Rufus Phillips grew up in Southside Virginia. He went to Yale University, where he was recruited (and later trained) by the CIA. When an assignment in Germany fell through, he volunteered for the Army. He did basic training at Indiantown Gap, then went to Fort Benning for infantry OCS and jump school. The Army then detailed him back to the CIA in 1953, and he was sent to Korea, where he served until he was reassigned to Vietnam. He arrived in Vietnam for the first time just two days before the Geneva Accords went into effect in July 1954. He worked for Edward Lansdale for two years, advising the South Vietnamese army on civic action. In 1956, Phillips left the Army, returned to the CIA as a case officer, and went to Laos to work on civic action there. He left the CIA in 1959, worked for the family engineering business for a few years, then returned to Vietnam in 1962, this time with USAID at the behest of the White House. He discusses his friendship with Diem, his sadness upon hearing of his execution, and his disappointment with the U.S. bureaucracy in Vietnam. He comments on MAAG, the CIA, USIS, USAID, USOM, MACV, the Saigon Military Mission, the Strategic Hamlet Program, and CORDS. He remembers the Majestic Hotel, NSC meetings, McNamara’s Circus, and the Binh Xuyen criminal enterprise. And he fondly recalls his personal interactions with President Kennedy, President Diem, Edward Lansdale, John Paul Vann, Lou Conein, and many others.