Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The United States and Cambodia, 1960–1991

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Cambodia and the West, 1500-2000

  • 518 Accesses

Abstract

After Prince Norodom Sihanouk’s ouster in 1970 (which the United States did not regret), the Americans worked closely with Lon Nol’s government and resisted calls to help Sihanouk return to power. Tragedy engulfed Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge took over in 1975, but the United States quietly saw diplomatic advantages in their rule and objected when Vietnam invaded in 1978 to remove the murderous regime. The United States opposed the Vietnamese-installed government and provided support to the non-communist opposition movements, while encouraging Thailand and China to resuscitate the Khmer Rouge remnants. This led to much domestic criticism, and toward the end of the period the United States began to change its policy and supported a compromise peace.

The author drew on some of the material in this chapter from his book, Troubled Relations: The United States and Cambodia since 1870, by Kenton Clymer, with permission from Northern Illinois University Press (http://www.niupress.niu.edu/niupress/). Copyright ©2007 Northern Illinois University Press.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 34.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    William C. Trimble to Secretary of State (SS), 23 October 1961, No. 296, 751H.11/10–2361, Record Group (RG)59, Central Decimal File (CDF), 1960–63, Box 1751, National Archives II, College Park, MD (NAII) Information on Sarit’s comments comes from Thomas Hirschfeld who was then serving in the Phnom Penh embassy. Hirschfeld e-mail message to author, 13 October 2001.

  2. 2.

    ‘Translation of Prince Sihanouk’s Speech of October 26, at Kompong Speu …,’ Trimble Papers, Box 2, folder La Depeche. Trimble to SS, 30 October 1961, No. 329, 751H.11/10–3061, RG5 9, CDF 1960–63, Box 1751, NAII. Trimble to SS, 27 October 1961, Tel. 315, Papers of William Cattell Trimble , Seely Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.

  3. 3.

    Australian Embassy Washington D.C. to Department of External Affairs (Australia) (EXAF), 31 October 1961, Series A1209/128, Control Symbol 1961/1304, National Archives of Australia (NAA).

  4. 4.

    Trimble to SS, 25 January 1962, Tel. 500, National Security File (NSF): Country (CO): Cambodia, Box 16, folder 1/18/62–3/28/62, John F. Kennedy Papers, John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, MA (JFKL).

  5. 5.

    Charles F. Moore to SS, 16 June 1962, Tel. 751, NSF: CO: Cambodia, Box 16, Kennedy Papers.

  6. 6.

    For a recent discussion of the Preah Vihear issue, see John Burgess, Temple in the Clouds: Faith and Conflict at Preah Vihear (Bangkok, Thailand: River Books Press, 2015).

  7. 7.

    Takashi Oka, ‘Peking Hails Cambodian Leader,’ Christian Science Monitor, 18.

  8. 8.

    Noël St. Clair Deschamps to Secretary, EXAF, 3 October1963, Memorandum 494, Series No. 1838/280, Control Symbol 3016/7/1 Part 3, NAA. Deschamps to Secretary, EXAF, 10 October1963, Memorandum 509, Series No. 1838/280, Control Symbol 3016/7/1 Part 3, NAA.

  9. 9.

    Norodom Sihanouk speech 9 December 1963, US Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) 1961–63, 23:281–82.

  10. 10.

    L. Douglas Heck to USDS, 11 February 1965, Airgram A-844, RG59, Subject Numeric File (SNF) 1964–1966, Box 1970, Folder POL 15–1, NAII.

  11. 11.

    Robert Shaplen , ‘Letter from Cambodia,’ New Yorker, 17 September 1966, 6.

  12. 12.

    Lodge to SS, 5 August 1966, Tel. 2804, RG59, SNF 1964–66, Folder POL 32–1 CAMB-VIETS 6/1/66, NAII. W. Walton Butterworth to SS, 6 August 1966, Tel. 197, RG59, SNF 1964–66, Box 1979, Folder POL 32–1 CAMB-VIETS 6/1/66, NAII.

  13. 13.

    Cited in Deschamps to EXAF, 9 August 1966, Tel. 482, Series No. A1838/334, Control Symbol 3016/11/161 Part 9, NAA.

  14. 14.

    Chester Bowles-Son Sann Joint Communique, in US Embassy Bangkok to SS, 12 January 1968, Tel. 411, RG 59, SNF 1967–1969, Box 1804, Folder POL 27–14 CAMB, 1–1-68, NAII. Some in the state department regretted Bowles ’ use of the word ‘aggression’ since it seemed to imply that American actions in the past constituted aggression.

  15. 15.

    ‘Press conference by Prince Sihanouk on 8 August in Damnak Chamcar Mon Palace, Phnom Penh,’ 12 August 1968, Series No.1838/280, Control Symbol 3016/10/1/2/3 Part 1, NAA.

  16. 16.

    Truong Nhu Tang , A Vietcong Memoir: An Inside Account of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath (New York: Vintage, 1985), 185. Arnold Isaacs , Without Honor: Defeat in Vietnam and Cambodia (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983), 195.

  17. 17.

    ‘Sihanouk’s Role in Cambodia Bombing 1969–1970,’ and ‘Cambodian Bombing,’ NSC files, Box 11 (HAKOF), folder Cambodia–Cambodian Bombing, NPM. ‘Cambodian Perspectives,’ March 1975, Robert K. Wolthius Files, Box 1, folder Cambodian Fact Sheet; Evacuation of Phnom Penh, Gerald Ford Papers, Gerald Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI (GFPL).

  18. 18.

    Leonard Unger (for Bowles ) to SS, 10 January 1968, Tel. 8561, RG 59, SNF 1967–1969, Box 2610, folder POL 7 US-Bowles 1/1/67, NAII.

