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By the time he reached Communist North Viet Nam and got another welcome from President Ho Chi Minh, Souvanna was grandly ordering the Vientiane "rebels" (meaning the present Laotian government) to send a delegation to his "capital" of Xiengkhouang, in central Laos, to discuss the cease-fire and the "broadening of the government."
Typically, the Royal Laotians in Vientiane were undisturbed by Communist victories. Without hindrance, the Pathet Lao set up a machine gun in a nearby village and opened fire on U.S. helicopters approaching the city airport. More excitement was caused by a new Greek stripteaser at a local cabaret and by the notice posted at the Lido nightclub: "Just arrived from Thailand—ten fresh, young girls with medical certificates."
Upriver, in the royal capital of Luang-prabang, Buddhist monks in orange robes gathered in the gold-spired temples to pray for the soul of King Sisavang Vong. who died 18 months ago. Since then, his corpse—preserved in formaldehyde and spices—has been sitting in a huge gilded coffin carved from a single, perfect sandalwood tree, awaiting a propitious time for cremation. Last week the time came. Military planes, which might usefully have airdropped munitions to isolated garrisons, were commandeered to fly in tons of food for expected funeral guests. The King's coffin was placed on a dragon-headed carriage and, to the music of gongs and cymbals, borne to the cremation site, a soccer field outside town that had been piled high with sandal wood logs. Laotians reverently brought thousands of gifts to accompany "the King to nirvana, including a box of U.S. laundry detergent to keep him clean. Next day, rain and high winds swept the field, knocking down ceremonial arches and scattering the King's gifts. Laotian monks and elders sadly shook their heads. Said one: "The old King is angry with us. We have ruined the country which he ruled so peacefully for more than 50 years."
Decent Delay. The ruin may well spread beyond the confines of Laos. Russia and Red China will go to the 14-nation* conference at Geneva this month determined not only to put Prince Souvanna Phouma in power, but to pillory the U.S. for its intervention in Laos. Washington is in the unhappy position of having misfired with two opposite policies. The Eisenhower Administration tried to make primitive Laos "a bulwark against Communism' and failed, in part because of the reluctance of the Royal Laotian Army to fight. The Kennedy Administration announced that it would be satisfied with a neutral Laos, unaligned with either bloc. But in letting its eagerness for a cease-fire show too plainly, the U.S. undermined what little morale the Royal Laotian Army had left, and the Russians seized the chance to stall negotiations while the Pathet Lao strengthened their grip until it has become a strangle hold.