In case you have not noticed, it is okay for you or your relatives to do research and write any kind of book you want about national security. I just can't do it. Another smooth move by your Government in action. Read the "Puzzle Palace" ( a much too revealing book about the National Security Agency), some time. If a former NSA employee had written that book, he or she would now be on a chain gang. It was the censorship of my first novel by CIA that was one of the events that focused some national attention on the absurdity of this double-standard. Temper! Temper!
Anyway, Prince Souvanna was not home when I got there. I was greeted by Princess Moune Souvanna Phouma, a charming and well-educated young lady, and her American man-friend Perry Stiegliz. After I had finished my work, the Princess invited my associate and I to come to the spacious living room for a drink. Perry poured some drinks and we all sat and chatted. I noticed an upright piano in a corner of the room and asked who played. Haltingly, the Princess said that she did play some classical works, but not too well. I implored her to play and she did. She played quite well and we all applauded. How incongruous, a CIA guy, just one of the troops, sipping Scotch in the Prime Minister's house and listening to the Princess play the piano.
The conversation continued. I mentioned that I had brought a monster Hi-Fi from the States and had a voltage regulator on it so that it worked well most of the time. I had big Janzen electrostatic speakers and big amps I had built from kits. From time to time, we would invite a few friends over to the house, arrange some chairs in front of the speakers and play classical LP records. Drinks were served at the start and at the intermission, but during the "performance" no one talked or moved about. It was the closet we came to a real concert. Well, I told Princess Moune and Perry about my musical extravaganzas and asked if they would like to attend one. They enthusiastically said they would like that. Lest you think that we lived in the lap of luxury, this occasional sort of a semblance of normality was all that kept our families on an even keel - well, almost on an even keel. Laos took its toll on families.
We had a fair-sized outdoor pool at the American compound. Ambassador William Sullivan, the gray-haired guy you saw at Henry Kissinger's side in Paris at the Paris Peace Talks re the Vietnam War, swam his daily laps there - as did many others. One day, Princess Moune was at the pool. She spotted me and came over to talk. We chatted about my earlier visit and her father's reaction to the work we had done. And we talked about an upcoming musical event at my house, which she said Perry and she would try to attend. Many people saw us talking and some later asked me how it was that the Princess and I were so chummy. As far as most people in Vientiane knew (including my kids!) I was some kind of clerk in one of the ho-hum American offices there. It was fun to smile and say, "Oh, we're just friends."
Princess Moune and Perry never got to attend our musical functions. Perry worked for the United States Information Agency (USIA) and was transferred to Paris, France. As I recall, he and Moune married. She was happy, no doubt, to get out of Laos, considering the trying times, and to live in a world capital where she spoke the language and appreciated the culture. She was a very nice young lady. I hope all worked out well for her. I never heard of her again.
An aside about Princesses and Such:
One of our guys was married to a beautiful Thai woman, whom I adored - as did most everyone in our tight-knit clan. Her sister was the Queen of Thailand. It was so much fun to hear Pat (I think that was her name, it has been a long time) talk about visiting with her sister. One time, she said her sis was talking about being Queen. She said it was tough "being in the Queen business." All those public functions, all the receiving lines and handshakes, everyone watching your every move, public and personal, and so on. Gee, most of us have never given any thought to what it might be like to "be in the Queen business." Owning a donut or a muffler shop, maybe, but not the Queen or King biz. Our work brought us constantly into contact with some very interesting people.
Richard Rhodes
11/12/95