Word: thanom
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...martial law and rule by a firm if benevolent military oligarchy, last week Thais voted in a general election. The balloting was to choose 219 deputies for the lower house of Thailand's National Assembly. The election did not change the texture of the government of Premier Thanom Kittikachorn, a field marshal in the Royal Thai Army, nor did it appreciably crimp its powers. But in creating a legal opposition, it heralded a return to more representative and more responsive rule...
...Bangkok's resplendent Temple of the Emerald Buddha last week, 1,500 soldiers of the Thai Black Panther Di vision worshiped before leaving for Viet Nam to become part of a Thai fighting force that will soon total 10,000 men. Addressing them, Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn made it clear that they were going off to fight for Thailand, which he believes is "the next victim" of Communism in Southeast Asia. "Even today," he said, "the Communists are infiltrating Thailand and increasing their subversive actions against our country." In fact, at least 2,000 guerrillas are busy spreading terror...
...resume the bombing with the peace talks barely under way," said a White House aide. "But we haven't seen one single act of restraint on their part while we have been restraining ourselves." Said Lyndon Johnson, during a White House dinner for Thailand's Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn, whose country has sent 2,500 troops to fight in Viet Nam and plans to increase that force to 11,500: "I hope that our own people, all of them, and our adversaries as well, will realize that increased infiltration, sending new MIGs to new airfields south...
Thieu's position, of course, would doom the talks before they started. Nonetheless, Johnson went out of his way during the week to assure Saigon-and other nervous allied capitals such as Seoul and Bangkok-that the U.S. was seeking what Thailand's Thanom called "a genuine peace which is not a facade covering a surrender." In a joint communique after two days of talks with Thanom, the U.S. and Thailand emphasized "their determination that the South Vietnamese people shall not be conquered by aggression and shall enjoy their inherent right to decide their own form of government...
...they see the U.S. moving toward peace talks in Viet Nam, they are also afraid that it may be preparing to reduce its commitment to them. The result is a widening rift in U.S.-Thai relationships that will be one of the principal topics of conversation when Thai Premier Thanom Kittikachorn visits Washington this week for talks with President Johnson...