Vietnam Center Hosts Conference on Wars in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand
March 12, 2009
CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence to release previously classified studies
of the Vietnam war during the conference.
Written by Cory Chandler

The Vietnam Center and Archive at Texas Tech University is one of the largest collections
of Vietnam-era related documents in the world.
Texas Tech University’s Vietnam Center will host a conference on Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand and the Vietnam War March
13-14 at the Holiday Inn Park Plaza.
All conference presentations will take place in the Mahogany/Sycamore Room. Books
will be for sale in the Mesquite Room.
The conference will provide additional insight into some of the regional and international
implications of the Vietnam War, said Stephen Maxner, director of the Vietnam Center.
The CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence will use the conference to release some
previously classified studies of the Vietnam War to include the then-secret war in
Laos.
“These remarkable materials will add substantially to our collective understanding
of the Vietnam War,” Maxner said. “This collaborative release during a university
conference is highly commendable as it reflects transparency in government and directly
contributes to the open exchange of ideas that is at the foundation of any great university.”
Texas Tech President Guy Bailey will open the conference with remarks. Sessions are
open to the public but registration is required to join in the conference meals. Registration
will take place on site at the Holiday Inn.
Sessions Include:
- 8:30 a.m. March 13: Understanding the War in Southeast Asia through the declassified works of Thomas
Ahern. Clayton Laurie, a historian for the CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence,
will moderate the discussion.
- 10:30 a.m. March 13: Vietnamese perspectives on the War in Laos and Cambodia. Ron Milam, interim director
of the Center for War and Diplomacy in the Post-Vietnam War Era at Texas Tech, will
moderate the discussion.
- 3:30 p.m. March 13: The War in Laos: The Early Years. Marc Jason Gilbert, NEH Endowed Chair in World
History and Humanities at Hawai’i Pacific University, will moderate the discussion.
- 5:30 p.m. March 13: The War in Laos. Dennis Patterson, interim director for the Institute of Modern
Conflict, Diplomacy and Reconciliation at Texas Tech, will moderate the discussion.
- 8 a.m. March 14: New Interpretations of the War in Laos. Joyce Hoffmann, professor of journalism
at Old Dominion University, will moderate the discussion.
- 10:30 a.m. March 14: Postwar Laos. Michael Carroll, SDF Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Calgary,
will moderate the discussion.
- 4 p.m. March 14: The War in Cambodia. Kelly Crager, head of the Oral History Project at the Vietnam
Center, will moderate the discussion.
- 5:30 p.m. March 14: The War in Thailand. Jeffrey Race, of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University in Bangkok,
Thailand, will moderate the discussion.
Full conference agenda, information and registration form.
Photo Courtesy Vietnam Center and Archive at Texas Tech University.