Apr. 24, 1963 - Newsreel on Laos | JFK Press Conference

Apr. 24, 1963 - President Kennedy is sending a personal representative to Moscow to urge Premier Khrushchev to help restore peace and stability in Laos. The President announced at his news conference today that W. Averell Harriman, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, would leave London for Moscow tomorrow. The announcement was coupled with a Defense Department disclosure that 3,000 U.S. Army troops will take part in maneuvers in Thailand next month with forces from other Southeast Asia Treaty Organization countries. Last May, the U.S. sent 5,000 infantrymen and marines to Thailand, which borders Laos in the West, to warn the pro-Communist Pathet Lao movement to stop a previous offensive in northwest Laos. Attacks by the pro-Communist Pathet Lao forces this month have driven neutralist troops led by Gen. Kong Le from many positions they held in the strategic Plaine des Jarres in northern Laos. Three weeks of Communist advances have threatened to upset the precarious balance established in Laos by the Geneva truce agreements. The accords, signed by 14 nations last July, set up the present coalition Government of Laos, which includes pro-Communist, neutralist, and Rightist elements under the neutralist Premier, Prince Souvanna Phouma.

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