Operation Booster Shot
| Operation Booster Shot | |
|---|---|
| Part of 1960 Laotian elections, Laotian Civil War | |
| Type | Rural aid program |
| Location | Laos |
| Planned by | J. Graham Parsons |
| Commanded by | Rufus C. Phillips, Horace H. Smith |
| Objective | Convince rural populace to support US-backed politicians |
| Date | March 1958—April 27, 1958 |
| Executed by | 483d Troop Carrier Wing, Air America |
| Outcome | Logistic success; however, electoral gains made by Communist candidates |
Operation Booster Shot was a rural aid program run by the United States in the Kingdom of Laos during March and April 1958. Its purpose was to influence Lao peasantry to vote during May National Assembly elections for those politicians the U.S. favored. Because of the lack of roads in Laos, Booster Shot became an air delivery operation. It proceeded somewhat haphazardly due to rushed planning. Although logistically successful, the end result was electoral victory by the communist candidates opposed to the U.S.
Subsequently, right wing Assembly members organized against the newly elected communists. Also, the Programs Evaluation Office in the American embassy gained an aerial delivery section; this was the beginning of extensive air operations in Laos.
As the First Indochina War ended in French defeat, the 1954 Geneva Conference agreed on neutrality for the newly independent Kingdom of Laos. In January 1955, a United States Operations Mission was established in the American embassy in Vientiane. It spent $1.4 million on such civic action projects as schools, administrative training, farming, and public health, and about four times that in military aid.
As a result of the Geneva Conference, elections were held in Laos in December 1955. Although closed out of the two northeastern Pathet Lao-occupied provinces, votes were cast in the other ten provinces of Laos. However, no clear majority emerged from the election. Those in power remained until a follow-up election could be held.
In preparation to new elections due on 24 April 1960, the Royal Lao Government sent 5,000 troops electioneering on Operation Cleansweep through Military Region 4 for six weeks prior to the election.
American Ambassador to Laos J. Graham Parsons was faced with the prospect of Pathet Lao communists running legally in the elections provided for by the Geneva Conference. Maintaining discipline, the leftists proposed a single candidate for each office. On the other side of the political spectrum, by February the rightists were running 85 candidates for the same 21 seats.
The United States had pumped $202 million in foreign aid into Laos since 1955. The Pathet Lao were electioneering on a platform of peace, national unity, and a cleanup of corruption. Prince Phetsarath Ratanavongsa blamed Americans for inflation of the Lao kip, as well as causing governmental fraud. Worried that the non-communists who were favored by America were going to do poorly, Parsons began a crash rural aid program; he named it Booster Shot. Programs were selected to give "immediate and tangible political benefits" to those Lao politicians the U.S. favored. Central Intelligence Agency officer Rufus C. Phillips was placed in charge. He hired ten man teams to carry out Booster Shot. Each team had two specialists in each of five fields—farming, schools, public works, health, and information. In contrast to the usual low-key approach that allowed credit for the aid to redound to host government, Booster Shot was high profile. While the State Department had envisioned air drops from unmarked aircraft, newly arrived ambassador Horace H. Smith took charge and not only insisted on using obviously American aircraft, but on affixing U.S. symbols on the aid packages. Bulldozers were parachuted with both American and Lao flags streaming from them. Smith wanted the U.S. help to be evident to the Lao populace.
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Wikipedia