No city council meeting last week so today we have another look back:

Lowell is a great place for history tours because if you look hard enough, you can connect almost anything  in world history to some person, place or event in Lowell. I was reminded of this last week by an article on geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific region, a part of the world that is vital to the economic and military security of the United States and our allies in the Pacific. Countries in this region include Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. While the population, natural resources, and industrial output of these countries is important, our interest historically has been grounded in “freedom of navigation” meaning the ability of merchant ships to carry goods from Asia to Europe and oil from the Middle East to Asia to freely pass back and forth.

The newspaper article I refer to, “Port Calls and Expanded Piers: Satellite images from shipping hubs show clear signs of Beijing’s growing global influence” (New York Times, August 14, 2024), explained how China appears to be constructing a naval base in the Cambodian port city of Ream. The site of the installation formerly housed buildings and support facilities constructed by the US Navy, but these have been demolished and the Chinese are building replacement structures.

As the article puts it,

“The Chinese military presence near one of the world’s most vital sea lanes raises fundamental questions about Beijing’s ambitions. While the American constellation of military bases remains by far the largest in the world, a resurgent China is bringing countries like Cambodia into its orbit. The potential for a permanent Chinese military presence in Cambodia raises significant geopolitical concerns.”

Then there is this:

“In recent years, Cambodia has steadily marched into China’s arms. Its longtime leader, Hun Sen, used to excoriate the United State for linking its aid and investment to improvements in the country’s human rights record. Now, Cambodia is led by Mr. Hun Sen’s son, Hun Manet, who although a graduate of the United State Military Academy, has shown little inclination so far to recalibrate from his father’s pro-China bent.”

Hun Manet is a name familiar to Lowell political observers. He was the central figure in one of the most memorable city council meetings in my memory although he was not physically present at city hall that night.

The council meeting I speak of took place on March 29, 2016. About a month earlier, representatives of the Cambodian government contacted then Mayor Ed Kennedy (who is now our state senator) and said that Hun Manet, who was then the Chief of Staff of the Cambodian Army and the son of the country’s president, would visit Lowell along with other Cambodian government officials, and that they requested a formal visit with the mayor at City Hall. Kennedy, who by his own admission did not know much about the politics of Cambodia (“although I’m learning fast,” he added), routinely agreed to the event.

The Cambodian official then told Kennedy that the Cambodian government had commissioned a statue that had already been sculpted and was en route to Lowell, and asked that when it arrived, it be installed in front of City Hall. Kennedy dodged that request by saying it would be best to install it on the north bank of the Merrimack River where the Southeast Asian Water Festival is held each year.

Then came the March 29, 2016, council meeting. A seemingly innocuous item on the agenda, a “Petition by residents to speak re proposed visit of Hun Manet,” was anything but innocuous. Twenty-three people had registered to speak, and several hundred others filled the council chamber, the balcony, and the halls outside each.

The first speaker set the tone by condemning Hun Sen and urging the council not to receive him at City Hall. His remarks received thunderous applause. Although some spoke in favor of the statue, calling it a unifying symbol that could lead to increased trade and business opportunities between Lowell and Cambodia, most who spoke were passionately opposed to the visit and the statue. Notably, the council then in office had no Cambodian Americans among its members although former councilors Rithy Uong and Vesna Nuon (who was elected again to the council the following year) were among the residents speaking in opposition.

Besides Mayor Kennedy, the councilors then in office were current councilors Rita Mercier, Corey Belanger, and Mayor Dan Rourke; current state representative Rodney Elliott, and former councilors Jim Milinazzo, Bill Samaras, Jim Leary, and John Leahy. All spoke against the visit with Corey Belanger moving that, based on what he heard from residents during the meeting, the council should formally renounce the visit and the gift. The council then endorsed Belanger’s motion by an 8 to 0 vote with Mayor Kennedy abstaining, although he immediately said he would be bound by the council’s vote and that no meeting would take place.

(Back in 2016, I was essentially transcribing council meetings in real time, so I’ve included a link to my report on the March 29, 2016, meeting at the end of this newsletter.)

