White House documents on the Tibetan Revolt: March 1959
March 31, 201152 years ago today, after a landmark Tibetan uprising that ended with the final Chinese takeover of Tibet, the Dalai Lama arrived in India after a harrowing 14-day escape from Lhasa. For this anniversary, I've put together a few documents from the Eisenhower Presidential Library, including three memos from the Operations Coordinating Board. (The OCB, exclusive to the Eisenhower administration, was a committee responsible for coordinating national security policies among various government agencies, including the CIA.) Discussed are strategies for how the Tibetan revolt should best be exploited for the Cold War interests of the US at the time. The final memo refers to two State Department press statements which are included at the end. All combined, it's a taste of what was going on behind the scenes and what was being made public during a tragic time that critically changed the course of history for Tibetans.
CLICK HERE to download the PDF.
Keep in mind these were written before the US had knowledge of the Dalai Lama's arrival -- the CIA didn't receive Athar's radio message until April 2nd. Last year's blog post has more on that if you're interested. It's also good to know a couple of abbreviations commonly used by the US government to distinguish the two opposing Chinese governments: "Chicom" = Chinese Communists (PRC), and "Chinat" = Chinese Nationalists (ROC, AKA Taiwan). And of course, "Peking" or "Peiping" is how the Western world referred to Beijing back then.
And a final document HERE. This one, "Peking Publicity for Tibetan Rebellion and Unrest", is from the US National Archives though it's not clear which government department it's from. Not so much related to this post's title as much as I had promised earlier to post it this month, it's nonetheless an insightful US documentation of Chinese reaction to the building Tibetan resistance. From August 7, 1956 to January 1, 1959, it reveals a hard-core China the world didn't become aware of until March 1959.
US Presidential Briefings: March 1959
March 17, 2011For this 52nd anniversary of the Dalai Lama's flight from Lhasa, here's a couple of interesting documents from 1959 found at the Eisenhower Presidential Library. CLICK HERE for the "Synopsis of Intelligence material reported to the President" dated March 17 and March 23, with bits on Tibet as part of other international matters of the time.
The sources for at least the second Tibetan report were Athar and Lhotse, two of the initial six-man team that was trained by the CIA and dropped back into Tibet in the fall of '57. Here's an excerpt from the translation (thanks to his daughter, Doma Norbu) of a 1999 video recording of Athar, a few years before his death:
I safely reached the military quarters in Dhapo Lhagyari. There I met my friend. We sent a wire to the US that we had arrived safely. We had a lot of work to be done and had started preparing. We requested the US for more weapons as we needed them. One plane with weapons were sent. It was just like the last drop.After collecting the weapons we reached Nyende Dzong. The March 10th trouble had occurred in Tibet and a messenger was sent to us. It had taken the messenger 7 days to reach us. It was a letter from the Lord Chamberlain, Phala, about His Holiness’ escape. We sent a wire to the US about the troublesome situation in Tibet. We were told to leave immediately and go near Lhasa to evaluate and report on the situation. My friend said that this was not good. If His Holiness was to escape, the weapons should not be sent to the Chushi Gangdruk headquarters. Around a 100 cavalry that did not have weapons needed to be armed. There were weapons for around 150 men.
I asked my friend to follow later with the cavalry that would be needed to escort His Holiness. I left ahead with six other horsemen. When I reached Chunjo Riwochen, His Holiness arrived there. From there on, I sent detailed reports of our journey.
Gompo Tashi’s Letter to Eisenhower, 1959
March 10, 2011
CLICK HERE to download the 9-page letter, a list of gifts also given, and the US memo that acknowledges the delivery to the Embassy.
The term "Do-med" is used often in the letter, so I asked Jamyang Norbu, noted author and activist for Tibetan independence, for clarification. He explained that the term refers to the Eastern Tibetan province of Kham, where many of the fighters in the Chushi Gangdruk were from. Along with the letter -- delivered to the US Embassy in New Delhi, India on December 13, 1959 while Eisenhower was visiting India -- Gompo Tashi also offered a few gifts to the president which included a full traditional Khampa outfit; the exact one he's wearing in the photo above. (Tashi himself was from the Lithang region of Kham.)
According to Norbu -- who had briefly been a member of the resistance forces based in Mustang and knew some of the Chushi Gangdruk leaders close to Gompo Tashi -- the above picture was taken in a photo studio in Kalimpong, India to document the outfit just before he and others left for New Delhi to give it to Eisenhower. Norbu added, "The spectacles were a studio accessory meant to make the subject look more educated or refined". The photograph is printed in Gompo Tashi's memoirs Four Rivers, Six Ranges: Reminiscences of the Resistence Movement in Tibet, published posthumously in 1973 by the Tibetan government-in-exile.
Unfortunately the gifts weren't found at the Eisenhower Library. If anyone out there has any information regarding their whereabouts, please let me know through the "contact me" link in the right column.
