Beginning with the restoration of diplomatic relations between the US and Cambodia in 1969, this book is the first to systematically explore the controversial issues and events surrounding the relationship between the two countries in the latter half of the twentieth century. This book traces how the secret bombing of Cambodia, the coup which overthrew Prince Sihanouk and the American invasion of Cambodia in 1970 led to a brutal civil war followed by the savagery of the Khmer Rouge 'killing fields'.
Clymer carefully examines the American role in these tragic events before analyzing the American response to the Vietnamese invasion in 1978, which finally drove the Khmer Rouge from power. The book also highlights how hostility to the government installed by the Vietnamese led the US to attempt to undermine it by assisting the Khmer Rouge. It closes with an examination of the key role the US played in the United Nations assisted settlement of the Cambodian problem in the early 1990s. The companion volume to this book The United States and Cambodia, 1870-1969, explores from the first American relations with Cambodia, through the Cold War era, up until the late 1960s.
Based on extensive archival research in the United States, Australia and Cambodia, this is the most comprehensive account of the United States' troubled relationship with Cambodia and will be of enormous interest to scholars of Southeast Asia, US diplomatic history and US foreign policy.
