| William J. Lederer |
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Information AboutWilliam J. Lederer |
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His best selling work, 1958's '' The Ugly American '', was one of several novels co-written with Eugene Burdick . Disillusioned with the style and substance of America's diplomatic efforts in Southeast Asia , Lederer and Burdick openly sought to demonstrate their belief that American officials and civilians could make a substantial difference in Southeast Asian politics if they were willing to learn local languages, follow local customs and employ regional military tactics. However, if American policy makers continued to ignore the logic behind these lessons, Southeast Asia would fall under Soviet or Chinese Communist influence. In ''A Nation of Sheep'', Lederer identified intelligence failures in Asia. In "Government by Misinformation" he investiages the sources he believes lead to American foreign policy:
Other works were intended to be light-hearted and humorous fantasies. His early work, '' Ensign O'Toole And Me '' is both. REFERENCES A partial list of his works follows: Eugene Burdick collaborations
Selected works
William Lederer rose to the rank of Navy Captain . The source for this is his own statement in ''Our Own Worst Enemy'' discussing being assigned as a Special Assistant to Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet. (pg 54, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1968). An interesting piece of history contained in ''Our Own Worst Enemy'' is the story of a young Navy Lieutenant, Junior Grade having a chance meeting in 1940 with a Jesuit priest, Father Pierre Cogny, and his Vietnamese assistant, "Mr. Nguyen," while waiting out a Japanese bombing raid in China. Father Pierre asked William Lederer if he had a copy of the Declaration of Independence on his gunboat. He said yes, and invited the two men to accompany him back to the river boat. A copy was provided to these men. It turns out "Mr. Nguyen" later adopted an alias that he became more commonly known by, Ho Chi Minh . The Declaration of Independence for Vietnam (1945) {Link without Title} contains much of the very same language that the American Declaration of Independence contains. EXTERNAL LINKS
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