Kenneth Perry Landon (27 March 1903

Meadville, Pennsylvania Meadville is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. The city is within of Erie and within of Pittsburgh. It was the first permanent settlement in Northwestern Pennsylvania. The population was 13,388 at the 2010 censu ...

– 26 August 1993

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

) was a government and academic specialist on Thailand. He and his wife,

Margaret Landon Margaret Landon (September 7, 1903 – December 4, 1993) was an American writer known for '' Anna and the King of Siam'', her best-selling 1944 novel of the life of Anna Leonowens which eventually sold over a million copies and was translated i ...

, were Presbyterian missionaries in southern Thailand from 1927 to 1937. At the start of America's participation in

World War Two World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he was called to Washington to become a State Department specialist on Thailand. After the war, he became an academic promoter of the study of Thailand. He was the husband of

, who was best known for writing '' Anna and the King of Siam''.

Early life and career

Landon was born in

. He studied at Wheaton College and served as a Presbyterian missionary in Thailand from 1927 to 1937. They returned, and he received a master's degree and doctorate in comparative religion from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. He taught philosophy and psychology at

Earlham College Earlham College is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. The college was established in 1847 by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and has a strong focus on Quaker values such as integrity, a commitment to peace and social ...

, a Quaker institution. While at Earlham, he taught what was probably the first undergraduate course in Chinese philosophy and published several monographs, including ''Siam in Transition'' and ''The Chinese in Thailand'', before joining a predecessor office of the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...

in Washington on the eve of

, during which he also worked for the

Board of Economic Warfare The Office of Administrator of Export Control (also referred to as the Export Control Administration) was established in the United States by Presidential Proclamation 2413, July 2, 1940, to administer export licensing provisions of the act of July ...

. After the war, Landon served as associate dean of the School of Language and Area Studies at the

Foreign Service Institute The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is the United States federal government's primary training institution for employees of the U.S. foreign affairs community, preparing American diplomats as well as other professionals to advance U.S. foreig ...

and was on the

Operations Coordinating Board The Operations Coordinating Board (OCB) was a committee of the United States Executive created in 1953 by President Eisenhower's Executive Order 10483 and tasked with oversight of United States covert operations. Eisenhower simultaneously gave secr ...

of the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...

. He then served as director of the Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies at

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

until his retirement in 1974. He died of cancer in 1993.

References

*
Kenneth Perry Landon, Specialist On Asia, Dies
"

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 ...

27 August, 1993 *
Landon Archival Collection
Wheaton College. *

h1>

Notes

External links

Interview with Kenneth P. Landon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Landon, Kenneth 1903 births 1993 deaths American Presbyterian missionaries Presbyterian missionaries in Thailand Wheaton College (Illinois) alumni American foreign policy writers American male non-fiction writers Thai studies scholars University of Chicago alumni Earlham College faculty American University faculty and staff United States National Security Council staffers People from Meadville, Pennsylvania Deaths from cancer in Washington, D.C. American expatriates in Thailand People of the Office of Strategic Services