Office of the Historian

482. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Thailand0

Washington, December 9, 1963, 6:43 p.m.

909. Accession of New Government.

You should call on PriMin Thanom at earliest appropriate moment to assure him of our continued support and friendship, recalling President Johnson’s recent messages to Field Marshal Sarit and to Thanom himself (Deptels 836 and 903).1

You should reconfirm our security guarantees to Thailand embodied in SEATO and the Rusk-Thanat communiqué of March 6, 1962 and repeat the assurances contained in Deptel 91.2

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Express our willingness and desire to continue our programs of economic and military aid to Thailand uninterrupted. Note that we strongly share the late Prime Minister’s view of the importance of accelerated development in the remote rural areas, as we know Gen. Thanom does.

State again our condolences over the passing of PriMin Sarit and note our shock at the statements issued after his death by the RKG Information Dept., which we are protesting in strongest possible terms.3 If asked about US position on proposed conference, you may say that this development obviously compounds the difficulties of holding such a conference. We will continue our close consultation with RTG on this matter.

Rusk
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL 15–1 THAI. Secret; Immediate. Drafted by Pickering, cleared by Arzac and Koren (in draft), and approved by Hilsman. Repeated to Phnom Penh, Saigon, Vientiane, London, and Paris.↩
  2. Telegram 836, November 24, transmitted President Johnson’s assurances to Acting Prime Minister Thanom that he would continue to follow the policies of the late President Kennedy, who was assassinated on November 22. Telegram 903, December 8, conveyed Johnson’s “sincere sympathy and condolences” on the death of Sarit and his assurances to Thanom of “the continued and unfailing friendship and support of the Government and people of the United States of America.” (Ibid., POL 15–1 US/KENNEDY and POL 15–1 THAI, respectively)↩
  3. Document 479.↩
  4. The Cambodian Government declared a national holiday upon Sarit Thanarat’s death. See Document 132.↩