19. “De an: Vien tro cho Vuong quoc va Pathet Lao nam 1961,” 2–5.
20. Quoted in Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, Khrushchev’s Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary (New York: W. W. Norton, 2006), 327.
21. “Cong cuoc hau can—Bao cao cong tac vien tro cho Lao nam 1961,” 1.
22. FGDH to MFA, 24 July 1961, 2.
23. Fursenko and Naftali, Khrushchev’s Cold War, 334.
24. “Tieu ban nghien cuu cong tac Lao: De an cong tac kinh te tai chinh giup chinh phu Lao,” 1, 3; FGDH to MFA, 22 December 1960, #35, AO: VN, ADF, 1.
25. “De an: Vien tro cho Vuong quoc va Pathet Lao nam 1961,” 1, 6.
26. Thomas Perry Thornton, “Peking, Moscow, and the Underdeveloped Areas,” World Politics 13, no. 4 (July 1961): 501–2.
27. Ilya V. Gaiduk, Confronting Vietnam: Soviet Policy toward the Indochina Conflict, 1954–1963 (Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2003), 152–53.
28. Mari Olsen, Soviet–Vietnam Relations and the Role of China, 1949–64: Changing Alliances (New York: Routledge, 2006), 109–10.
29. Vladislav M. Zubok and Constantine Pleshakov, Inside the Kremlin’s Cold War: From Stalin to Khrushchev (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997), 258. See also Marek Thee, Notes of a Witness: Laos and the Second Indochina War (New York: Random House, 1973), 201, 205.
30. British Consulate General, Hanoi [hereafter BCGH], to Southeast Asia Department, London [hereafter SEAD], 1 January 1962, FO 371/166712, NAUK, 1–2.
31. “Tieu ban nghien cuu cong tac Lao: De an cong tac kinh te tai chinh giup chinh phu Lao,” 1.
32. “De an: Vien tro cho Vuong quoc va Pathet Lao nam 1961,” 1.
33. “Tham luan ve tinh hinh Lao cua ong Nguyen Van Chi, dai bieu Khanh-hoap” [Address on the Situation in Laos by Mr. Nguyen Van Chi, representative of Khanh Hoap], 26 October 1961, Ho so 729: Ho so ky hop thu ba cua QH khoa III tu ngay 23–27.10.1961. Tap 3: Phien hop ngay 26.10.1961: Thuyet trinh ve tong quyet toan ngan sach Nha nuoc nam 1960, tham luan ve tang cuong phap che, tinh hinh mien Nam va dau tranh chong My, thong nhat dat nuoc, cong tac ngoai giao, Phong Quoc Hoi, VNAC3, 3.
34. Nguyen Dinh Binh, ed., Ngoai giao Viet Nam, 1945–2000 [Vietnamese Diplomacy, 1945–2000] (Hanoi: Nha xuat ban Chinh tri quoc gia, 2005), 193; BCGH to SEAD, 1 January 1962, 1–2. The British Consulate concurred with that assessment, noting that Laotian neutrality would “give the D.R.V. security from its landward side, and rid them [sic] of the fear of a U.S. military base being established there” (ibid., 1).
35. William S. Turley, The Second Indochina War: A Concise Political and Military History, 2nd ed. (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009), 67.
36. BCGH to SEAD, 1 January 1962, 2.
37. “DRV attitude to the neutralization of Laos and Viet Nam,” 9 February 1962, FO 371/166712, NAUK, 1.
38. On the negotiations, see Arthur J. Dommen, The Indochinese Experience of the French and the Americans: Nationalism and Communism in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001), 443–54. The agreement actually consisted of three documents: the Declaration on the Neutrality of Laos, signed by all parties in attendance except the Laotian factions; a Protocol to the Declaration, listing the obligations of the signatories regarding withdrawal from Laos of foreign military personnel and the introduction of new forces; a Statement of Neutrality of the Government of Laos, signed by the new coalition government’s foreign minister. Interestingly, the Laotian factions signed no formal agreement between themselves. According to Ilya Gaiduk, the outcome of the battle of Nam Tha expedited finalization of the agreement. See Gaiduk, Confronting Vietnam, 177.
