229. Editorial Note
On July 23, 1962, Secretary of State Rusk signed for the United States the Declaration on the Neutrality of Laos agreed upon at the International Conference on the Settlement of the Laotian Question in Geneva. Attached to the Declaration was a 20-article Protocol. The texts of the Declaration and Protocol are printed in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1962, pages 1075-1083.
In a memorandum to Assistant Secretary of State Harriman, August 28, Roger Hilsman, Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, argued that the tactics being followed by Pathet Lao/Viet Minh forces were nevertheless “consistent with an intention to prevent the formation [Page 490] of a true government of national union in effective control of all Laos.” Hilsman continued, “the evidence so far available does not indicate that the Communists and in particular Moscow are ready to abandon the entire coalition principle. The pattern of past Communist negotiations at Panmunjom, Warsaw, Berlin, and elsewhere is to confront the West with prolonged intransigence and obstructionism in the hope of eroding resistance and winning cheap gains without provoking an unacceptable military response. When convinced that such a response may be in the offing or that public rupture of an agreement carries intolerable political costs, the Communists usually compromise their position so as to avoid either consequence.” The memorandum was forwarded to President Kennedy on August 28 by Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs Kaysen. For text, see Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, volume XXIV, pages 889–893.