Thailand and World War II (review)

Direk Jayanama served in several pivotal positions in the Thai government from the late 1930s through the 1940s. His considerable diplomatic skills helped Thailand navigate the tumultuous years of World War II and facilitated its quick rehabilitation in the international community afterward. As a politician and diplomat who helped shape events and survived the upheaval professionally, his memoirs are a valuable resource for understanding Southeast Asia during and after the war.

Direk was a civilian member of the group that staged the coup of 1932, which ended the absolute monarchy in Siam. A longtime senator, he served as Foreign Minister from 1938 through 1941. He was a key government official in the temporarily successful Thai military-diplomatic effort to regain territory from French Indochina in 1940 and 1941. Late on 7 December 1941, when Japan demanded that Thailand allow the transit of Japanese armies to attack British Malaya, Prime Minister Phibun Songkhram was conveniently out of the capital. Direk, as Deputy Prime Minster, refused the request and took the brunt of the blame for the ensuing day’s fighting. After Phibun granted Japan permission, Direk resigned from the government. Phibun recalled Direk to service in January 1942 as Ambassador to Japan, with the mission to create a formal alliance. Thailand then declared war against the United States, Great Britain, China, and Australia.

After Direk’s return to Thailand in 1943, ostensibly for health reasons, he was again appointed Foreign Minister. In late July 1944, with Japan losing the war, Phibun was forced from office. Shortly afterward, Direk again left the government and became active in the Free Thai Movement, solidifying his credentials as a friend of the Allies and an opponent of Japan. Direk and others maneuvered to position Thailand to be treated after the war as a liberated rather than conquered country. Above all Direk sought to prevent the Allies, especially Great Britain, from exacting revenge on Thailand. After the war he served as Finance Minister, Foreign Minister, and Deputy Prime Minister. He ended his government service as Ambassador to Great Britain, and later Germany and Finland.

Direk’s memoirs, based on his diaries, interviews, and official records, were originally published in Thai shortly before his death in 1967. Given the importance of Direk in shaping Thailand’s post-war relations with Britain, the United States, and the United Nations, Direk’s family desired an English-language version. The first English edition, also translated by Jane Keyes, was published in 1978. However, Keyes was dissatisfied with that edition, which had been rushed into publication. When Direk’s family sought a new and expanded translation of the memoirs, Keyes volunteered. Keyes is a scholar of long standing on Thailand specifically and the Far East in general, and has done an admirable job of adapting Direk’s work for English-speaking Westerners. This new edition of Direk’s memoirs, including an appendix with eleven key treaties and other documents concerning France, Japan, and Britain, will be of use mainly to scholars of Southeast Asia who are not Thailand specialists or Thai speakers. It will be especially valuable to those interested in the complex and dangerous yet mostly successful path Thailand followed in World War II.