Kenneth tells of his transition between offices in his job with the Operations Coordinating Board. In the process, his beloved avocado tree got a chill and died. He had various offices in different buildings.
Kenneth tells of his visiting Nelson Rockefeller's office. Rockefeller had a working fireplace. He had insisted upon this, and to further the elegance, he had flawless birchwood logs which he would burn.
Nelson Rockefeller, the Assistant Secretary for Latin American Affairs in the State Department, managed to have his chimney opened (many of the chimneys were not in working order). One day Kenneth had occasion to go in there, and he saw a load of…
A group of Thai freed from Germany was held in New York and pretending that they didn't speak much English, so Kenneth was sent to speak to them. They were stunned when they heard Kenneth speak Thai. Most of the Thai people wanted to return to…
Peggy experimented with quite a number of boys in her dating. One night she went out with an Italian boy who was a real tough guy. She never dated that one again. She always had lots of boyfriends. One of them hoped to become a professional baseball…
Upon switching full time to American University, Kenneth retired from government service at the end of 1965. Dean Rusk hosted the reception for him, and awarded Kenneth a medal for his years of service.
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…
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.
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…
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 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 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…
Kenneth describes in detail the Executive Office Building. He goes on about a certain office or two, mentioning Rockefeller's office and open fireplace. He talks about the grandeur of the building, with large rooms, large doors, large…
The whole mob of them would go down the stairs to the floor below where the coffee bar was. Half way down the stairs, there was a huge firehose all coiled up and ready to go in case of an emergency. There was a wheel that you whirled to turn the…
Kenneth tells of a lovely arrangement of flowers. This was during the time of the recordings. The flowers were from Phil Bonsal's wife Margaret, who had sent the flowers to Margaret Landon.
Kenneth speaks of what an informal situation it was in Washington at the time. One could freewheel around the town in all the government agencies. He had his own phone book that he made up of all the people who were useful to him. So often he could…
Kenneth gives a detailed description of the golf game he arranged for the Prime Minister and the President of the United States. Originally planned as simply a lunch, Kenneth decided that, because they were both interested in golf, he would set up a…
Kip remembers an article in the newspaper about the Landons working to put in a special new kind of grass on their terraces. When the Landons moved to 4711 Fulton Street in late 1944, there was no grass, no shrubbery, and no trees. The Landons…
Kenneth elaborates on the purpose and function of the Operations Coordinating Board (OCB). He explains that it was set up under presidential directive, and how exactly it came to exist from the Psychological Strategy Board.
Kenneth explains how the OCB worked, emphasizing the two different sides--that of policy and that of operations. He goes on to indicate that he was on the operations side and goes into how exactly that played out with his time on the OCB.
When Harry Truman became President, the Potsdam conference changed the war theater for MacArthur. This brought Lord Louis Mountbatten's command into Thailand and the Indochinese states south of the 16th parallel, with Chiang Kai Shek north of that.…