An American Pie: Lansdale, Lederer, Dooley, and Modern Memory

In the wake of the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in1954, three Americans came together in a clandestine alliance that would play a major role in establishing Vietnam as an important arena in the Cold-War contest for hearts and minds. The three were Edward Lansdale, the legendary CIA officer who had engineered the defeat of the Communist Huk rebellion in the Philippines; William Lederer, a Navy captain who, along with Eugene Burdick, would go on to coauthor "The Ugly American"; and Thomas Dooley, a Navy doctor who first rose to prominence with a book titled "Deliver Us from Evil" and who would later found Medico. Drawing on primary source material, this monograph establishes the extent of their alliance and their shared commitment to a non-military solution in Vietnam.