Jamyang Norbu recently posted another significant archival letter on his blog, this one from the Dalai Lama to President Kennedy sent the following year.
Revolt & Propaganda in “Unconquerable Tibet”
February 25, 2011
As revolution fever whips through North Africa and the Middle East, I thought I’d post an archival film called "Unconquerable Tibet". It's also timely as we approach the 52nd anniversary of March 10th, a day the Tibetan exile community commemorates as Tibetan National Uprising Day. That landmark revolt against the People's Republic of China wasn't the first or the last display of Tibetan rebellion by far; protests continue today (albeit unarmed since the 70s) within Tibet and the worldwide diaspora.
Looking through some US government documents from the ‘50s, I came across an interesting memo titled, “Peking Publicity for Tibetan Rebellion and Unrest”. I’ll post it in full next month, but for now here’s the final passage, dated just a few months before the March 1959 revolt began: (Note: the opening paragraph is the US intro.)
January 1, 1959 – The Tibetans persisted in their opposition to Communist reforms and in their desire for independence; a New Year’s statement by a leading official of the Chinese Communist Party control committee for Tibet admitted continued Tibetan resistance which, as usual, he attributed to imperialist influence.
An energetic effort should be made to struggle against the enemy and to expose the schemes and subversive activities carried out by all the reactionaries and imperialists. This must be done for the defense of our country. Under the guidance of imperialism and some special service agents of the Chiang [then the leader of the Republic of China/Taiwan] clique, a small number of reactionaries are carrying out a series of subversive activities to deceive the Tibetan people under the flag of nationalism and emancipation. For this reason, we must heighten our vigilance against imperialism and all reactionaries and be prepared to deal a fatal blow to them.
While that has a familiar ring to it these days, the difference for Tibetans in 1959 is there was no world watching. There was no press allowed in Tibet then (and very little now, for that matter). Few Tibetans had cameras then to document what was happening. So no one was there, that I have record of, to film what sounds like a massacre from first-hand accounts. The men I interviewed who were there all tell the same story: the rebels were crushed with overwhelming force. By March 28, 1959, the PRC had claimed the Dalai Lama a fugitive and Tibet officially under China’s rule. The party line claimed they were liberating the Tibetans from imperialist influence. Their tune changed in 2009 when China began touting March 28 as “Serf’s Emancipation Day”.
Propaganda was also, of course, a significant part of the CIA’s Tibetan Task Force (as with all US operations). Today’s video is a good example of US anti-Communist propaganda, made in 1959 following the March revolt in Lhasa. Produced by the United States Information Agency (USIA), here is “Unconquerable Tibet”.
The Battle For Lhasa
March 28, 2010About two days after the Dalai Lama fled Lhasa on the night of March 17, 1959, war began raging between Tibetan rebels and the Chinese PLA in Tibet's capital. The uprising was crushed by China by March 24th. Here's an account of those dark days from five Tibetans who were there, four of whom began working on the CIA operation after surviving the devastation.
According to Mikel Dunham's book "Buddha's Warrior's", it's estimated that over 15,000 Tibetans were killed in this battle, and tens of thousands imprisoned. I haven't found an estimated number of Chinese deaths, perhaps because the Chinese government has maintained that their takeover of Lhasa was welcomed by the Tibetans as a liberation from an oppressive Feudalist system, and was little more than a riot caused by a few troublemaking serf-owners.
On March 28, 1959, China announced the dissolution of the Tibetan government, and denounced the Dalai Lama as a fugitive--considering him an "evil separatist" to this day. In 2009, China appointed March 28th "Serf's Emancipation Day", something none of the Tibetans I've met would celebrate.
Thanks to Tenzin Norkyi and Doma Norbu for their help with translation.
Music by Green Goose Music.
3/31/10 ADDENDUM: I just heard that Bhusang, one of the men in this video, passed away March 25. Recruited into the CIA's Tibetan Task Force, he was captured at the battle of Markham, and imprisoned by the Chinese from 1961 to 1978. As with all the former fighters I've talked to, he was a hero of his country and its cause. Bhusangla will not be forgotten. --Lisa Cathey
Mikel Dunham Remembers March 10th
March 10, 2010Mikel Dunham spent 7 years collecting first hand stories from the Tibetan fighters in the resistance against the Chinese, as well as former CIA officers who worked on the Tibetan Task Force. His book "Buddha's Warriors" was the first one I read while researching the CIA's operation in Tibet, and he was one of the first people I interviewed. In acknowledgment of the 51st anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day, here's a clip from my interview with Mikel that gives a vivid retrospective of March 10, 1959, and sets the tone of the times leading up to it.
Unfortunately my archival footage is non-existent when it come to photographs and film that depict the actual day. I used film of the Dalai Lama, from the CIA collection at the National Archives. The library's notes don't say who shot the film, but it's most likely Tibetan CIA trainees who were taught to shoot film to gather intelligence for the CIA.
