President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Visit to Thailand
US President Lyndon B. Johnson visited Thailand twice while he was in office. First time was a state visit from 27-30 October 1966 where he met H.M King Rama IX. In the picture above, President and Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson pose with King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit before the start of a formal dinner in the Chakri Throne Hall of the Royal Palace. His second visit to Thailand was on 23 December 1967 to visit US troops stationed in Khorat.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo935aAuTw8
Above is a short video from the US National Archives entitled “His Majesty’s Visitor – President Johnson’s Visit To Thailand”. A 50 minute DVD of the same name is for sale in amazon.com.
OFFICIAL VISITS BY US PRESIDENTS TO THAILAND:
- Lyndon B. Johnson Bangkok. State visit; met with King Bhumibol Adulyadej. October 27-30, 1966
- Lyndon B. Johnson Khorat. Visited US. military personnel. December 23, 1967
- Richard M. Nixon Bangok. State visit; met with King Bhumibol Adulyadej. July 28-30, 1969
- William J. Clinton Bangkok. State Visit. November 25-26, 1996
- George W. Bush Bangkok. Attended the APEC Summit Meeting. October 18-21, 2003
- George W. Bush Bangkok. Met with Prime Minister Samak and addressed Burmese activists. August 6-7, 2008
My dad, David C Colville, was the Manager of the Bangkok branch of the Bank of America from 1964-67. He was also the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangkok in 1966, and was responsible for some of the logistics as it related to the business community for LBJ’s visit.We have family photos of my parents with LBJ and Lady Bird and the King and Queen from that visit. I also vaguely remember being there near the tent, but I was only nine years old!
I was there for the visit, I waited outside the castle grounds with a US Army ambulance from the 5th field Hosp in Bangkok in case of an emergency.