The 1945 flight from New York landed in Ireland, then in London, where Kenneth visited the bookstores. He then flew on to Paris. Margaret had just "gotten in the chips" because of Anna, and had some money to spend. They had agreed that he would buy…
While Kenneth was in Djakarta he became lonesome, so he called home and heard the phone ring, and then Margaret picked up and said hello. He said hello, and she said, "Kenneth! Where are you?" He said, "Djakarta." And she said, "Oh, where in Kansas…
Kenneth tells the story of the Landons' bulldog, Candy, that Kenneth bought when he was going to Earlham College to make an impression on campus. The dog was very emotional and had an unsual way of greeting visitors, making a mess that Margaret had…
Kenneth had a regular ritual at State when coffee break time came. He had learned early on that the most important people to him were the messengers and the secretaries. They were helpful to him in many ways. Every day, Kenneth made a point of having…
Kenneth gives a detailed description of days during the Country Team Seminar. He discusses ways of improving the course, including time he spent with experts making sure he had the materials necessary for those in the course to study. He also details…
Kenneth had been ignoring Dean Rusk's attempts to meet with him, but Rusk eventually decided to just appoint Kenneth to the Foreign Service Institute. Kenneth was already making a larger salary than the Director, whom he was to be Special Assistant…
Merle Cochran gave Kenneth a dinner in which the meat, which was pork chops, was so tough that he could not cut it. Cochran sat there and laughed as Kenneth toiled away on the pork chops. The only way he could get anything off a pork chop was to pick…
Then Governor Tri gave a dinner in Kenneth's honor. The menu was in French, beautifully embossed. The menu didn't mean anything to Kenneth, and Governor Tri laughed at him. There were twenty-some courses, and after each one, Tri would ask Kenneth…
The Queen sent word around that she would like to come to dinner at the Landons' home. She named the night and the time, which was the royal prerogative. The Landons had the dinner catered there at 4711. The Queen got quite emotional when she heard…
After flying from Singapore then on to Djakarta, Kenneth tells of his encounter with General Ko Geng Hsui. At the time, the General was one of the most powerful men in the government under Lee Kuan Yew.
The State Department decided to hire Kenneth because they had no one who knew anything about Thailand, and Kenneth had told them there was going to be a lot more traffic of communication on Thailand. They decided they had better keep it in the…
Dr. Tsiang was of a very wealthy Chinese family in Java, and he took his new American wife back there with him. He had been in this country as a student, getting his Ph.D., and had stayed in America because of the Japanese invasion.
Kenneth continued working with Donovan in an unofficial way, though he was no longer with the OSS. He helped with the Free Thai movement and then he started drafting telegrams to Gen. Timmerman in Colombo. The response to the first of these came to…
Kenneth tells about his Easter Sunday at the Columbus church, his morning preparation and teaching, his sermon on the resurrection and its impact on the congregation. He commented how the church was willing to get him a car.
Kenneth tells of his encounter with Winnie Cobey. Winnie brought him a recipe book from a monastery in California. Included in this book was a far superior bread recipe, which he started to use. Kenneth's interest in cooking picked up as Margaret's…
The Secretary of State at that point was ill, so Undersecretary of State Edward Stettinius ran the Department. Kenneth tells how Stettinius once spoke at the same occasion as Margaret, the two of them having written books, and of how openly disgusted…
Kenneth started from scratch in building the center for South and Southeast Asian Studies at American University. He wanted it to be a top notch program, and brought in many high-quality professors to teach Sanskrit, Hindi, Thai, etc. There were…
During the war, the head of the Free Thai movement in Thailand was known as "Ruth" to the OSS. The head of the police was known as "Betty." These were their codenames. There were agents from the Free Thai movement in Washington during much of the…
The political adviser to General Lo Han, who was the warlord of southern China, was a man named Yuan Tser Quien. Kenneth talked to him for the most part, to find out what the Chinese really expected. Kenneth learned that a French political adviser to…
Such items as desks, chairs, rugs, and so on, were prescribed according to rank in the Department. "In the State, War, and Navy Building, which then became the State Department Building, the really posh offices for Assistant Secretaries and for…
General Brute Krulak found Kenneth to be going about the seminar in a way he didn't see fit. While Kenneth taught how to "rebuild the house", Krulak saw the house as on fire, and that the fire must be put out before they could start rebuilding--i.e.…
Kenneth tells of General Brute Krulak. General Krulak thought Kenneth went about fighing insurgency incorrectly, finding Marines being slaughtered needlessly. Kenneth also talks about General Krulak's professional desire to be head of the Marine…
Kenneth knew now that he was going to stay in Washington and began looking for a house for the family to move into. They rented at 2910 Brandywine St. in Washington and, later, bought 4711 Fulton Street in the fall of 1944. When the Landons made…
Needing a new position since his had been eliminated, Kenneth stumbles upon the Psychological Strategy Board. After talking with Elmur Staats, Kenneth found himself a job overseeing the area from Afghanistan to Vietnam to Indonesia, although Staats…
After calling on the President, Kenneth said to Donovan that his three weeks were up, and he would be leaving. Donovan still needed him, so he called President Dennis of Earlham College, and Dennis gave Kenneth a leave of absence through that first…