Douglas Pike
Born
Douglas Eugene Pike

(1924-07-27)July 27, 1924
Cass Lake, Minnesota
DiedMay 13, 2002(2002-05-13) (aged 77)
Lubbock, Texas
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of North Dakota
UC Berkeley (B.A.)
American University (M.A.)
MIT
OccupationHistorian
Spouse
Myrna Johnson
​
(m. 1956)​
Children3

Douglas Eugene Pike[1] (July 27, 1924 – May 13, 2002)[2] was a leading American historian[3] and foremost scholar on the Vietnam War and the Viet Cong based at Texas Tech University. From 1997, Pike was the director of the Indochina Archive at the University of California, Berkeley and from 1981 and prior to that served as Foreign Service Officer in Asia, with assignments in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), Hong Kong, Tokyo and Taipei.[4] Pike served for 15 years as the State Department's leading analyst.[5] He was considered an expert on the National Liberation Front and NVA (People's Army of Vietnam) before his death in 2002.[6][7]

Pike received a degree in journalism from the University of North Dakota as a bachelor's in international communications from the University of California, Berkeley and also a MA from American University in Washington D.C. (1958). Pike worked at the MIT Center for International Studies (1963–64) a year after graduate.[8]

He was the founder of the journal Indochina Chronology which was subscribed by academics and diplomats worldwide. He has authored numerous books and articles on the war and the National Liberation Front.[6] His book PAVN: People's Army of Vietnam has been described as "one of the two or three most significant books to emerge from the war".[9]

Early life

Pike was born in Cass Lake, Minnesota. He grew up in Minor and had planned on a career in journalism, but with the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Army Signal Corps and served in the South Pacific.[10] He served between 1943–1946 and reached the rank of Master Sergeant.[2]

The Indochina Chronology

Pike founded The Indochina Chronology in 1982 to cover both historical and contemporary events in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.[11]

Published works

  • Douglas Pike, Viet Cong. The organization and techniques of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1966)
  • Douglas Pike, War, Peace, and the Viet Cong (Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1969)
  • Douglas Pike, History of Vietnamese Communism, 1925-1976 (Hoover Institution Press 1978)
  • Douglas Pike, PAVN: People's Army of Vietnam (Presidio Press 1986)

References

  1. ↑ Martin, Douglas (May 16, 2002). "Douglas Pike, Vietnam Expert, Dies at 77". The New York Times.
  2. 1 2 "Douglas E. Pike". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. May 15, 2002.
  3. ↑ Elaine Woo (May 17, 2002). "Douglas Pike, 77; Historian, Archivist of the Vietnam War". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  4. ↑ Bishop, Donald (July 14, 2019). "A USIA legend: Douglas Pike, Vietnam, and counterinsurgency". academia.edu. Public Diplomacy Council Blog. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  5. ↑ Chanoff, David (April 30, 2000). "Flashback; Twenty-Five Years of Writing on the Vietnam War". The Washington Post.
  6. 1 2 Martin, Douglas (May 16, 2002). "Douglas Pike, Vietnam Expert, Dies at 77". New York Times.
  7. ↑ Buckley, William F. (December 28, 1970). "On the right". Warsaw Times-Union.
  8. ↑ "Biographic Data: Douglas Pike". Texas Tech University. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
  9. ↑ Chanoff, David (April 20, 1986). "PAVN: People's Army of Vietnam". LA Times.
  10. ↑ Woo, Elaine (May 17, 2002). "Douglas Pike, 77; Historian, Archivist of the Vietnam War". LA Times.
  11. ↑ "The Indochina Chronology". The Vietnam Center & Archive.
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