Webinar | Sibling Rivalry: Letters between Souvanna Phouma and Souphanouvong

A series of letters offer unprecedented insight into relations between half-brothers Souvanna Phouma and Souphanouvong.

At the height of the Cold War a major confrontation was emerging in the landlocked Southeast Asian nation of Laos. To the United States, it looked as if Laos would fall to communism without direct intervention. And to make matters worse, the prime minister Souvanna Phouma was going “soft” on the North Vietnamese-backed Pathet Lao who were led by none other than his half-brother Souphanouvong. What began as paranoid speculation among US diplomats was picked up by journalists, academics, and scholars to reduce the byzantine post-colonial politics of the Royal Lao Government to one-dimensional factions (right, left and neutral) each conveniently represented by a prince (Souvanna, Souphanouvong and Boun Oum Na Champassak). To some observers, Souvanna Phouma’s search for a negotiated solution was more influenced by his half-brother than based on a rational policy for the country.

A series of letters exchanged at the height of the war offer unprecedented insight into relations between half-brothers Souvanna Phouma and Souphanouvong, who happened to be the leading figures on each side. As the largest bombing campaign in history (per capita) began, did the fraternal link actually worsen rather than ameliorate the conflict? Did squabbling among the brothers, each entrenched in his own personal beliefs, prolong or worsen war? This talk will also consider whether Souvanna Phouma, champion of neutralism in the 1950s, was directly involved in the US bombing campaign that devastated the country. Diaries of Souvanna Phouma from the Library of Congress offer unprecedented view of a little known conflict, the so-called “secret war.”

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About our special guest:

RYAN WOLFSON-FORD is a Southeast Asia reference librarian at the Asian Division, Library of Congress and received his Ph.D. in Southeast Asian history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2018.​ His research interests include the Lao elite, palm leaf manuscripts and intellectual and political history. He has conducted archival research in Laos, Thailand, France, and the United States. He was a lecturer of Asian history at Arizona State University for the 2019-2020 academic year. His publications include articles in peer-reviewed journals (Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, South East Asia Research) and a book chapter in an edited volume entitled Monarchies and Decolonisation in Asia.​