Cambodian Prince Norodom Sihanouk Overthrown

The Cambodian National Assembly votes to depose Prince Norodom Sihanouk while he is out of the country. Sihanouk strove to maintain Cambodian neutrality in the Vietnam War, but was increasingly unpopular among many Cambodians. His policies for dealing with a domestic uprising by a Communist group known as the Khmer Rouge, and for accommodating the presence of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops inside Cambodian territory, were controversial. The pro-U.S. Cambodian prime minister, Lon Nol, replaces Sihanouk as head of Cambodia’s government.¹