This photograph shows President Kennedy standing at a lectern in the State Department auditorium in Washington, DC. A map of Laos on the left reads “Communist Rebel Areas, 22 March 1961.”
When Kennedy took office, the communist-backed Pathet Lao insurgents were about to take over Laos. In 1962, the Geneva Conference agreed to a declaration on the neutrality of Laos under a coalition government. The Indochinese Communist Party used land it seized in Laos to build part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It was a major conduit for Communist supplies and support, ensuring that Laos would remain a battlefront throughout the Vietnam War.
