Douglas Pike
Douglas Eugene Pike was a leading American historian and foremost scholar on the Vietnam War and the Viet Cong based at Texas Tech University from 1997, was director of the Indochina Archive at the University of California, Berkeley from 1981 and prior to that served as Foreign Service Officer in Asia, with assignments in Saigon, 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 National Liberation Front and NVA before his death in 2002.
Pike received a degree in journalism from the University of North Dakota, a bachelor's in international communications from the University of California, Berkeley, an MA from American University in Washington D.C., and did a year of graduate work at the MIT Center for International Studies.
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 National Liberation Front. His book PAVN: People's 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 Minor and had planned on a career in journalism, but with the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Army Signal Corps and served in the South Pacific. He served between 1943–1946 and reached the rank of Master Sergeant.The Indochina Chronology
Pike founded The Indochina Chronology in 1982 to cover both historical and contemporary events in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.Published works
