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Professor Kevin Ruane

Research Profile

My doctoral research in the late-1980s led me into Southeast Asia during the early Cold War and in 1991 I was awarded a Ph.D for my thesis on Britain and the French war in Indochina. Since then much of my research has been rooted in the 1950s, including a book-length study of the ill-fated attempt to build a European Defence Community as an accretion of strength to NATO – The Rise and Fall of the European Defence Community (Macmillan, 2000). I have also published a number of articles in scholarly journals on aspects of the Cold War in the 1950s including the Anglo-American "special relationship", the first Vietnam War, European security, Middle East defence, and the pre-Suez phase of Anthony Eden's diplomatic career. In fact Eden has been the historical "monkey on my back" for many years now, and whenever I try to break free of his grip something always happens to delay the moment of my liberation. At present I am writing the entry on Eden – and on Macmillan – for the Routledge Encyclopaedia of the Cold War, a task which in turn has encouraged me to write a comparative piece looking at how Eden's experience of the Second World War, especially his dealings with the Americans and Russians, shaped his outlook as a Cold Warrior in the 1950s.

Alongside all things Eden, my interest in Vietnam runs deep – a fascination dates from before my doctoral research set me on Ho Chi Minh's trail. In 1998 my general survey of the Vietnam War – War and Revolution in Vietnam 1930-75 – was published by Routledge, and in 2000 a collection of primary sources, along with a series of Vietnam-related essays, was published by MUP as The Vietnam Wars. More recently my interest in Southeast Asia as a region – as distinct from Vietnam as a country within that region – has been stimulated by research undertaken for a chapter on Cold War Asia in the  Blackwell History of International Relations. As a consequence, my original doctoral research on the French war in Vietnam is currently being expanded into a book-length study of Anglo-American relations and the Cold War in Southeast Asia generally, though Vietnam will be the main case-study.

More immediately, I have been blending my love of history with my love of literature and looking at the story behind the writing of Graham Greene’s famous Vietnam-based novel, The Quiet American, first published in 1955. An article, and a book-length treatment, are currently being written in which it will be seen that the real-life adventures of Greene in Indo-China – involving mad French generals, Catholic Warrior-Bishops, British spies, CIA agents, and Caodaist rebels – was every bit as compelling as the novel itself.    Alongside this foray into cultural history, I am writing an article for a volume in memory of the late Professor Saki Dockrill on the subject of Anglo-American relations and the Korean war, and a chapter in an edited collection on post-war foreign policy advisors on the relationship between Evelyn Shuckburgh and Anthony Eden.

Beyond my "main-stream" research, I was editor of the Routledge journal Contemporary British History for ten years, and am now on the editorial board, write regularly for History magazines like The Modern History Review, and supervise a number of postgraduate research students.

Recent publications:

Books:
  • The Rise and Fall of the European Defence Community: Anglo-American Relations and the Crisis of European Defence, 1950-1955 (London: Macmillan, 2000)
  • The Vietnam Wars (Manchester: MUP, 2000)
  • War and Revolution in Vietnam, 1930-1975 (London: Routledge, 1998)
Refereed Articles:

  • ‘The Origins of the Eden-Dulles Antagonism: The Yoshida Letter and the Cold War in East Asia 1951-1952’, Contemporary British History, Vol. 25, No. 1 (2011).

  • 'Anglo-American Relations, the Cold War, and Middle East Defence, 1953-55', The Journal of Transatlantic Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1 (2006), pp.1-25.

