Douglas E. Pike was a leading historian and foremost scholar on the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

 and the Viet Cong based at Texas Tech University

Texas Tech University

Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...

 from 1997, was director of the Indochina Archive at the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

 from 1981 and prior to that served as Foreign Service Officer

Foreign Service Officer

A Foreign Service Officer is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. As diplomats, Foreign Service Officers formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. FSOs spend most of their careers overseas as members of U.S. embassies, consulates, and other diplomatic...

 in Asia, with assignments in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), Hong Kong, Tokyo and Taipei.. Pike served for 15 years as the State Department's leading analyst. He was considered the leading expert on the VC and NVA before his death in 2002.

Pike has a bachelor's degree in journalism from University of Northern Dakota and international communications from UC Berkeley.

He was the founder of the journal Indochina Chronology which was subscribed to by academics and diplomats worldwide. He has authored numerous books and articles on the war and the VC. His book PAVN: Peoples Army of Vietnam has been described as "one of the two or three most significant books to emerge from the war".

Early life

Pike was born in Cass Lake Minnesota. He grew up in Minot and had planned on a career in journalism but with the outbreak of WW2 he joined the Army Signal Corps and served in the South Pacific. He served between 1943 - 1946 and reached the rank of Master Sargent.

The Indochina Chronology

Pike founded The Indochina Chronology in 1982 to cover both historical and contemporary events in Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

, Cambodia

Cambodia

Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

, and Laos

Laos

Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

.

Published works

• Pike, Douglas (1970) Australia: The Quiet Continent Cambridge University Press ISBN 978-0521096041

External links

The Indochina Chronology