39. Hugh Toye, Laos: Buffer State or Battleground? (London: Oxford University Press, 1968), 172.
40. “Bao cao cua Bo truong Bo Ngoai giao Ung Van Khiem ve ket qua cua Hoi nghi Gio-ne-vo ve Lao (tay ky hop thu 5 cua QH khoa 2, ngay 23 thang 10 nam 1962)” [Report of Foreign Minister Ung Van Khiem on the Results of the Geneva Conference on Laos (at the Fifth Meeting of the Second Session of the National Assembly, 23 October 1962)], 23 October 1962, Ho so 740: Ho so ky hop thu nam cua QH khoa II tu ngay 22.27.10.1962. Tap 2: Phien hop ngay 23.10.1962: Bao cao to trinh, Nghi quyet cua QH UBTVQH, PTT ve cong tac cua UBTVQH, ve tong quyet toan ngan sach Nha nuoc, ket qua Hoi nghi Gionevo ve Lao, ve to chuc HDND va UBHC cac cap, Phong Quoc hoi, VNAC3, 1–2.
41. Nguyen Vu Tung, “The 1961–1962 Geneva Conference: Neutralization of Laos and Policy Implications for Vietnam,” in Goscha and Laplante, eds., Failure of Peace in Indochina,” 255.
42. “Review of Events in North Vietnam (the D.R.V.) during 1962,” FO 371/170088, NAUK, 3.
43. “Summary of Vietnamese Aid to the Lao Revolution (1945–1975),” 6.
44. “History of the Vietnamese Volunteer Groups and Vietnamese Military Specialists in Laos, 1945–1975: Group 100—Military Advisor; Group 959—Military Specialists” (document in Christopher Goscha’s possession).
45. “Thu cua dong chi Le Duan, Bi thu thu nhat Dang Lao dong Viet Nam giu Trung uong Cuc mien Nam, ngay 18 thang 7 nam 1962: Ve cach mang mien Nam” [Letter from Comrade Le Duan, First Secretary of the Vietnamese Workers’ Party, Sent to the Central Office for Southern Vietnam, 18 July 1962: On the Southern Revolution], in Dang Cong san Viet Nam, Van kien Dang—Toan tap, Tap 23: 1962 [Party Documents—Complete Series, Vol. 23: 1962] (Hanoi: Nha xuat ban Chinh tri quoc gia, 2002) [hereafter VKD: 1962], 707.
46. Party leaders, a former VWP cadre asserted, “always considered Indochina as one geographical entity and a single battlefield.” See Bui Tin, From Enemy to Friend: A North Vietnamese Perspective on the War (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2002), 11.
47. Nguyen Dinh Binh, ed., Ngoai giao Viet Nam, 192.
48. “Bao cao cua Bo truong Bo Ngoai giao Ung Van Khiem ve ket qua cua Hoi nghi Gio-ne-vo ve Lao,” 3–4.
49. Quoted in FGDH to MFA, 1 August 1962, #73, AO: VN, ADF, 1.
50. Ken Post, Revolution, Socialism and Nationalism in Viet Nam, Vol. 3: Socialism in Half a Country (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1989), 145.
51. Nguyen Vu Tung, “The 1961–1962 Geneva Conference,” 263.
52. “Manifesto of the South Viet Nam National Front for Liberation” and “Program of the South Viet Nam National Front for Liberation,” in Manifesto of the South Viet Nam National Front for Liberation (undated, no publisher); Robert K. Brigham, Guerrilla Diplomacy: The NLF’s Foreign Relations and the Viet Nam War (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1999), 21–22.
53. Canberra to All Posts: “South Vietnam’s Communist Proposals for an International Conference,” 3 August 1962, FO 371/166763, NAUK, 2.
54. Ibid.; “Thong tri cua Ban Bi thu, so 45-TT/TW, ngay 31 thang 10 nam 1961: Ve mo mot cuoc dau tranh rong rai va manh me chong am muu can thiep moi cua de quoc My o mien Nam Viet Nam” [Secretariat Circular, no. 45-TT/TW, 31 October 1961: On Opening a Wide and Strong Struggle against the New Plan of Intervention of the American Imperialists in Southern Vietnam], in Dang Cong san Viet Nam, Van kien Dang—Toan tap, Tap 22: 1961 [Party Documents—Collected Works, Vol. 22: 1961] (Hanoi: Nha xuat ban Chinh tri quoc gia, 2002), 485.
