J. Vinton "Vint" Lawrence (June 25, 1939 – April 9, 2016) was an artist and U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
paramilitary officer from their elite
Special Activities Division. Under the name of "James Vinton", he was stationed in
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
from 1962 to 1966 and had a close relationship with the Hmong leader
Vang Pao
Vang Pao ( RPA: ''Vaj Pov'' , Lao: ວັງປາວ; 8 December 1929 – 6 January 2011) was a major general in the Royal Lao Army. He was a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States. He was also known as General Vang P ...
in the U.S. war in Southeast Asia. Lawrence's CIA colleague in Laos was the CIA paramilitary expert
Anthony Poshepny
Anthony Alexander Poshepny (September 18, 1924 – June 27, 2003), known as Tony Poe, was a CIA Paramilitary Operations Officer in what became the Special Activities Division (renamed Special Activities Center in 2016). He was known for h ...
(aka "Tony Poe").
Lawrence was married to
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...
reporter
Anne Garrels
Anne Longworth Garrels (July 2, 1951 – September 7, 2022) was an American broadcast journalist who worked as a foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, as well as for ABC and NBC, and other media.Engle, Jane"From Beijing to Baghdad, G ...
. His letters to her during her time in Baghdad, Iraq, during the 2003 U.S. invasion of that country, are included in her book, ''Naked in Baghdad'' (). He toured with her and shared the podium with her during her book readings. He and his wife received an AudioFile Earphones Award for their narration. An artist by profession, he occasionally wrote about U.S. foreign policy issues. As an illustrator and caricaturist he was regularly employed by ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'' and ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''.
He died on April 9, 2016.
Lawrence was the great-grandson of
Charles A. Coffin
Charles Albert Coffin (December 31, 1844 – July 14, 1926) was an American businessman who was the co-founder and first president of General Electric corporation.
Early life
He was born in Fairfield, Maine, the son of Albert Coffin and his wife ...
, cofounder and first president of General Electric corporation.
See also
*
Laotian Civil War
The Laotian Civil War (1959–1975) was a civil war in Laos which was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975. It is associated with the Cambodian Civil War and the Vietnam War ...
*
James William Lair
James William Lair (often referred to as Bill Lair) (4 July 1924 – October 28, 2014) was an influential Central Intelligence Agency paramilitary officer from the Special Activities Division. He was a native Texan, raised in a broken family, ...
*
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
*
Jerry Daniels
Jerrold B. Daniels or Jerry Daniels (June 11, 1941 - April 29, 1982) was a CIA Paramilitary Operations Officer (PMOO) in their Special Activities Center who worked in Laos and Thailand from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. He was known by hi ...
*
Kingdom of Laos
The Kingdom of Laos was a landlocked country in Southeast Asia at the heart of the Indochinese Peninsula. It was bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, North Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...
*
North Vietnamese invasion of Laos
North Vietnam supported the Pathet Lao to fight against the Kingdom of Laos between 1958–1959. Control over Laos allowed for the eventual construction of the Ho Chi Minh Trail that would serve as the main supply route for enhanced NLF (the ...
*
Lao Veterans of America
The Lao Veterans of America, Inc., describes itself as a non-profit, non-partisan, non-governmental, veterans organization that represents Lao- and Hmong-American veterans who served in the U.S. clandestine war in the Kingdom of Laos during the Vie ...
*
Laos Memorial
The Hmong and Lao Memorial, or Lao Veterans of America Monument, is a granite monument, bronze plaque and living memorial (that includes an Atlas Cedar tree) in Arlington National Cemetery in the US. Dedicated in May 1997, it is located in Sectio ...
*
Anthony Poshepny
Anthony Alexander Poshepny (September 18, 1924 – June 27, 2003), known as Tony Poe, was a CIA Paramilitary Operations Officer in what became the Special Activities Division (renamed Special Activities Center in 2016). He was known for h ...
*
Alfred W. McCoy
Alfred "Al" William McCoy (born June 8, 1945) is an American historian and educator. He is the Fred Harvey Harrington Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.[Nugan Hand Bank
Nugan Hand Bank was an Australian merchant bank that collapsed in 1980 after the suicide of one of its founders, Australian lawyer Francis John Nugan, resulting in a major scandal. News stories suggested that the bank had been involved in illega ...]
References
* (Not yet utilized) Grant, Zalin. (1991). ''Facing the Phoenix: The CIA and the Political Defeat of the United States in Vietnam'', W W Norton & Co Inc. ISBNs 0393029255, .
Notes
External links
Cambodia and Laos", ''Vietnam Online'', PBS, March 29, 2005.
*David S. Robarge (Reviewer), "Lost Crusader: The Secret Wars of CIA Director William Colby''. John Prados. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003".
, undated, accessed November 2005.
*Richard S Ehrlich,
, ''Asia Times Online'', July 8, 2003.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, J. Vinton
1939 births
2016 deaths
People of the Laotian Civil War
CIA personnel of the Vietnam War