The following week I wrote a blog post entitled, “Cambodian History: A Brief Review” to provide some historic context for what occurred at the council meeting. I’ll include a link to that, as well.

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With nearly one-fifth of Lowell residents being from Cambodia or descended from people from Cambodia, it is important for all residents of Lowell to be aware of events in that country. This is especially true because political divisions in contemporary Cambodia reach into Lowell and have a profound, though not easily seen, effect on local politics.

I’ve made frequent mention of 2026 being Lowell’s bicentennial and the semi quincentennial of the United States. But next year – 2025 – is also an anniversary worthy of our attention. It will mark 50 years since the fall of Vietnam and the rise of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

While the events of Cambodia in 1975 have a clearly traceable connection to Lowell, I’ve long maintained that the Vietnam War had and continues to have a powerful and divisive influence on American politics today, including politics in Lowell.

During the prime years of America’s involvement in ground combat in Vietnam, Lowell had an employment rate among the highest in the country. There was little economic opportunity for young people living here. Consequently, many young men from Lowell lacked the deferments available to their more affluent peers and were drafted into the US military.

Between 1965 and 1971, twenty-one men from Lowell died while serving in the military in Vietnam. Here are their names and the circumstances of their deaths:

• Donald L. Arcand graduated from St. Joseph’s High School and worked in a shoe factory before enlisting in the Army. He died on September 1, 1965, at age 19 when his helicopter was hit by enemy fire and exploded in midair.
• William T. Callery graduated from Lowell High and worked at Hanscom Field before joining the Army. He was killed in action by enemy small arms fire on February 22, 1966, at age 20.
• John J. Carville enlisted in the Army after graduating from Lowell High. He was killed by enemy shell fire on May 1, 1966, at age 20.
• Peter Tsirovasiles joined the Army after graduating from Lowell High. He was killed by enemy small arms fire on June 2, 1966, at age 21.
• Rudolph H. Lefebvre Jr. graduated from the Daley Junior High then moved to Chelmsford. He enlisted in the Marines and was sent to Vietnam. He was killed by enemy small arms fire on July 18, 1966, at age 22.
• Joseph L. Vallee graduated from Lowell High and enlisted in the Marines. He was killed by enemy shell fragments on July 26, 1966, at age 21.
• Paul L. Stewart was born in Lowell in 1927 and enlisted in the Army in 1945, making the military his career. He was killed by enemy small arms fire on February 22, 1967, at age 39.
• Peter N. Samaras was born in Lowell in 1931. After high school and two years at Lowell Tech, he joined the Marines as a helicopter pilot. He died on March 19, 1967, at age 36 when his helicopter was shot down by enemy fire. He left a wife and six children.
• Robert F. Bigelow enlisted in the Marines after graduating from Lowell High. He was killed by enemy shell fire on September 12, 1967, at age 20.
• Bruce R. Baxter was born in 1931 and enlisted in the Army after graduating from Lowell High. A member of the “Green Berets” he was wounded during a secret mission in Laos and then died when the evacuation helicopter carrying him was shot down on November 9, 1967, at age 36.
• Richard J. Kelly graduated from Lowell High and then Holy Cross College. He then became a Marine officer assigned to Vietnam. While diving to recover enemy weapons hidden in a river, he died by drowning on February 20, 1968, at age 22.
• Robert L. Harrison graduated from Billerica High School but after marrying moved to Lowell. He enlisted in the Army, was wounded in battle, and died in a military hospital in Japan on May 21, 1968, at age 25.
• Ronald E. Forget graduated from Lowell High and worked at Millipore in Bedford before joining the Army. He was killed by enemy shell fire on June 8, 1968, at age 21.
• Ronald A. Skelton enlisted in the Marines after graduating from Lowell Trade School. He was severely wounded in Vietnam on May 3, 1968, and died of his wounds at the Chelsea Naval Hospital on July 22, 1968, at age 20.
• Richard C. St. Amand worked at Joan Fabrics before joining the Army. He was killed by enemy small arms fire on October 13, 1968, at age 20.
• Robert W. McCluskey left Lowell High after his junior year to join the Marines. He was killed in action on February 5, 1969, at age 20.
• Walter J. Lemieux joined the Army after graduating from Lowell High. He was killed by enemy small arms fire on March 9, 1969, at age 21.
• Peter J. Bouchard graduated from Lowell High, married, then moved to Lawrence with his wife where he joined the Army. He was killed in an accident on March 28, 1969, at age 22.
• William J. Hodge graduated from Lowell High, married, then joined the Army. He was killed in action while serving as a platoon sergeant on February 28, 1970, at age 22.
• John Scot Keenan graduated from Lowell High then attended Northern Essex Community College. He married, had two children, then joined the Army and became a pilot. He died when his helicopter was shot down on April 22, 1970. He was 21.
• Robert J. LaFlamme graduated from Lowell High and made the Army his career. He was stationed in Vietnam with a signal unit and died of a heart attack on January 13, 1971, at age 29. He left his wife and three children.