55. Quoted in MFA, “Note pour le Cabinet du Ministre” [Note for the Council of Ministers], 15 December 1961, #33, AO: VN, ADF, 2.
56. The comments by Indian commissioner M. Parthasarathi are reported in BES to SEAD, 3 January 1962, FO 371/166725, NAUK, 1.
57. FO to BES, 12 January 1962, FO 371/166725, NAUK, 1.
58. Quoted in FO Minutes on “Demands for an International Conference on Vietnam, 1960–September 1963,” 20 September 1963, FO 371/170153, NAUK, 1.
59. FGDH to MFA, 6 March 1962, #36, AO: VN, ADF, 1.
60. “Demands for an International Conference on Vietnam, 1960–September 1963,” 2; FGDH to MFA, 1 May 1962, #73, AO: VN, ADF, 3.
61. BCGH to SEAD, 9 June 1962, FO 371/166763, NAUK, 1.
62. “Vietnam,” 5 July 1962, FO 371/166763, NAUK, 1
63. “Trich tuyen bo cua UB TWMTDTGPMN, 20.7.1962” [Excerpt from the Declaration of the Central Committee of the National Liberation Front for South Vietnam, 20 July 1962], Ho so 231: Trich tuyen bo cua UBTWMTDTGPMN VN va MTTQVN tu 1955 den 1962, Phong Uy ban dieu tra toi ac cua de quoc My o Viet Nam, VNAC3, 3.
64. FGDH to MFA, 1 August 1962, B3.
65. Nguyen Vu Tung, “The 1961–1962 Geneva Conference,” 259.
66. “Nghi quyet cua Bo Chinh tri, hop ngay 26–27, thang 2, nam 1962: Ve cong tac cach mang mien Nam” [Politburo Resolution, Meeting on 26–27 February 1962: On the Southern Revolution], in VKD: 1962, 163.
67. Brigham, Guerrilla Diplomacy, 21.
68. Quoted in David W. P. Elliott, The Vietnamese War: Revolution and Social Change in the Mekong Delta, 1930–1975, concise ed. (Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 2007), 176.
69. Quoted in Duiker, Communist Road to Power, 220–21.
70. The number of American military personnel in South Vietnam, which stood at 3,205 at the end of 1961, jumped to approximately 9,000 by the end of 1962. See Seth Jacobs, Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America’s War in Vietnam, 1950–1963 (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), 127; Mark Moyar, Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 155.
71. Elliott, Vietnamese War, 175; BES to SEAD, 3 January 1962, 1.
72. Jacobs, Cold War Mandarin, 128.
73. “Hanh dong quan su phieu luu cua de quoc My mo rong chien tranh xam luoc o mien Nam Viet Nam duong bi dong bao mien Nam va toan dan kien quyet chong lai va ngay cang bi du luan hoa binh va dan chu tren the gioi kich liet len an: Bao cao truoc Quoc hoi khoa II ky hop thu 4 (thang 4 nam 1962) do Chu nhiem UBTN Nguyen van Vinh trinh bay” [The Adventurous Military Activities of the American Imperialists to Expand the War of Aggression in Southern Vietnam Are Resisted by the Determination of the Southern Compatriots and the Entire People and the Ever-Increasing Public Opinion Supportive of Peace and Democracy in the World: Report Presented before the Second Session, Fourth Meeting, of the National Assembly (April 1962) by the Chair of the Committee on National Reunification, Nguyen Van Vinh], 4 April 1962, Ho so 733: Ho so ky hop thu tu cua QH khoa II tu ngay 17–26.4.1962. Tap 2: Phien hop ngay 18.4.1962: Bao cao ve cong tac cua UBTVQH, ve bau cu bo sung DBQH, ve thuc hien ke hoach Nha nuoc nam 1962, thuc hien ngan sach Nha nuoc nam 1962, cong tac toa an va kiem sat nhan dan, Phong Quoc hoi, VNAC3, 2–3.
74. BES to SEAD, 13 March 1962, FO 371/166713, NAUK, 1.
75. FO to British Embassy, Washington, 23 March 1962, FO 371/166713, NAUK, 1.
76. Edward Miller, “Undoing the ‘Limited Partnership’: The Neutralization of Laos and the Origins of the Crisis of 1963 in South Vietnam,” paper presented at the international workshop entitled “The Failure of Peace? Indochina between the Two Geneva Accords, 1954–1962,” Université du Québec à Montréal, 6–7 October 2006, 9; Edward Miller, Misalliance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and the Fate of South Vietnam (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2013), 247.
