Before U.S. combat units were deployed in Vietnam, presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy strove to defeat a communist-led insurgency in Laos. This impoverished, landlocked Southeast Asian kingdom was geopolitically significant because it bordered more powerful communist and anticommunist nations. The Ho Chi Minh Trail, which traversed the country, provided a critical route for North Vietnamese infiltration into South Vietnam. The Declaration on the Neutrality of Laos, signed in Geneva in 1962, ostensibly accomplished President John F. Kennedy's goal of preventing a communist victory without committing American combat troops. However, like Eisenhower's policies in the 1950s, Kennedy's attempts to contain communist expansion in Laos foundered, and the embattled nation became one of his administration's most persistent foreign policy problems. In So Much to Lose, William J. Rust continues his definitive examination of U.S. - Lao relations during the Cold War, providing an extensive analysis of their impact on U.S. policy decisions in Vietnam. -- Provided by publisher.

Introduction: we've got so much to lose if that thing goes sour -- We cannot enforce what we would like -- A wide measure of discretion -- Less precise language than we desire -- A disagreeable, hard, and dangerous fact -- A severe loss of face -- A very hazardous course -- A colossal booby trap -- We do not have the power of decision -- Tenuous at best -- A piece of war -- We're going to have to take some action -- Epilogue: an awful mess.