LEADER 04599nam 2200697Ia 450 001 9910812029703321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a0-8014-6451-X 010 $a0-8014-6404-8 024 7 $a10.7591/9780801464041 035 $a(CKB)2550000000100465 035 $a(OCoLC)797828509 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10559178 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000879941 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11569885 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000879941 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10854176 035 $a(PQKB)10421294 035 $a(StDuBDS)EDZ0001495600 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3138329 035 $a(OCoLC)966910406 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse51961 035 $a(DE-B1597)478375 035 $a(OCoLC)979968163 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780801464041 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3138329 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10559178 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL681781 035 $a(EXLCZ)992550000000100465 100 $a20111028d2012 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur||||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 14$aThe universe unraveling$b[electronic resource] $eAmerican foreign policy in Cold War Laos /$fSeth Jacobs 210 $aIthaca $cCornell University Press$d2012 215 $a1 online resource (327 p.) 225 1 $aThe United States in the world 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 $a1-322-50499-7 311 $a0-8014-4547-7 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $tFrontmatter -- $tContents -- $tAcknowledgments -- $tIntroduction -- $t1. "A Long Country Inhabited by Lotus Eaters": Washington Encounters Laos -- $t2. "A Soft Buffer": Laos in the Eisenhower Administration's Grand Strategy -- $t3. "Help the Seemingly Unhelpable": "Little America" and the U.S. Aid Program in Laos -- $t4. "Foreigners Who Want to Enslave the Country": American Neocolonialism, Lao Defiance -- $t5. "Doctor Tom" and "Mister Pop": American Icons in Laos -- $t6. "Retarded Children": Laos in the American Popular Imagination -- $t7. "No Place to Fight a War": Washington Backs Away from Laos -- $tEpilogue -- $tNotes -- $tIndex 330 $aDuring the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations, Laos was positioned to become a major front in the Cold War. Yet American policymakers ultimately chose to resist communism in neighboring South Vietnam instead. Two generations of historians have explained this decision by citing logistical considerations. Laos's landlocked, mountainous terrain, they hold, made the kingdom an unpropitious place to fight, while South Vietnam-possessing a long coastline, navigable rivers, and all-weather roads-better accommodated America's military forces. The Universe Unraveling is a provocative reinterpretation of U.S.-Laos relations in the years leading up to the Vietnam War. Seth Jacobs argues that Laos boasted several advantages over South Vietnam as a battlefield, notably its thousand-mile border with Thailand, whose leader was willing to allow Washington to use his nation as a base from which to attack the communist Pathet Lao.More significant in determining U.S. policy in Southeast Asia than strategic appraisals of the Laotian landscape were cultural perceptions of the Lao people. Jacobs contends that U.S. policy toward Laos under Eisenhower and Kennedy cannot be understood apart from the traits Americans ascribed to their Lao allies. Drawing on diplomatic correspondence and the work of iconic figures like "celebrity saint" Tom Dooley, Jacobs finds that the characteristics American statesmen and the American media attributed to the Lao-laziness, immaturity, and cowardice-differed from the traits assigned the South Vietnamese, making Lao chances of withstanding communist aggression appear dubious. The Universe Unraveling combines diplomatic, cultural, and military history to provide a new perspective on how prejudice can shape policy decisions and even the course of history. 410 0$aUnited States in the world. 606 $aInternational relations 607 $aUnited States$xForeign relations$zLaos 607 $aLaos$xForeign relations$zUnited States 607 $aUnited States$xForeign relations$y1953-1961 607 $aUnited States$xForeign relations$y1961-1963 615 0$aInternational relations. 676 $a327.730594090/04 700 $aJacobs$b Seth$f1964-$01668239 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910812029703321 996 $aThe universe unraveling$94028706 997 $aUNINA