77. Moyar, Triumph Forsaken, 153. During the first half of 1962, South Vietnamese armed forces “went on the offensive and dislodged Communist forces from their most exposed positions” (Turley, Second Indochina War, 69).
78. Pham Huy Duong and Pham Ba Toan, Ba muoi nam chien tranh giai phong: Nhung tran danh di vao lich su [Thirty Years of Liberation War: Historical Battles] (Hanoi: Nha xuat ban Cong an nhan dan, 2005), 272.
79. Quoted in Elliott, Vietnamese War, 178. See also Philip E. Catton, Diem’s Final Failure: Prelude to America’s War in Vietnam (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002), 187–90.
80. Elliott, Vietnamese War, 175.
81. “Vietnam,” 5 July 1962, 1.
82. Miller, “Undoing the ‘Limited Partnership,’” 9.
83. Turley, Second Indochina War, 71.
84. FGDH to MFA, 1 November 1962, #73, AO: VN, ADF, 4.
85. FGDH to MFA, 1 November 1962, #1, AO: VC, ADF, 2–3.
86. “Review of Events in North Vietnam (the D.R.V.) during 1962,” 1–2.
87. FGDH to MFA, 1 March 1962, #72, AO: VN, ADF, 4.
88. “Review of Events in North Vietnam (the D.R.V.) during 1962,” 2.
89. British Embassy, Paris, to FO, 15 February 1962, FO 371/160125, NAUK, 1.
90. “Bao cao cua Bo truong Bo Ngoai giao Ung Van Khiem ve ket qua cua Hoi nghi Gio-ne-vo ve Lao,” 4.
91. British Embassy, Paris, to FO, 15 February 1962, 2.
92. FGDH to MFA, 3 March 1962, #36, AO: VN, ADF, 8.
93. BCGH to SEAD, 16 February 1962, FO 371/166716, NAUK, 2.
94. The comments are reported in British Embassy, Paris, to FO, 15 February 1962, 1; BCGH to SEAD, 16 February 1962, 2.
95. These comments by a Yugoslav diplomat are reported in British Embassy, Paris, to FO, 15 February 1962, 1.
96. BCGH to SEAD, 16 February 1962, 2.
97. “Review of Events in North Vietnam (the D.R.V.) during 1962,” 1.
98. Reported in BES to SEAD, 3 January 1962, 1.
99. FGDH to MFA, 3 March 1962, #36, AO: VN, ADF, 8.
100. “Canadian Report on Visit of Chinese Military Mission to DRV,” 2 February 1962, FO 371/166713, NAUK, 3.
101. Céline Marangé, Le communisme vietnamien, 1919–1991 [Vietnamese Communism, 1919–1991] (Paris: Presses de Sciences Po, 2012), 301.
102. Lorenz Lüthi, The Sino-Soviet Split, 1956–1966 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2008), 194–218.
103. “Bao cao cua Bo truong Bo Ngoai giao Ung Van Khiem ve ket qua cua Hoi nghi Gio-ne-vo ve Lao,” 4.
104. BES to FO, “Review of Events in North Vietnam (the D.R.V.) during 1961,” 31 January 1962, FO 371/166697, NAUK, 3–4.
105. The French position is related in British Embassy, Paris, to FO, 21 December 1961, FO 371/160125, NAUK, 1.
106. Quoted in BCGH to SEAD, 16 February 1962, 2.
107. “Bao cao cong tac Toa an nhan dan toi cao” [Report on the Work of the Supreme People’s Tribunal], Ho so 733: Ho so ky hop thu tu cua QH khoa II tu ngay 17–26.4.1962. Tap 2: Phien hop ngay 18.4.1962: Bao cao ve cong tac cua UBTVQH, ve bau cu bo sung DBQH, ve thuc hien ke hoach Nha nuoc nam 1962, thuc hien ngan sach Nha nuoc nam 1962, cong tac toa an va kiem sat nhan dan, Phong Quoc hoi, VNAC3, 4.
