directory
The Carter - Reagan - Bush Project:
U.S. - Khmer Rouge / Democratic Kampuchea relations
| Bibliographic scope | Historical overview |
| Jimmy Carter | Ronald W. Reagan | George H. W. Bush |
| Newspaper reports | Monographs | Book chapters | Journal articles |
| Public documents | Declassified documents | Dissertations, theses | Conference papers |
| Bibliographies | Related links, this website | Inviting your collaboration |
Bibliographic scope
This bibliography includes primary and secondary sources -- printed and online -- in any relevant language that document or discuss U.S. foreign policy towards the Khmer Rouge and Democratic Kampuchea, beginning in January 1979.
Historical overview
After several years of border clashes in the mid-1970s, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam invaded Cambodia in December 1978. The motivation of the Vietnamese leadership was self-serving, that is, expansionistic. It was not altruistic. Indeed, the Vietnamese leadership had long been familiar with their Cambodian communist colleagues.
Nonetheless, Vietnam's invasion led directly to the military defeat of the Khmer Rouge and, thereafter, generally kept three-party coalition led by Pol Pot (Saloth Sar) on the defensive. The impact of Pol Pot's defeat should not be underestimated: It ended the Khmer Rouge's democide (political killing) of Cambodians and ethnic Cham and Vietnamese in Cambodia, as Khmer Rouge forces beat a retreat westward to the border with Thailand.
While maintaining the semblance of a rearguard resistance against Vietnam, Pol Pot's forces were assisted politically, diplomatically or militarily by the People's Republic of China the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the United States.
For example, through their diplomatic influence, Democratic Kampuchea (DK), i.e., the three-party military alliance dominated by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, received the blessing of the United Nations (UN) and retained Cambodia's seat in the UN General Assembly until the early 1990s.
And during a period of at least seven years overlapping the Carter and Reagan Administrations (fiscal years ending in 1980-1986), the U.S. provided assistance to the Khmer Rouge and, later, to the DK. Converted to constant FY1986 dollars, one identifiable part of that assistance totaled $84.47 million. The largest part of this sum was disbursed to the Khmer Rouge during the last year and a half of the Carter Administration.1
1Congressional Research Service, summarized by Jonathan Winer, Counsel, Office of U.S. Senator John Kerry, letter to Larry Chartienes, Vietnam Veterans of America, 22 October 1986; copy, courtesy of Professor Michael Vickery, 13 August 1997. At the time, the Fiscal Year ended on 30 September. Total dollar amount computed by Vincent K. Pollard, 1 August 2007.
Jimmy Carter
(1977 - 1981)
Ronald W. Reagan
1981 - 1989
George H. W. Bush
1989 - 1993Related links, this website
On Vincent Pollard's website, also visit relevant sections of the following pages:
Acknowledgements
With the customary disclaimers, this project is indebted to the following colleagues for their generous suggestions:
Inviting your collaboration
Please accept this invitation to improve "The Carter - Reagan Project: U.S. - Khmer Rouge / Democratic Kampuchea Relations." You may do so in one or more of the following ways:
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Created, 28 August 2009; last modified, 29 August 2009.
© 2009-2010, Vincent K. Pollard.
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