Freeing Tibet : 50 years of Struggle Resilience & Hope

About the Book :

In March of 1959, a 23-year-old Tibetan youth named Tanzin Gyatso burst onto the world stage. Fleeing his native country to govern in exile from India, the Dalai Lama has become one of the great leaders of our time. With Tibet occupied by communist China, he and others envisioning a free Tibet have worked ceaselessly to save his country?s civilization, culture, and freedom while advocating negotiation and non-violence. Freeing Tibet is the story of this fifty-year long struggle, from its Cold War beginnings to the present. U.S. backing for Tibet?s guerrillas in their fight against China started as a secret CIA operation during the Eisenhower Administration, with National Security Directive 5412/2. Freeing Tibet reveals fresh details of this Cold War history, including a secret CIA propaganda campaign and a tragic abandonment of Tibet?s freedom fighters in a Himalayan Bay of Pigs. In an extraordinary shift of patronage, after the Nixon Administration cut off funds for the Tibetans, the charge of freeing Tibet was taken up by the sixties counterculture movement. Ultimately, the cause was embraced by celebrities, artists, musicians, students and world leaders. Freeing Tibet illustrates the many twists and turns in this unlikely saga, including: ? How former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt became an unwitting participant in the CIA?s Tibetan operation. ? How some reports of Chinese atrocities in Tibet were CIA propaganda. ? How Henry Kissinger unilaterally shut down the CIA?s Tibetan operation years before Nixon?s opening to China. ?

About Author :

John B. Roberts II is a consulting producer for The McLaughlin Group and has been featured on NBC?s Dateline and in The New York Times, The Washington Times, The Washington Post, USA Today. Roberts served in the Reagan White House for two terms, and has been a political strategist in emerging democracies, including those in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Russia, Romania, Ukraine, South Africa, and Pakistan. He is the author of Rating the First Ladies. Roberts lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with his wife, Elizabeth A. Roberts. Elizabeth A. Roberts is a writer and the author of the book, Living with IBD & IBS. Her political experience includes positions as assistant press secretary on Herb Kohl?s U.S. Senate campaign in 1988, research associate for the prestigious Cook Political Report, and publicist for Jean Kennedy Smith?s Very Special Arts foundation. Ms. Roberts has published in Oxford Today; American Guardian; The Washington Post; Women?s Outlook; International Business; The Tahoe Daily Tribune; The Beachcomber; and The Navarre Press.