Spanning from the first US contacts with Cambodia in the nineteenth century up until the late 1960s and the outbreak of war with Vietnam, this book is the first to systematically explore American relations Cambodia. A discussion of adventurers, tourists and missionaries initially sets the secne for the analysis of official relations which began in 1950.
The book traces how relations with Cambodia's king, Norodom Sihanouk, were often troubled as Sihanouk strove to keep his country out of the Cold War even when pressured by the US to join the battle against communism.Clymer concludes that although American policy could sometimes be surprisingly flexible, the Americans were never able to find a solution that would accomodate Sihanouk's needs with their own Cold war requirements in Southeast Asia. Ultimately the result was the breaking of diplomatic relations in 1965, a breach which lasted four years. The companion volume to this book "The United States and Cambodia, 1969-2000" discusses Americanrelations with Cambodia in the latter part of the twentieth century.
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 in Southeast Asia, US diplomatic history and US foregin policy.

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.

In 2012, Barack Obama became the first U.S. president ever to visit Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. This official state visit marked a new period in the long and sinuous diplomatic relationship between the United States and Burma/Myanmar, which Kenton Clymer examines in A Delicate Relationship. From the challenges of decolonization and heightened nationalist activities that emerged in the wake of World War II to the Cold War concern with domino states to the rise of human rights policy in the 1980s and beyond, Clymer demonstrates how Burma/Myanmar has fit into the broad patterns of U.S. foreign policy and yet has never been fully integrated into diplomatic efforts in the region of Southeast Asia. When Burma, a British colony since the nineteenth century, achieved independence in 1948, the United States feared that the country might be the first Southeast Asian nation to fall to the communists, and it embarked on a series of efforts to prevent this. In 1962, General Ne Win, who toppled the government in a coup d'etat, established an authoritarian socialist military junta that severely limited diplomatic contact and led to a period in which the primary American diplomatic concern became Burma's increasing opium production. Ne Win's rule ended (at least officially) in 1988, when the Burmese people revolted against the oppressive military government. Aung San Suu Kyi emerged as the charismatic leader of the opposition and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Amid these great changes in policy and outlook, Burma/Myanmar remained fiercely nonaligned and, under Ne Win, isolationist. The limited diplomatic exchange that resulted meant that the state was often a frustrating puzzle to U.S. officials. Clymer explores attitudes toward Burma (later Myanmar), from anxious anticommunism during the Cold War to interventions to stop drug trafficking to debates in Congress, the White House, and the Department of State over how to respond to the emergence of the opposition movement in the late 1980s. The junta's brutality, its refusal to relinquish power, and its imprisonment of opposition leaders resulted in public and Congressional pressure to try to change the regime. Indeed, Aung San Suu Kyi's rise to prominence fueled the new foreign policy debate that was focused on human rights, and in that climate Burma/Myanmar held particularly large symbolic importance for U.S. policy makers. Congressional and public opinion favored sanctions, while U.S. presidents and their administrations were more cautious. Clymer's account concludes with President Obama's visits in 2012 and 2014, and visits to the United States by Aung San Suu Kyi and President Thein Sein, which marked the establishment of a new, warmer relationship with a relatively open Myanmar.

From the beginnings in 1870, American relations with Cambodia were rarely easy. In this abridged and updated version of his definitive history, Clymer examines the effects of U.S. interactions with Cambodia, tracing the disruptions that climaxed during the Vietnam War when U.S. planes bombed perceived enemy strongholds within Cambodia. The attacks led to Cambodia's involvement in the war and to civil war, from which the Khmer Rouge emerged victorious. Nearly one third of Cambodia's population died under the Khmer Rouge's genocidal rule. Clymer shows how diplomatic neglect, misperceptions, misunderstandings, and poorly conceived policies contributed to these tragic events. In the 1990s, the United States finally worked with the United Nations to broker the settlement of conflict in Cambodia.