108. “Bao cao cua dong chi Vien, truong Vien kiem sat nhan dan toi cao truoc QH khoa II ky hop thu tu cong tac Toa an nhan dan toi cao” [Report by Comrade Vien, Head of the People’s Court of Investigation, before the Fourth Meeting, Second Session of the National Assembly], Ho so 733: Ho so ky hop thu tu cua QH khoa II tu ngay 17–26.4.1962. Tap 2: Phien hop ngay 18.4.1962: Bao cao ve cong tac cua UBTVQH, ve bau cu bo sung DBQH, ve thuc hien ke hoach Nha nuoc nam 1962, thuc hien ngan sach Nha nuoc nam 1962, cong tac toa an va kiem sat nhan dan, Phong Quoc hoi, VNAC3, 10–11.
109. International Commission for Supervision and Control in Vietnam, “Special Report to the Co-Chairmen of the Geneva Conference on Indo-China,” 2 June 1962, R219-121-3-E (ICSC files), Vol. 9522 [Part 1], Record Group 25, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, 7.
110. Douglas A. Ross, “Middlepowers as Extra-Regional Balancer Powers: Canada, India, and Indochina, 1954–62,” Pacific Affairs 55, no. 2 (Summer 1982): 205.
111. “Note: a/s des responsabilités dans l’origine du conflit vietnamien” [Note: On the Issue of Responsibility in the Origins of the Vietnamese Conflict], 8 March 1965, #147, AO: VC, ADF, 1.
112. “Review of Events in North Vietnam (the D.R.V.) during 1962,” 3; “Déclaration du Government de la République Démocratique du Vietnam sur le rapport spécial adressé aux Co-Presidents de la Conference de Genève de 1954 par les délégués indien et canadien à la Commission International de Contrôle au Vietnam” [Statement by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Government on the Special Report by the Indian and Canadian Delegates to the International Control Commission in Vietnam Addressed to the Cochairs of the 1954 Geneva Conference], 4 June 1962, #45, AO: VN, ADF, 1.
113. Brigham, Guerrilla Diplomacy, 21.
114. “Dien van be mac cua Truong Chinh” [Closing Address by Truong Chinh], 27 October 1962, Ho so 742: Ho so ky hop thu nam cua QH khoa II tu ngay 22–27.10.1962. Tap 4: Phieu hop ngay 27.10.1962: Tham luan cua DBQH ve to chuc HDND va UBHC cac cap, ve tinh hinh mien Nam va thong nhat nuoc, Phong Quoc hoi, VNAC3, 4–5.
115. “Bao cao cua Bo truong Bo Ngoai giao Ung Van Khiem ve ket qua cua Hoi nghi Gio-ne-vo ve Lao,” 9.
116. “Review of Events in North Vietnam (the D.R.V.) during 1962,” 1–2.
117. FGDH to MFA, 1 August 1962, B3.
118. FGDH to MFA, 1 March 1962, 3.
119. Quoted in FGDH to MFA, “Visite de M. Bernard Fall au Président Pham Van Dong” [Visit by Mr. Bernard Fall to President Pham Van Dong], 16 July 1962, #31, AO: VN, ADF, 3.
120. Duiker, Communist Road to Power, 222–23.
121. Bernard B. Fall, ed., Ho Chi Minh: On Revolution—Selected Writings, 1920–66 (London: Pall Mall, 1967), 352–58; Ang Cheng Guan, Vietnamese War from the Other Side, 64.
122. “Thu cua dong chi Le Duan, Bi thu thu nhat Dang Lao dong Viet Nam giu Trung uong Cuc mien Nam, ngay 18 thang 7 nam 1962,” 705–25.
123. Foreign diplomats concurred with that assessment. Successful negotiations leading to the creation of a neutralist regime in the South willing to “co-exist and co-operate with the North” and allow for “many humanitarian measures,” such as interchange of families, resumption of postal service, and restoration of trade, would not only “meet with deep popular approval” but also enhance the image and prestige of the DRVN and its communist leadership among southerners (“Review of Events in North Vietnam (the D.R.V.) during 1962,” 2; BCGH to SEAD, 1 January 1962, 3).
124. “South Vietnam: Communist Proposals for an International Conference” (Australian Government Report), 3 August 1962, FO 371/166763, NAUK, 1.
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