Kenneth tells of the "Pentagon Papers". Through the course of things, Kenneth was interviewed and appeared on CBS and the Cronkite show. A. Eustace Haydon saw the interview and sent him a note saying "Memories of happy days!"
Kenneth tells the story of the office chair caper from the 1940’s. There was a fellow named Monroe Hall, who was coming back from service in Asia but who was ordered to stay for another year because of something he had done. Eventually he returned to…
Kenneth tells of Bill Godel. Bil was an assistant of the Operations Coordinating Board who was an ex-marine. He tells of Bill's family which included five daughters!
Upon being asked about Thailand in the modern day, Kenneth makes his assessment. He reports that they will always survive and be independent, as they really know how to get along.
In the spring of 1942, Kenneth delivered the Taft lectures, three lectures, at the University of Cincinnati. In conjunction with that, he worked on reading in Chinese with a view to writing a book on Chinese philosophy.
When Kip was born, Kenneth said, "This boy and I are going to get acquainted." It was impossible to find anyone to come into the home and help. He took annual leave for two weeks, brought Margaret and Kip home from the hospital, and took care of both…
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…
Kenneth tells of the swimming pool at the White House. He was allowed to use this pool, however he usually would use the pool at the YMCA as he was able to horse around a little more.
When World War II broke out, Kenneth had photographs of both sides of the peninsula all the way up to Burma, and also on the islands in the Gulf of Siam [and the Andaman Sea on the west side]. He had maps. And he had a ten-year file of Siamese…
The military attaché, Karp Kunjara, later told Kenneth that he had no further problems. As a consequence of this incident, Pramoj's brother is just a relentless enemy of Kenneth. He even wrote about Kenneth in his newspaper, running him down, saying…
Kenneth describes the period he worked at the University as a period of student unrest. Many protests occured, and he recalled speaking to large groups of people who were ready to disagree with him angrily. After making a slight joke, he eased the…
Kenneth took a plane to Hanoi to be the guest of Governor Tri. He was sent in lieu of a man named Phillip Jessup who was supposed to have a special mission on behalf of President Truman to Hanoi, to be Tri's guest and to survey the situation in the…
The King was the son of his predecessor, whom Kenneth had previously known, if slightly. The two men spoke in Thai, using the common language. The King gave a dinner, and his wife came. He had told Kenneth that she never came to dinners for foreign…
In March, 1942, Kenneth wrote a handbook for soldiers in Thailand. We knew we would eventually be going in, and so there was a lot of talk about how to set up a military government. Somebody had to cook up a manual on this, as there were none.
The communists in Calcutta sent out orders to communist cells in South East Asia to have a general uprising of all their guerrilla forces simultaneously. People were being shot on the highways and dared not drive at night. The US consul sent a cable…
In conjunction with the OWI broadcasts, there developed a need to send messages to San Francisco regarding the broadcasts, and the OWI people wanted some sort of simple code that could be typed out for this purpose. Kenneth thought up the idea of…
Kenneth tells of the return trip with Admiral Layton. He recalls the plethora of items that the Admiral and Bill Godel were returning with, including a three-wheeled bicycle taxi! Kenneth also tells that this was his first encounter with a to be…
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.
Upon switching full time to American University, Kenneth retired from government service at the end of 1965. Dean Rusk hosted the reception for him, and awarded Kenneth a medal for his years of service.
Kenneth and Bill Donovan went up to the extreme northern part of Thailand for the repatriation of the KMT troops. Both the previous ambassador, Ed Stanton, and the ambassador to Burma, David Key, had been told to assure their respective governments…
Kenneth goes to great lengths detailing his various reflections on the Country Team Seminar. Altogether, there were four five-week sessions and one instructors' course which was two weeks in length. There were 277 members to go through the program,…
For recreation Kenneth would go out to Glen Echo, up the Potomac River outside Washington, where there was an amusement park, and swim in the public swimming pool. It was very crowded.
During work in Thailand, Donovan was to create an aid program for General Pao. Kenneth, however, realized that General Sarit was a rising power, and that Donovan should also pay attention to him. Donovan created a plan for Sarit as well, this being a…
Kenneth had good relations with the Thai. As such, he was to be honored with the Order of Exalted White Elephant award. However, as he was not a general, he wasn't able to receive the same ranking of White Elephant as the generals in the group. As…
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.