From the Publisher: “Although most Americans paid little attention to Cambodia during Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidency, the nation’s proximity to China and the global ideological struggle with the Soviet Union guaranteed US vigilance throughout Southeast Asia. Cambodia’s leader, Norodom Sihanouk, refused to take sides in the Cold War, a policy that disturbed US officials. From 1953 to 1961, his government avoided the political and military crises of neighboring Laos and South Vietnam. However, relations between Cambodia and the United States suffered a blow in 1959 when Sihanouk discovered CIA involvement in a plot to overthrow him. The coup, supported by South Vietnam and Thailand, was a failure that increased Sihanouk’s power and prestige and created new foreign policy challenges in the region.
“In Eisenhower and Cambodia, William J. Rust examines the United States’ efforts to lure Cambodia from neutrality to alliance. He conclusively demonstrates that, as with Laos in 1958 and 1960, covert intervention in the internal political affairs of neutral Cambodia proved to be a counterproductive tactic for advancing the United States’ anticommunist goals. Drawing upon recently declassified sources, Rust skillfully traces the impact of “plausible deniability” on the formulation and execution of foreign policy. His meticulous study not only reveals a neglected chapter in Cold War history, but also illuminates the intellectual and political origins of US strategy in Vietnam and the often-hidden influence of intelligence operations in foreign affairs.”
Bill Rust has made it his purpose to dig deep for explanations of the origins of the American war in Southeast Asia. In Eisenhower and Cambodia Rust shines a penetrating light on the murkiest corner of all, the impact of American actions on the neutralist nation of Cambodia and its Prince Norodom Sihanouk. Rust's account considerably advances our knowledge of Eisenhower's and Kennedy's actions in Cambodia. No student of the Vietnam war can afford to miss Eisenhower and Cambodia.
John Prados, author of Vietnam: The History of an Unwinnable War, 1945–1975
William Rust, author of two recent definitive books about American relations with Laos, now explores US relations with Cambodia during the Dwight Eisenhower administration. This is a careful, impressive, well written and researched diplomatic history that highlights the administration’s antipathy toward neutralism in the Cold War, which led it into ill-advised and self-defeating efforts to destabilize Prince Norodom Sihanouk’s government. It will stand as the authoritative work for many years to come.
Kenton Clymer, author of A Delicate Relationship: The United States and Burma/Myanmar since 1945
William Rust’s engaging book contributes significantly to our understanding of U.S.-Cambodian relations, the origins of the Vietnam War, and the role of covert operations in American foreign policy during the Cold War. As he does in his other books, Rust relies on extensive archival research to craft a gripping and accessible narrative that brings to life the characters on all sides of this complex story.
Jessica Elkind, author of Aid Under Fire: Nation Building and the Vietnam War
Rust’s brilliant account of the Eisenhower and Kennedy administration's attempt to leverage a recalcitrant Cambodian leader into a Cold War alliance reveals much about American diplomacy then and now. Extensively researched and exceptionally readable, this groundbreaking book discloses the often shadowy realities of what occurs when government officials from dissimilar cultures endeavor to bend each other to their will.
Walter E. Kretchik, author of U.S. Army Doctrine: From the American Revolution to the War on Terror
Rust’s books on the early years in Vietnam and Laos established him as the preeminent scholar of the period. Cambodia during this time frame remains overlooked. Thus the author's best book to date fills an important place in the literature. It is excellent scholarship written as always in the author’s deft style.
Joe P. Dunn, author of “I Have Done the Work”: The Times and Life of James Hutchison Kerr