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While many in Lowell served in the military during the Vietnam War, others protested the war. Some who opposed the war had grown up here; others attended the city’s two colleges, Lowell State and Lowell Technological Institute (which later merged to form University of Lowell and then UMass Lowell).

The tension between those protesting the war and those supporting it frequently burst into public view. For example, on April 13, 1970, an anti-war demonstration evolved into what the Lowell Sun accurately called “a near riot.” Here’s what happened:

Days earlier, a group called the November Action Movement obtained a permit from the Lowell police for a march. It began at City Hall, proceeded down Merrimack Street then on to Central and ended at Appleton Street at the old Post Office (most recently the Juvenile Court). The Army recruiting office was inside that building, so the permit issued to the protestors allowed them to make speeches from the front steps of the building.

According to the next day’s Lowell Sun, the march began peacefully at City Hall with about 100 protestors, but they were almost immediately set upon by a much larger group of counter protestors who ranged from “young men in fraternity jackets” to others with long hair and beards in leather jackets.

As the demonstrators marched, they chanted, “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, the Viet Cong are going to win” while carrying a Viet Cong flag. The counter demonstrators called them communists and threw lit firecrackers in their midst. More than 100 police officers lined the streets, trying to keep the two groups apart.

At the Post Office, the demonstrators set up their microphone and started their speaking program, but the counter demonstrators yelled “let’s get rid of the communists” and began throwing rocks. One of the speakers was struck in the head; another rock broke a window of the building. The police called a halt to the demonstration.

The Lowell Sun article, which was sympathetic to the demonstrators despite the newspaper’s right wing editorial policy, concluded with this:

“The marchers broke up when told to do so but for an hour after the breakup, anti-marchers mobbed the downtown streets. They conducted their own countermarch back down the original route; snarling Central Street traffic as they went. Most of the eight arrested were counter-marchers.”

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The Vietnam War left a lasting scar on American politics, fueling widespread distrust in government due to misinformation and broken promises during the war. The legacy of this can be seen in today’s skepticism towards experts and intellectual institutions, and in the divide between the white working class and those perceived as the coastal elite. While racism and misogyny remain the primary drivers of American politics in 2024, the aftereffects of the Vietnam War follow closely behind. For that reason, the coming 50^th anniversary of the war and the concurrent start of the Cambodian genocide will provide a valuable opportunity to explore the influence of those events on life in America today. This is especially the case in Lowell where so much of day-to-day life in the city is shaped by all the Cambodian Americans who are here because of the war and its consequences.

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As mentioned above, here’s a link to my March 29, 2016, Lowell City Council meeting notes which featured the protest against the Hun Manet visit.

And here’s a link to my “Cambodian History: A Brief Review” blog post.

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Upcoming Lowell History events:

Sunday, September 8, 2024, at 11am at Tyler Park. Walking tour of the Tyler Park Historic District. Th

Sunday, September 15, 2024, from 10am until noon at Lowell Cemetery. Self-paced Portrait & Mausoleum Tour.

Saturday, October 5, 2024, at 10am at Lowell Cemetery. Walking tour. Begins at Knapp Ave entrance.

Sunday, October 6, 2024, at 10am at Lowell Cemetery. Walking tour. Begins at Knapp Ave entrance.