Office of the Historian

119. Memorandum From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Economic Affairs (Peterson) to the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Johnson)0

Washington, June 23, 1961.

SUBJECT

  • Your meeting with the JCS June 23, 19611

Laos

The Conference has recessed until Monday, June 26. At Zurich the three Princes issued a communique on June 23 (Tab A).2 They have [Page 257] agreed on the future domestic and foreign policies of Laos, and on the formation of a provisional government according to a procedure of exception. The King will choose the government which, however, will not be invested by the National Assembly. It appears that Boun Oum and Phoumi have made concessions on important issues (including renouncing the protection of any military alliance [SEATO]).3 However, there are to be further conversations on the composition of the provisional government. This is the key issue and, until it is resolved, the agreement between the parties cannot be implemented.

The Conference has not seriously undertaken substantive discussions. The Soviets have tabled a draft protocol on the Withdrawal of Foreign Troops and Terms of Reference for the ICC; the French have tabled a protocol on Terms of Reference for the ICC—which we support; we have tabled an additional ten articles to the French draft on Military Provisions.4 The Communists, however, have refused to enter into detailed discussions of these drafts. Mr. Harriman has pointed out that the Soviets are attempting to undermine the meaning of the phrase “effective cease-fire” (Confe 256, Tab B).5 It appears that acting from a position of strength on the ground, the Communists are playing for time until the “three parties” in Laos can reach an agreement on a coalition government and a single delegation to the Conference. They are confident that such a government would be weighed in their favor and that with a cooperative RLG they could then obtain full endorsement of their position from the Conference.

On the ground in Laos, the Pathet Lao have continued to mop up isolated FAL posts, to carry out small-scale attacks and generally to consolidate and improve their positions. The RLG (i.e. Phoumi) is considerably demoralized. The King has refused to step forward and accept to become head of a provisional coalition government; Sihanouk has apparently switched his support to Souvanna; and the U.S. has given no evidence of its future intentions in the event of a break-down of the Conference and a resumption of the PL offensive.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751J.00/6–2361. Secret. Drafted by Chapman and cleared by Anderson. A marginal note on the source text indicates that a search was made for the original which was apparently not found.↩
  2. No record of this meeting has been found.↩
  3. For text of the so-called Three Princes Communique, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1961, pp. 1017–1018.↩
  4. Brackets in the source text.↩
  5. The official records of the Laos Conference, including the conference documents, are in Department of State, L/EA Files: Lot 70 D 453, General Conference Documents.↩
  6. Document 116.↩