Thanom Kittikachorn (11 August 1911-16 June 2004) was Prime Minister of Thailand from 1 January to 20 October 1958 (succeeding Pote Sarasin and preceding Sarit Thanarat) and from 9 December 1963 to 14 October 1973 (succeeding Sarit Thanarat and preceding Sanya Dharmasakti).
Biography[]
Thanom Kittikachorn was born in Tak Province, Siam in 1911 to a family of Chinese descent. He served in the Royal Thai Army during the Franco-Thai War and World War II before taking part in Sarit Thanarat's 1947 coup and becoming an MP and major-general in 1951. In 1953, he suppressed an anti-junta rebellion and was given command of the 1st Region Army. Thanom later served as Pote Sarasin's defense minister and served as his right-hand man before co-founding the National Socialist Party in 1957. In 1958, he became prime minister, serving for nine months and returning to power after Sarit's death in 1963. Thanom continued his predecessor's pro-American and anti-communist policies, and, while he was personally popular, his regime was known for its corruption. During the 1970s, Thanom battled peasant revolts and staged a self-coup in 1971, using communist infiltration as an excuse. In 1973, the government's arrest of 13 students and faculty members for criticizing the government led to the 1973 Thai popular uprising, and Thanom fled the country amid bloody unrest. Thanom went into exile in Singapore before returning to Thailand in the robes of a Buddhist monk in 1976, and his return led to protests that devolved into the Thammasat University massacre. Thanom soon left the monkhood and died in 2004.