Scope and Contents

Approximately 14 linear feet of books, maps, periodicals and manuscript materials document the research interests of Dr. John C. Donnell, PhD during his tenure at Temple University. Topics include the Southeast Asia Development Advisory Group, the insurgency in South Vietnam by the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong), several RAND reports and Simulmatics Corpation interview of Viet Cong suspects. Also included are materials related to the Pacification program, Revolutionary Development and South Vietnam's internal politics, specifically the various religious sects and Buddhist movement. The manuscript section includes newspaper clippings, government documents, and secondary literature. It is organized hierarchically by subject and alphabetized accordingly. The documents within each folder are arranged chronologically. The date range of the materials in the collection, including separated materials, is from the 1940s to the 1990s, though the bulk of the materials come from the 1960s.

Biographical / Historical

John C. Donnell received his M.A. in Political Science in 1959 from Columbia University and his Ph.D. in Political Science in 1964 from the University of California, Berkeley. He served as a press and Publications Officer in Saigon in 1950 and, as a Public Affairs Officer in Hanoi, established the United States Information Service branch for that city. Donnell returned to Vietnam in 1955 as a Special Projects Officers in Saigon and served as a Field Operations Officer and then Cultural Affairs Officer in Saigon from 1956 to 1957. He began teaching at Temple University as an Assistant Professor in Political Science in 1965, reaching the rank of full Professor in 1970. He remained at Temple University until his retirement in 1982. Dr. Donnell donated his papers to the Vietnam Archives in 1997 after being approached by the Douglas Pike and James Reckner of the Vietnam Center.