@article{728851,
      recid = {728851},
      author = {Rust, William J.,},
      title = {So much to lose John F. Kennedy and American policy in  Laos / [electronic resource] :},
      pages = {1 online resource (xii, 345 pages) :},
      abstract = {Before U.S. combat units were deployed in Vietnam,  presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy strove to defeat a  communist-led insurgency in Laos. This impoverished,  landlocked Southeast Asian kingdom was geopolitically  significant because it bordered more powerful communist and  anticommunist nations. The Ho Chi Minh Trail, which  traversed the country, provided a critical route for North  Vietnamese infiltration into South Vietnam. The Declaration  on the Neutrality of Laos, signed in Geneva in 1962,  ostensibly accomplished President John F. Kennedy's goal of  preventing a communist victory without committing American  combat troops. However, like Eisenhower's policies in the  1950s, Kennedy's attempts to contain communist expansion in  Laos foundered, and the embattled nation became one of his  administration's most persistent foreign policy problems.  In So Much to Lose, William J. Rust continues his  definitive examination of U.S. - Lao relations during the  Cold War, providing an extensive analysis of their impact  on U.S. policy decisions in Vietnam. -- dust jacket.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/728851},
}