In conjunction with the OWI broadcasts, there developed a need to send messages to San Francisco regarding the broadcasts, and the OWI people wanted some sort of simple code that could be typed out for this purpose. Kenneth thought up the idea of…
The communists in Calcutta sent out orders to communist cells in South East Asia to have a general uprising of all their guerrilla forces simultaneously. People were being shot on the highways and dared not drive at night. The US consul sent a cable…
In March, 1942, Kenneth wrote a handbook for soldiers in Thailand. We knew we would eventually be going in, and so there was a lot of talk about how to set up a military government. Somebody had to cook up a manual on this, as there were none.
The King was the son of his predecessor, whom Kenneth had previously known, if slightly. The two men spoke in Thai, using the common language. The King gave a dinner, and his wife came. He had told Kenneth that she never came to dinners for foreign…
Kenneth took a plane to Hanoi to be the guest of Governor Tri. He was sent in lieu of a man named Phillip Jessup who was supposed to have a special mission on behalf of President Truman to Hanoi, to be Tri's guest and to survey the situation in the…
Kenneth describes the period he worked at the University as a period of student unrest. Many protests occured, and he recalled speaking to large groups of people who were ready to disagree with him angrily. After making a slight joke, he eased the…
The military attaché, Karp Kunjara, later told Kenneth that he had no further problems. As a consequence of this incident, Pramoj's brother is just a relentless enemy of Kenneth. He even wrote about Kenneth in his newspaper, running him down, saying…
When World War II broke out, Kenneth had photographs of both sides of the peninsula all the way up to Burma, and also on the islands in the Gulf of Siam [and the Andaman Sea on the west side]. He had maps. And he had a ten-year file of Siamese…
Kenneth tells of the swimming pool at the White House. He was allowed to use this pool, however he usually would use the pool at the YMCA as he was able to horse around a little more.
During his 1960 trip, Kenneth, Norm, and Eddie Hanna went swimming in a kiddy pool. They all had a little too much to drink, and Kenneth suggested they go swimming. So they went in, got their swimsuits, and swam in the small little kiddy pool in the…
When Kip was born, Kenneth said, "This boy and I are going to get acquainted." It was impossible to find anyone to come into the home and help. He took annual leave for two weeks, brought Margaret and Kip home from the hospital, and took care of both…
In the spring of 1942, Kenneth delivered the Taft lectures, three lectures, at the University of Cincinnati. In conjunction with that, he worked on reading in Chinese with a view to writing a book on Chinese philosophy.
Upon being asked about Thailand in the modern day, Kenneth makes his assessment. He reports that they will always survive and be independent, as they really know how to get along.
Kenneth tells of Bill Godel. Bil was an assistant of the Operations Coordinating Board who was an ex-marine. He tells of Bill's family which included five daughters!
Kenneth tells the story of the office chair caper from the 1940’s. There was a fellow named Monroe Hall, who was coming back from service in Asia but who was ordered to stay for another year because of something he had done. Eventually he returned to…
Kenneth tells of the "Pentagon Papers". Through the course of things, Kenneth was interviewed and appeared on CBS and the Cronkite show. A. Eustace Haydon saw the interview and sent him a note saying "Memories of happy days!"
Years later, U.S. News and World Report had a "Where Are They Now?" on Jean Saintenay and Kenneth Landon, asking the question of where they were presently. CBS picked it up, and Marvin Kalb came out to the Landon's home with a big crew to tape…
Kenneth flew to Kuala Lumpur, and from there to Djakarta. Kenneth was the desk officer for all these areas of Southeast Asia, so here was Ken Landon from the Department of State visiting the new nation of Indonesia. The rate of exchange on the black…
Kenneth ran the area studies program from 1963 through 1965. He completely reorganized the program, as many found it to be quite insufficient and superficial. Kenneth modeled it along the lines of serious area studies programs he found in various…
Kenneth describes the assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem. He clarifies, once again, that he was never involved. He first describes his relationship with Diem, and then expounds on the results of the assassination.
Kenneth discusses the fourth week of the Country Team Seminar. The groups for Southeast Asia and Latin America divided, both focusing on their respective areas. The main speaker was Professor Russell H. Fifield from the University of Michigan.…
Kenneth comments on how much the family's life had changed over the past few years. He had expected to spend his life as a Presbyterian minister, but then he couldn't get a church, so he became a professor at Earlham, and expected that he would spend…
The Board of Economic Warfare was formed just for the war, and its purpose was to figure out how to cripple the economy of the enemy in the war. It was involved in bombing factories, bridges, acts of sabotage, whatever would cripple the enemy's…
The British couldn't understand why the Americans objected to their twenty-one demands. They pointed out that they had a state of war with Siam, whereas the U.S. did not. But the US won the war in the Pacific, not the British, so the US was going to…
Kenneth tells of the first year under the Kennedy administration. As there were no committees or coordination, Kenneth saw the entire U.S. government as chaotic. He also tells of the Buddhist incident, in which Kenneth advised a group to "drive right…