  • 'SEATO, MEDO and the Baghdad Pact: Anthony Eden, British Foreign Policy and the Collective Defence of South-East Asia and the Middle East, 1952-1955', Diplomacy and Statecraft, Vol. 16, No. 1 (2005), pp.169-200.
  • [with James Ellison]: 'Managing the Americans: Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan and the Pursuit of "Power by Proxy" in the 1950s', Contemporary British History, Vol. 18, No. 3, (2004), pp.147-67.
  • 'Agonizing Reappraisals: Anthony Eden, John Foster Dulles and the Crisis of European Defence, 1953-54', Diplomacy and Statecraft, Vol. 13, No. 4 (2002), pp.151-85
  • 'Putting America in its Place? Recent Writing on the History of the Vietnam Wars, Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 37, No. 1 (2002)
  • 'Containing America: Aspects of British Foreign Policy and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, 1951-1954', Diplomacy & Statecraft, Vol.7, No.1 (1996)
  • 'Refusing to Pay the Price: British Foreign Policy and the Pursuit of Victory in Vietnam, 1952-1954', English Historical Review, Vol. CX, No.435 (1995)
  • 'Anthony Eden, British Diplomacy and the Origins of the Geneva Conference of 1954', The Historical Journal, Vol.37, No.1 (1994)
Chapters in edited collections:
  • 'The New Asia: Decolonization, the Cold War and the Making of Modern Southeast Asia', in Gordon Martel, ed., The Blackwell Companion to International History 1900-2001 (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007)
  • 'The USA in Vietnam' in Joseph R. Mitchell and Helen Buss Mitchell, eds., World History Vol. II, 1500 to the Present (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000).
  • 'Managing the Americans: Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan and the Pursuit of "Power by Proxy" in the 1950s', in Gaynor Johnson, ed., The Foreign Office and British Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century (London: Cass, 2005)
  • 'Anthony Eden, the Foreign Office and Anglo-French Relations, 1951-1954' in Alan Sharp & Glyn Stone, eds, Anglo-French Relations in the Twentieth Century: Rivalry and Cooperation (London: Routledge, 2000)
Other Publications:
  • The Encyclopedia of the Cold War (London: Routledge 2008), entries for Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, and SEATO
  • 'Britain's Cold Warriors', Twentieth Century History Review, forthcoming, 2007
  • 'The South-East Asia Treaty Organiziation', Twentieth Century History Review, forthcoming, 2007
  • 'The French withdrawal from Southeast Asia, 1954-55: consequences and implications', Twentieth Century History Review, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Sep. 2006)
  • 'Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society', The Modern History Review, Vol 15, No. 4 (Jun. 2004)
  • 'The United States in Asia: I – Korea', The Modern History Review, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Apr. 2003)
  • 'The United States in Asia: II – Vietnam', The Modern History Review, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Apr. 2003)
  • 'Fighting While Negotiating: The United States, North Vietnam and the Paris Peace Process, May 1968 to January 1973', The Modern History Review, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Sept. 2001)
  • 'Was Vietnam a war that the United States could never win?' in Peter Catterall (ed.), Exam Essays in 20th Century World History (London: Heinemann, 1999)
Recent Talks and Conference Papers:
  • 2001 - 'Putting America in its Place: Recent Writing on the History of the Vietnam Wars', University of Kent at Canterbury, History Research Seminar, March 2001
  • 2001 - 'The United States, South Vietnam, and the "spectre" of Neutralization, 1963-65', 13th Annual BIHG Conference, Canterbury Christ Church University College, September 2001
  • 2001 - 'Lyndon B. Johnson and the search for political stability in Saigon, 1963-65', London School of Economics and Political Science, International History Research Seminar, November 2001
  • 2001 - 'Anglo-American Relations and the Birth of the Western European Union in 1954', 26th Annual Conference of the British International Studies Association, University of Edinburgh, December 2001
  • 2002 - 'Putting America in its Place: Recent Writing on the History of the Vietnam Wars', Historical Association (Brighton Branch), Lancing College, West Sussex, November 2002
  • 2003 - 'The Foreign Office, Anglo-American Relations and the Pursuit of "Power by Proxy", 1952-1957' (with Dr James Ellison, Queen Mary, University of London), The Foreign Office and British Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century: International conference, Institute of Contemporary British History, University of London, July 2003
  • 2003 - 'The Historiography of Cold War Origins', King's School Canterbury VIth Form History Group, November 2003
  • 2005 - 'Why did America Lose the Vietnam War?', Premier Student Conference, Friends' Meeting House, Euston Road, London, February 2005
  • 2005 - [with James Ellison] '"This is not an easy operation": British Conservative Governments and the Management of the Anglo-American "special relationship", 1951- 63', 4th annual Transatlantic Studies Association Conference, Nottingham University, July 2005.
  • 2006 - 'The Rise and Fall of Détente', Premier Student Conference, Cecil Sharp House, Camden Town, London, March 2006
  • 2006 - 'The Rise and Fall of Détente', Canterbury College History Group, May 2006
  • 2006 - 'The Vietnam War and the Making of Modern Southeast Asia', Inaugural Professorial Lecture, Canterbury Christ Church University, May 2006
  • 2006 - 'The "first" Vietnam War', Premier Student Conference, Cecil Sharp House, Camden Town, London, November 2006
  • 2006 - 'Why did America lose the Vietnam War?', Premier Student Conference, Cecil Sharp House, Camden Town, London, November 2006
  • 2007 - 'The nature of the Cold War', Premier Student Conference, Cecil Sharp House, Camden Town, London, March 2007
  • 2007 - 'American Imperialism in the Twentieth Century', Cambridge History Forum, Selwyn College, Cambridge, March 2007
  • 2007 - 'Ideology and the Cold War', Canterbury College History Group
  • 2009 - 'In Search of the Origins of the Eden-Dulles feud: Britain, America and the Cold War in East Asia, 1951-53', Centre for Contemporary British History Summer Conference, Institute of Historical Research, London
  • 2009 - 'From the Yoshida letter to the Unleashing of Chiang: the Asian Cold War and the Origins of the Eden-Dulles feud, 1952-53, 8th Annual Transatlantic Studies Association Conference, CCCU
Research Students:
  • Shaun Sturips, M.Phil/Ph.D, 'Britain and China, 1975-79', First Supervisor, 2008-
  • Penny Evans, Ph.D., 'Anglo-Soviet Relations and the Problem of Finland, 1944-48', First Supervisor, 1997-2003 (Doctorate awarded)
  • James Ellison, Ph.D., 'Harold Macmillan and the Origins of the European Free Trade Area', Second Supervisor, 1992-97 (Doctorate awarded)
  • David Turner, Ph.D., 'Communism in the Medway Towns, 1931-56', Second Supervisor, 1994-99 (Doctorate awarded)
  • Christopher Weale, MA by research, 'The first Wilson Government and American escalation in Vietnam, 1964-65', First Supervisor, 1996-98 (Masters awarded)
  • Richard Clarke, MA by research, 'Between War and Peace: The Kennedy Administration's Approach to the Laotian Crisis of 1961-1962', First Supervisor, 1998-2000 (Masters Awarded)
  • Norman Price, MA by Research, 'Perceptions of War: An East Kent perspective on the coming of the Second World War, 1936-39', Second Supervisor, 2001-onwards
  • Paul Dennis, Ph.D, 'Britain and Chile, 1973-76', First Supervisor, 2004- 10 (Doctorate Awarded