Browse Items (100 total)

  • Tags: Kenneth Landon’s SE Asia Trips 1945-1966

While Kenneth was traveling in Bangkok in 1960, Prime Minister Sarit requested Kenneth for breakfast. Through the course of the breakfast, Sarit talked quite highly of Kenneth. As it turns out, the entire thing was televised, and many invitations…

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Through the entire trip, Kenneth sent a steady stream of telegrams home to the State Department. Some of those messages appeared in the Pentagon Papers. Also, every day at the end of the day, Kenneth wrote a letter to Abbot Low Moffat in the…

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On a later trip, Kenneth recalls, as he flew up to New York, a little boy was sitting next to him on the plane and asked where he was going. The two began a conversation and at some point Kenneth told him that he was taking the Stratocruiser from New…

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In a recounting of a humorous story, Kenneth tells of a Burmese man being arrested. He was being charged with a traffic violation and defecating in public. However there was a double charge for both defecating and urinating. The man argued that it…

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Kenneth tells of Admiral Layton going out on the town. As he had drank quite a bit, he ended up in the hotel late. Upon waking, he found eel in front of his door. He suspected the Japanese girls were being kind, when in reality it was leftovers of…

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The cost of Kenneth's trip to Thailand was $1367 one way by plane to Bangkok, plus $342 for his baggage! He flew on a C-54 military plane. The C-47 was the workhorse. But the C-54 was much more substantial. He flew from New York City, flying out over…

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Merle Cochran was convinced that the administration that had been set up in Indonesia would be reelected. Kenneth was convinced that there would be a change. The two men argued about it. When Kenneth boarded the plane the next day, Merle Cochran's…

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Kenneth also arranged for a police assistance program for the police general and a military assistance program for Sarit "because", as Sarit said, "if you're going to give forty-some million dollars of aid to General Pao, the police chief, you ought…

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Kenneth walked across the street and into the old high commissioner's palace, which was just a few hundred yards from the hotel. He asked to see Ho Chi Minh, and the staff people asked him who he was, which he told them. No one asked him to prove it.…

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Kenneth represented the State Department at the ceremonies. They were very formal, white tie, tails, and top hat. Every morning, during the ceremonies—which went on for several days, first the cremation, then the wedding, which Kenneth didn't attend,…

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In 1945, when Kenneth arrived in Bangkok, he had only been there a few days when Pridi gave him an official dinner. At the dinner, Pridi said he had read Kenneth's book and commented that it was a very fair book. He wanted to know how Kenneth got…

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Kenneth tells of his trip through Afghanistan and an incident in which nomads were required to wash the car as they'd made it dirty. Kenneth also recalls buying a lamb-skin hat there, made from the skin of an unborn baby lamb. He bought one for Peggy…

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Bao Dai sent an official driver to pick Kenneth up in a big limousine. They went up into the mountain area where Bao Dai was staying, with the road along the edge of a cliff, and it was breathtaking. There were no guard rails or anything! The driver…

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Kenneth tells of how he was poisoned at a dinner in Bangkok. There was a dinner at the Legation during which Kenneth became violently ill, supposedly from food poisoning with arsenic. There were Thai in Bangkok who were very suspicious of Kenneth,…

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Kenneth tells of the time when he was to be the political adviser to Admiral Edwin Layton. The Admiral was taking a tour around the Pacific countries and was particularly interested in Japan. Kenneth was asked what he would be drinking on the trip,…

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Bill Godel had gotten into some trouble. They talked with Kenneth about testifying on his character. Kenneth exclaimed that he figured Godel innocent, as he wouldn't piddle around with anything less than $10,000--more than that, though, he might have…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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.

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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…

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While in Bangkok, Kenneth decided that he wanted to buy a fine watch. The Thai would have gladly given him a watch, however Kenneth wanted to buy one. The Thai took him to a jewelry store, showing him the finest watch in the store, stating that he…

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Upon returning from his trip, Kenneth wanted to get his newly acquired hat blocked. He took it to his usual New York man, Lewis Saltz, and had him block the hat. Saltz made a large ordeal of the hat, displaying it for some time. Saltz took great…

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When Kenneth arrived in Burma, the consul general, Glen Abby briefed him on conditions in the country. Burma was disturbed politically, and the Burmese were determined to drive the British out of their country. There were plots and people being shot…

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