Browse Items (1041 total)

Kenneth tells of the firebug problem which Sarit deals with. People were lighting fires in order to collect the insurance on the properties and Sarit needed to deal with the problem. Televised, he shot a firebug which had been caught, teaching a…

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Once again, years later, Kenneth met Mrs. Yipintsoi again and was asked to dinner with her after he spoke quite highly of her at a meeting with a few hundred women. Regrettably, he was unable to attend as he fell quite ill.

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Kenneth tells of Queen Ramphai Barni. He visited her farm, recalling the time that she had visited his home in Washington. She remembered the visit as well, and they had a pleasant time together.

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Kenneth tells of his 1966 trip to Southeast Asia which would be his last. The Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) was trying to gather information in order that we might bomb the Ho Chi Minh trail. Kenneth was under strict orders, yet the…

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Donovan, realizing that this was his last significant position in government, wanted to be remembered and make a difference. Jokingly, Kenneth suggested redirecting the Mekong River, as this could drastically impact southeast Asia. Donovan took to…

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During his 1960 trip, Kenneth, Norm, and Eddie Hanna went swimming in a kiddy pool. They all had a little too much to drink, and Kenneth suggested they go swimming. So they went in, got their swimsuits, and swam in the small little kiddy pool in the…

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Kenneth tells of his trip through Afghanistan and an incident in which nomads were required to wash the car as they'd made it dirty. Kenneth also recalls buying a lamb-skin hat there, made from the skin of an unborn baby lamb. He bought one for Peggy…

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The climax of the negotiations was December 22, when the British gave in. Then the celebrations began. The Thai especially wanted to honor General Timmerman, who was the American negotiator in Colombo. They invited him to come to Bangkok, and the…

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The negotiations went on week after week. Finally, Mr. Byrd decided to dispose of Kenneth, saying that he was assuming a knowledge of the country of Thailand that he really didn't possess. He expressed admiration for Kenneth's father as a scholar and…

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The British couldn't understand why the Americans objected to their twenty-one demands. They pointed out that they had a state of war with Siam, whereas the U.S. did not. But the US won the war in the Pacific, not the British, so the US was going to…

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The overall purpose of Kenneth's trip was initially to be a political adviser on the negotiations between the English and the Thai. The British had made twenty-one demands on the Thai, which would have made Thailand virtually a British colony. the…

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In 1945, Kenneth traveled out to Thailand for the British-Thai negotiations, and one of his first trips out of Bangkok was to Cambodia. Kenneth tells of his travel with his escort guards, how it took several hours to drive through a marching Japanese…

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The cost of Kenneth's trip to Thailand was $1367 one way by plane to Bangkok, plus $342 for his baggage! He flew on a C-54 military plane. The C-47 was the workhorse. But the C-54 was much more substantial. He flew from New York City, flying out over…

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On a later trip, Kenneth recalls, as he flew up to New York, a little boy was sitting next to him on the plane and asked where he was going. The two began a conversation and at some point Kenneth told him that he was taking the Stratocruiser from New…

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The 1945 flight from New York landed in Ireland, then in London, where Kenneth visited the bookstores. He then flew on to Paris. Margaret had just "gotten in the chips" because of Anna, and had some money to spend. They had agreed that he would buy…

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Kenneth talks about his diplomacy travels to Southeast Asia. He describes his suitcase and the things he carried, whether it was for personal comfort, health, money, or documents for his meetings with people. He wrote frequently to Margaret and the…

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Kenneth tells of his experience flying in a C-54, which was a propeller plane. After flying on this sort of plane for a few days, he seemed to continue hearing the propellers. Those planes made an awful racket. The stops were fairly frequent because…

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On his way to Bangkok from Paris, Kenneth flew over northern Africa past the pyramids. He could see the scene of devastation as a result of the war. They flew on across India, landing first in Karachi and then at Calcutta. From Calcutta, they flew to…

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When Kenneth arrived in Burma, the consul general, Glen Abby briefed him on conditions in the country. Burma was disturbed politically, and the Burmese were determined to drive the British out of their country. There were plots and people being shot…

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From Rangoon, Kenneth went on over to Bangkok. There was an OSS mission in Bangkok, represented by James Thompson. On the Legation side, only one other American was there, having arrived the day before Kenneth to represent the USAF, Ted Grundahl. He…

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Kenneth remembers king Ananda and his family coming back from Switzerland while Kenneth was still in Bangkok. He read a speech and it was obvious that he did not speak Thai as well as Kenneth did. The royal family subsequently held a dinner and…

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While in Bangkok, Kenneth met a man by the name of James Thompson who had been in the town for some time and received a letter from his wife in the US that she was divorcing him because he was not coming back.  Thompson was devastated by the letter…

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Prince Dhani, the minister of education at that time, came all the way down from Bangkok to read Pridi's economic plan that Kenneth had obtained when he was still a missionary. The documents were classified and could not be in the public domain. The…

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Kenneth explains how he obtained the classified documents of Regent Pridi Panomyong. It was through a Thai who was an aide to Pridi who wanted to marry a girl in the church at Trang, a Christian girl. He was not a Christian. He came to Kenneth to…

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In 1945, when Kenneth arrived in Bangkok, he had only been there a few days when Pridi gave him an official dinner. At the dinner, Pridi said he had read Kenneth's book and commented that it was a very fair book. He wanted to know how Kenneth got…

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