  19. 19.

    H. R. Haldeman , The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the White House (New York: G. P. Putnam, 1994), 143.

  20. 20.

    Walter Isaacson, Kissinger: A Biography (New York: Simon Schuster, 1992), 273. I am grateful to columnist William Pfaff for calling this quotation to my attention. See William Pfaff , ‘Cambodia Invasion Reminder of US Political Use of Military,’ Chicago Tribune, 23 April 2000.

  21. 21.

    For accounts of the war, see Wilfred Deac, Road to the Killing Fields: The Cambodian War of 1970–1975 (College Station, TX: Texas A & M University Press, 1997), and Kenneth Conboy, The Cambodian Wars: Clashing Armies and CIA Covert Operations (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2013).

  22. 22.

    Quoted in David Chandler , The Tragedy of Cambodian History: Politics, War, and Revolution since 1945 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1991), 213.

  23. 23.

    Memcon, Zhou Enlai, Henry Kissinger et al., 16 February 1973, William Burr, ed., The Kissinger Transcripts: The Top-Secret Talks With Beijing and Moscow (New York: New Press, 2000), 103–9.

  24. 24.

    William Shawcross , ‘The Third Indochina War,’ New York Review of Books (6 April 1978):16.

  25. 25.

    On the Mayaguez incident, see John F. Guilmartin, Jr., A Very Short War: The Mayaguez and the Battle of Koh Tang (College Station, TX: Texas A & M University Press, 1995).

  26. 26.

    Extracts from a letter from E. Eugene Hall to Christian and Missionary Alliance Headquarters, 14 May 1975, RG 809-Cambodia, Box 4, folder 15, Christian and Missionary Alliance Archives, Colorado Springs, CO (CMAA).

  27. 27.

    Kenneth M. Quinn , ‘The Khmer Krahom Program to Create a Communist Society in Southern Cambodia,’ 19 February 1974, enclosed in Lehman to USDS, 20 February 1974, Airgram A-008, Documentation Center of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (DCC).

  28. 28.

    Memorandum of Conversation, J. Malcolm Fraser, Ford, Kissinger, et al., 27 July 1976, Ford Papers, National Security Adviser, Memoranda of Conversation, Box 20, folder July 27, 1976–Ford, Kissinger, … Fraser,’ Ford Papers.

  29. 29.

    US Congress, Human Rights in Cambodia: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on International Organization, 3 May 1977, 95th Congress, First Session (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1977), 32, 47.

  30. 30.

    Jimmy Carter’s comments on Brzezinski to Carter, 13 October 1978, Brzezinski Donated Material, Subject File, Box 42, folder Weekly Reports 9/78–12/78, Jimmy Carter Papers, Jimmy Carter Library, Atlanta, GA (JCL).

  31. 31.

    Chicago Tribune, 29 August 1995.

  32. 32.

    ‘Draft Talking Points for Vance-Chai meeting,’ n.d., Brzezinski Donated Material, Geographical File, Box 10, folder Sino-Vietnamese Conflict, 2/17/79–2/21/79. Bureau of Public Affairs, ‘Current Situation in Indochina,’ June 1979, Current Policy No. 71, Carter Papers.

  33. 33.

    Qiang Zhai, communication to the author, 1 May 2001. I am grateful to Professor Qiang Zhai for his assessment of Carter’s letter to Deng and American policy surrounding the Chinese invasion.

  34. 34.

    Cyrus Vance , Hard Choices: Critical Years in America’s Foreign Policy (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983), 126–27. Lincoln Bloomfield to Brzezinski, 16 June 1980, Brzezinski–Subject File, Box 23, folder Meetings: Muskie/Brown/Brzezinski 5/80–6/80, Carter Papers.

  35. 35.

    Bloomfield to Brzezinski, 16 June 1980, Brzezinski–Subject File, Box 23, folder Meetings: Muskie/Brown/Brzezinski 5/80–6/80, Carter Papers.

  36. 36.

    John McAuliff and Mary Byrne McDonnell, ‘Ending the Cambodian Stalemate,’ World Policy Review 7, 1 (1990): 94.

  37. 37.

    New York Times , 25 May 1990, A4.

  38. 38.

    Clifford Krauss, ‘U. S. Policy on Cambodia Shifts a Bit,’ New York Times , 14 July 1990, 3.

  39. 39.

    Peter W. Rodman, More Precious Than Peace: The Cold War and the Struggle for the Third World (New York: Scribners, 1994), 461.

  40. 40.

    Steven Erlanger, ‘Hanoi’s Partial Victory,’ New York Times, 20 July 1990, A2.

  41. 41.

    William Pfaff , ‘Cambodia: Belated Good News,’ Minneapolis Star Tribune, 19 July 1990, 20A.

  42. 42.

    ‘Cautious Steps to Peace,’ Jakarta Post , 3 September 1990.

  43. 43.

    The text of the Jakarta document is in The United Nations and Cambodia, 1991–1995 (New York: United Nations Publications, 1995), 93–94.

  44. 44.

    Stan Sesser, ‘Report from Cambodia,’ New Yorker, 18 May 1992, 64.

  45. 45.

    E-mail message, Quinn to the author, 9 January 2003.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA

    Kenton Clymer

Authors
  1. Kenton Clymer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Huntington University, Huntington, IN, USA

    T. O. Smith

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Clymer, K. (2018). The United States and Cambodia, 1960–1991. In: Smith, T. (eds) Cambodia and the West, 1500-2000. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55532-8_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55532-8_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-55531-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-55532-8

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation