McNamara US Secretary of Defence (1961-1968)
Roswell Gilpatric US Deputy-Secretary of Defence
Dean Rusk US Secretary of State (1961-1969)
George Ball Under Secretary of State ( 1961-1966)
US Under-Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (1961)
General Paul Harkins Head of Military Advisory Mission to Vietnam (MACV)
General Maxwell Taylor Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff (1962-1964) and Military Advisor to the President
Walt Rostow Director of the Policy Planning Staff, US Department of State (1961-1966); Chairman of the Planning Subcommittee, Executive Committee of the National Security Council (1962-1963)
Dean Acheson Presidential Advisor (1961-1963)
Allen Dulles Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (1953-1961)
John A McCone Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (1961-1965)
Elbridge Durbrow US Ambassador to South Vietnam (1957-1961)
Frederick Nolting US Ambassador to South Vietnam (1961-1963)
Henry Cabot Lodge US Ambassador to South Vietnam (1963-1964)
J Graham Parsons US Ambassador to Laos (1956-1958)
Winthrop Brown US Ambassador to Laos (1958-19??)
Horace H Smith US Ambassador to Laos (c1958-19??)

British Government:

Harold Macmillan British Prime Minister (1957-1963)
Sir Harold Caccia British Ambassador to the US (1956-1961)
David Ormsby-Gore British Ambassador to the US (1961-1965)
Sir Alec Douglas Home British Foreign Secretary (1960-1963), then Prime Minister (1963-1964)
H A F Hohler British Ambassador to Vietnam
Robert Thompson British military officer with successful experience of countering communist insurgents in Malaya. Became a military advisor to Diem
M T Walker British Ambassador to DRV
Frederick Warner Head of South East Asian Department of the Foreign Office

Soviet Government:

Nikita Khrushchev Soviet Premier (1958-1964)
Andrei Gromyko Soviet Foreign Minister (1957-1986)
Anatoly Dobrynin Soviet Ambassador to the US (1962-1986)

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