Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Asia and the Pacific, Volume VI, Part 2

792.00/6–2851

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Ambassador in Thailand (Stanton)

confidential

[ Washington ,] June 28, 1951.

Subject: Report to the President on Conditions in Thailand

Participants:	President Truman
	Mr. Edwin F. Stanton—American Ambassador to Thailand

I had the opportunity this morning of reporting to the President on conditions in Thailand.

I recalled that the Thai people have the very friendliest feelings toward the Government and people of the United States and that these friendly sentiments were given concrete expression at the time of the outbreak of hostilities in Korea. The President said he recalled clearly that the Thai Government was the first Asian government to respond to the appeal made by the UN for troops and other support.¹ I said that I felt our postwar policy toward Thailand had further strengthened relations between the two countries and that today the Thai people were perhaps our best friends in Asia.

I referred to Communist activities and the trouble they are creating in neighboring countries in Indochina, Burma and Malaya, and said that coupled with these external pressures, there existed a large potential fifth column inside Thailand because of the presence of some three million Chinese in the country. The Chinese Communists were seeking, with considerable success, to organize certain Chinese elements which could be used for subversive activities and which no doubt would be used in connection with the application of external pressure.

In view of the uncertainties and dangers facing our friends the Thai people, they looked particularly to the United States for help. Ever present in their minds was the hope that the United States would come to the country’s assistance if attacked by the Communists. I said I personally felt in view of the friendship of the Thai people toward us, the help they have extended to us in Korea, and the political and economic importance of Thailand in South East Asia, that there was good reason why we should go to their assistance if the Communists should attack and it were at all possible for us to do so.

The President replied that he had always been much interested in Thailand and realized its political and economic importance in South East Asia. He said he was aware of the part being played by Thailand in furnishing rice to food deficit areas and said he understood that Thailand was now the largest exporter of rice in South East Asia. I said this was the case and that Malaya and Japan were very dependent upon exports of rice from Siam. The President added he hoped a crisis would not arise in Thailand and said that perhaps the enormous casualties suffered by the Chinese in Korea would deter them from embarking on any other aggressive adventures. I said I hoped so, but there was the possibility nonetheless that the Chinese might stir up trouble in South East Asia. The President said he hoped the situation would improve in Indochina, Burma, and Indonesia and that we must do what we can to help all countries in that area.²

1. For previous documentation, see Foreign Relations, 1950, vol. vii, pp. 125 ff.
2. That afternoon, Ambassador Stanton outlined conditions in Thailand for Secretary of State Acheson and urged that Thailand not be forgotten in U.S. strategic and other planning for Southeast Asia. Mr. Acheson assured Mr. Stanton “that our Thai friends would not be forgotten.” (792.00/6–2951)