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Katay Don Sasorith

Laotian politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 14, 2026
Entity authorityQ1736960
Source-derived summary

Katay Don Sasorith (Lao: ກະຕ່າຍ ໂດນສະໂສລິດ; July 12, 1904 – December 29, 1959) was a Laotian nationalist, politician, author, and the 8th Prime Minister of Laos (October 25, 1954 – March 21, 1956).

After working as a civil servant, Katay became chief spokesman of the national resistance movement against the Japanese and then the French, during and after World War II. He held a post as Minister of Finance in the provisional government, but had to join the government in exile in Thailand. He published a newspaper under the pseudonym William Rabbit (Katay meaning rabbit).

After returning to Vientiane in 1949, he was appointed the Minister of Finance from 1951 to 1954. Katay was elected prime minister in 1954. In that position, he managed to play on U.S. fears of the Viet Minh invading Laos to get substantial aid for his country. He was succeeded in 1956 by prince Souvanna Phouma.

Katay Don Sasorith died in Vientiane, Laos.

Editorial summary

“Katay Don Sasorith” enters the record as laotian politician. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Katay, Sasorith and Laotian can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1904, 1959, 1954, 1956—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1904-07-12. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Katay, Sasorith and Laotian.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Katay Don Sasorith” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Katay, Sasorith and Laotian provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1736960. VIAF identifies the subject as 43283150. The Library of Congress control number is n85206281. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1904, 1959, 1954 and 1956.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Katay Don Sasorith”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Katay Don Sasorith primary sources, Katay Don Sasorith archive and Katay research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Katay Don Sasorith”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Katay Don Sasorith” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.