Coup, Second Premiership and More Coups
In November 1947, Army units under the control of Phibunsongkhram carried out a coup which forced then Prime Minister Thawal Thamrong Navaswadhi to resign. Khuang was again installed as Prime Minister as the military coup risked international disapproval. Pridi Phanomyong was persecuted. He was, however, aided by British and American intelligence officers, and thus managed to escape the country. On April 8, 1948, the military forced Khuang out of office and Phibunsongkhram assumed his second premiership.
On October 1, 1948, the unsuccessful Army General Staff Plot was launched to topple the government of Phibunsongkhram. As a result of this plot, more than fifty Army and Reservist and several prominent supporters of Pridi Phanomyong were arrested.
A Palace Rebellion in 1949 was another failed coup attempt. The aims of its plotters were to overthrow the government of Phibunsongkhram and to restore his main civilian rival Pridi Phanomyong to the Thai political scene.
Instead of the Fascism that characterized his first premiership, Phibunsongkhram and his regime promoted a façade of Democracy. American aid was received in large quantities following Thailand's entry into the Korean War as part of the United Nations' multi-national allied force in the Cold War against the communists.
Phibunsongkhram's anti-Chinese campaign was resumed, with the government restricting Chinese immigration and undertaking various measures to restrict economic domination of the Thai market by those of Chinese descent. Chinese schools and associations were once again shut down. Despite open pro-western and anti-Chinese policies, in the late 1950s Phibunsongkhram arranged to send to China two of the children of Sang Phathanothai, his closest advisor, with the intention of establishing a backdoor channel for dialogue between China and Thailand. The girl, aged eight, and her brother, aged twelve, were sent to be brought up under the assistants of Premier Zhou Enlai as his wards; the girl, Sirin Phathanothai later wrote The Dragon's Pearl an autobiography telling her experiences growing up in the 1950s and 1960s among the leaders of China.
On June 29, 1951, Phibunsongkhram was attending a ceremony aboard the Manhattan dredge when he was taken hostage by a group of naval officers, who then quickly confined him on board the warship Sri Ayutthaya. Negotiations between the government and the coup organizers swiftly broke down, leading to violent street fighting in Bangkok between the Navy and the Army, which was supported by the Air Force. Phibunsongkhram was able to swim back ashore when the Sri Ayutthaya was bombed by the Air Force. With their hostage gone, the sailors and marines were forced to lay down their arms.
On November 29, 1951, the "Silent Coup," was staged by the Army-led Coup Group and it consolidated the military's hold on the country. It reinstated the Constitution of 1932, which effectively eliminated the Senate, established a unicameral legislature composed equally of elected and government-appointed members, and allowed serving military officers to supplement their commands with important ministerial portfolios.
On November 13, 1956, Thailand's Criminal Code BE 2499 was signed into law by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the present king of Thailand. Field Marshal Phibunsongkhram countersigned the Code.
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