Document 4
In 1970, Lon Nol overthrew Prince Norodom Sihanouk and became the leader of Cambodia. The Vietnam War
had destabilized Cambodia’s government and Lon Nol used this situation to gain power.
…Richard Nixon’s May 1970 invasion of Cambodia (undertaken without informing Lon Nol’s
new government) followed simultaneous invasions by Saigon and Vietnamese Communist forces.
It created 130,000 new Khmer [Cambodian mountain people] refugees, according to the
Pentagon. By 1971, 60 percent of refugees surveyed in Cambodia’s towns gave U.S. bombing as
the main cause of their displacement. The U.S. bombardment of the Cambodian countryside
continued until 1973, when Congress imposed a halt. Nearly half of the 540,000 tons of bombs
were dropped in the last six months.
From the ashes of rural Cambodia arose Pol Pot’s Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK). It
used the bombing’s devastation and massacre of civilians as recruitment propaganda and as an
excuse for its brutal, radical policies and its purge of moderate Communists and Sihanoukists.
This is clear from contemporary U.S. government documents and from interviews in Cambodia
with peasant survivors of the bombing….
Source: Ben Kiernan, The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia
under the Khmer Rouge, 1975–79, Yale University Press (adapted)
According to Ben Kiernan, what were two problems Cambodia faced during Lon Nol’s rule that enabled
Pol Pot to rise to power?
In 1970, Lon Nol overthrew Prince Norodom Sihanouk and became the leader of Cambodia. The Vietnam War
had destabilized Cambodia’s government and Lon Nol used this situation to gain power.
…Richard Nixon’s May 1970 invasion of Cambodia (undertaken without informing Lon Nol’s
new government) followed simultaneous invasions by Saigon and Vietnamese Communist forces.
It created 130,000 new Khmer [Cambodian mountain people] refugees, according to the
Pentagon. By 1971, 60 percent of refugees surveyed in Cambodia’s towns gave U.S. bombing as
the main cause of their displacement. The U.S. bombardment of the Cambodian countryside
continued until 1973, when Congress imposed a halt. Nearly half of the 540,000 tons of bombs
were dropped in the last six months.
From the ashes of rural Cambodia arose Pol Pot’s Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK). It
used the bombing’s devastation and massacre of civilians as recruitment propaganda and as an
excuse for its brutal, radical policies and its purge of moderate Communists and Sihanoukists.
This is clear from contemporary U.S. government documents and from interviews in Cambodia
with peasant survivors of the bombing….
Source: Ben Kiernan, The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia
under the Khmer Rouge, 1975–79, Yale University Press (adapted)
According to Ben Kiernan, what were two problems Cambodia faced during Lon Nol’s rule that enabled
Pol Pot to rise to power?