Browse Items (1041 total)

The conversation with General Salan played out after a while. There was nothing to eat or drink on board. The plane arrived in Hanoi late in the afternoon. By this point, Kenneth was "just miserable," dehydrated, having had nothing to eat or drink…

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Hornbeck was the political adviser on Asia to the Secretary, but he arrogated to himself the responsibility of adviser to the Secretary on anything. He once delivered to Ballantyne and Kenneth an elaborate speech, all in indirection. Kenneth told him…

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Ho Chi Minh knew he couldn't give Kenneth a gift, and didn't offer him one. He was a clever man, and what he did was give Kenneth a tortoiseshell vanity case for Margaret. 

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In Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh arranged for Kenneth to stay longer than he initially intended, in order to give Kenneth a good opportunity to move around Hanoi and see how conditions were. He also assigned Kenneth a car with a driver.

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In that 1946 period in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh expressed great concern about the Chinese. He badly wanted them out of the country, just as he did the French. He couldn't get rid of them. They would manufacture and print phony Vietnamese currency up in…

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Kenneth and his fellow travelers had a brief stop in Maidan, and Kenneth talked to the consul. He then flew to Singapore, and from Singapore to Bangkok. 

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In 1953, Kenneth traveled to northeastern Thailand. He used this trip to scout out some of the areas which the Mekong River project would impact. He noted, in these areas, the great work ethic of the Vietnamese over that of the Chinese.

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Kenneth, after receiving his job with area studies, traveled around to study other programs. He says he "was well-informed, probably as well-informed as anybody in the United States in academia on all these different kinds of area studies programs." …

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On his way to Bangkok from Paris, Kenneth flew over northern Africa past the pyramids. He could see the scene of devastation as a result of the war. They flew on across India, landing first in Karachi and then at Calcutta. From Calcutta, they flew to…

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Abbot Low Moffat received a tiger skull ashtray from the Thai government. When Moffat left Southeast Asian affairs, he also left the tiger skull. Kenneth took it upon himself to keep it in his office. When Nixon saw it, he claimed he would get a…

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Kenneth tells of a letter he received from a member of a church he pastored in Cambridge City, Indiana. Kenneth has had only two small churches in the US, one in Columbus, New Jersey, and one in Cambridge City, Indiana, while he was the head of the…

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From Rangoon, Kenneth went on over to Bangkok. There was an OSS mission in Bangkok, represented by James Thompson. On the Legation side, only one other American was there, having arrived the day before Kenneth to represent the USAF, Ted Grundahl. He…

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The soldiers dumped Kenneth off in front of the Hotel Metropole. Kenneth hauled his little tin trunk in to find out who was in charge to ask about getting a room. Well, all the rooms were filled. The manager said that here was no place that he could…

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Kenneth recounts a sermon he once delivered while he was a divinity student at Princeton Theological Seminary. He went on about guardian angels to the point of moving a certain congregation member, Eliza Ridgeway, to wanting to publish the sermon.…

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Kip mentions the time when Thailand was admitted to the U.N., and a significant gift was given to Kenneth. He was involved in some way. The gift was from the family of the Thai ambassador.

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Because of Kenneth's unusual path, the OSS has always claimed him as one of their founding members, though he never was in the OSS. Kenneth believes he is one of those shadowy people in their minds who probably was one of their secret agents all the…

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Kenneth was the first political officer FE ever had who had lived in Southeast Asia and spoke a Southeast Asian language. Up to that time, all matters regarding Souteast Asia had been dealt with by the Europeans, and the FE had to nod their heads and…

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In 1945, Kenneth traveled out to Thailand for the British-Thai negotiations, and one of his first trips out of Bangkok was to Cambodia. Kenneth tells of his travel with his escort guards, how it took several hours to drive through a marching Japanese…

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Kenneth describes the role of religion within the political realm. He was the first to present a paper on the role of Buddhism in Southeast Asia--this event occured in the 1950's. Kenneth says it was because of him that a religious advisor was…

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Kenneth tells of his experience flying in a C-54, which was a propeller plane. After flying on this sort of plane for a few days, he seemed to continue hearing the propellers. Those planes made an awful racket. The stops were fairly frequent because…

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Kenneth speaks of his office and the various other offices in his building. He discusses the view and varying other aspects of his office. 

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Starting in 1965, Kenneth began work as a professor at American University while also remaining a full-time employee of the State Department. At the end of that year, he retired from the State Department, moving full-time to work at American…

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Kenneth tells of how many Presidents he has met (of the U.S.). He tells of the times he has met them, including encounters with Roosevelt, Truman, Nixon, Eisenhower (perhaps), and Kennedy. He also comments on the various likes or dislikes he has for…

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After the British-Thai negotiations ended in Bangkok, Kenneth travelled over to Saigon and called on the High Commissioner, who was Admiral Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu. He had been sent out by DeGaulle. The Admiral gave Kenneth a nice lunch, with a…

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A story from Kenneth's childhood. It was fall, and very wintry, and very cold, but his brother, Bradley, wanted to go canoeing. To begin with, Bradley sat in the rear and Kenneth sat in the front. They paddled a number of miles before they decided to…

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