On March 16th, 2026, the ISCAP released four documents from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library. These documents note the aftermath the month following the conflict in Tibet in 1959 from the perspective of the United States. Document 1 is a memorandum by DCI Allen W. Dulles informing the White House Staff Secretary that the Tibetan resistance was being gravely threatened. Document 2 contains copies of messages from the radio team with Tibetan followers of the Dalai Lama, conveying the grave truth of the Tibetan resistance and requesting assistance in the form of ammunition, food, and passports to Tawang. Document 3 is a memorandum for the President’s files detailing the process in gaining approval for activities, including a Northwest China Operation and a China Proper Operation, of which the president wanted further clarification before Gordan Gray, Special Assistant to the President, could give approval on behalf of the President. The ISCAP decided to declassify these originally Secret documents in their entirety. Document 4 considers the possibility of providing support to President Chiang Kai-shek, the head of Nationalist China, before the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took over, to keep the resistance against communist rule, which had been bolstered with the recent Tibetan uprising, in mainland China alive. The ISCAP decided to declassify some portions and affirm the classification of other portions of this originally Secret document.
One year into Chinese communist rule, China invaded Tibet and pressured them into giving the Dalai Lama power over Tibet’s domestic affairs. In March 1959, the Chinese military had invited the Dalai Lama to visit the PLA headquarters for a theatrical performance and tea but was told he could not bring bodyguards or personnel; he was to come alone. So, in fear of a Chinese plot to kidnap the Dalai Lama and take him to Beijing, Tibetans surrounded Norbaulinka Palace, preventing the Dalai Lama from accepting the invitation. Seven days later Chinese artillery was pointed to the palace, and the Dalai Lama escaped to India. Fighting broke out soon after, with Tibetans severely outnumbered and outgunned. Days later the Chinese began shooting at Norbulinka, slaughtering tens of thousands of men, women, and children. What followed was a brutal crackdown on the resistance, executing the Dalai Lama’s bodyguards and destroying major monasteries along with the thousands of their inhabitants.