Office of the Historian

314. Memorandum of Conversation1

US/MC/5
Canberra, June 28, 1966, 9 a.m.

SEATO COUNCIL MEETING

Canberra, June 27–29, 1966

ANZUS MINISTERIAL MEETING

Canberra, June 30–July 1, 1966

PARTICIPANTS

  • United States
    • The Secretary
    • Mr. Bundy
    • Ambassador Martin
  • Thailand
    • Thanat Khoman, Foreign Minister
    • Dr. Sompong Sucharitkul, Private Secretary to Foreign Minister

SUBJECT

  • Situation in Northeast Thailand

The Secretary said he would like to comment on the situation in the northeast of Thailand. He said he felt very strongly that the Thais should [Page 684] exert maximum effort now to smash this activity as quickly as possible. He said that in retrospect, looking back at the conference between Kennedy and Khrushchev in Vienna2 when it became apparent Khrushchev would not budge on Vietnam, there should have been maximum effort made against the Viet Cong. He said that as Khrushchev was threatening simultaneously a war over Berlin it was not judged prudent to increase American material or manpower support in Vietnam at that time. He said he felt that the Thai should exert a maximum effort to eliminate this menace now.

Thanat expressed complete agreement with the Secretary. He said that he had consistently urged such a maximum effort. He said, however, that General Praphat, Deputy Prime Minister and CINC of the Royal Thai Army, had argued that American slippages in equipment deliveries expected had not left the RTA sufficiently equipped. Thanat said General Praphat argued that if Thai troops were openly used it might invite the incursion of North Vietnamese regular units now passing through Laos on their way to South Vietnam. He said General Praphat argued that he could not depend on American materiel help and did not desire American troop participation. The decision had therefore been made to attempt to handle the matter as a civilian police affair.

Thanat said he felt so strongly that a maximum effort should be made that he took the unusual step of intervening with the King, who used his influence with Praphat to add Army elements to the suppression operation in the northeast. Thanat indicated that if the Thai could be reasonably certain of materiel assistance they could handle the job without American troops. The Secretary indicated that he would review the situation, (and attempt to insure that the necessary materiel support would be forthcoming).

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL THAI. Secret. No drafting officer is indicated on the source text, but it was approved in S on July 19. Rusk was in Canberra, Australia, for meetings of SEATO and ANZUS. The meeting was held at the U.S. Ambassadorʼs residence in Canberra. This memorandum is part VII of VII that comprised the Rusk-Thanat conversation. Part V is printed as Document 315. A complete series of Ruskʼs memoranda of conversation at Canberra, including the other parts of this conversation with Thanat, is in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 67 D 305, CF 47 and 57.↩
  2. The Summit Conference of June 3–4, 1961, in Vienna.↩