The Key to the South

by Richard Aldrich

Published 18 November 1993
It has been fifty years since Thailand's 1942 declaration of war on Britain and the United States. This study examines the accelerating Western struggle with Japan for control over "independent" Thailand, a country at the strategic crossroads of Southeast Asia and recognized as "The Key to the South." On the eve of Pearl Harbor this culminated in arguments between Roosevelt, Churchill, and Eden as to whether the West should attack or defend this neutral country.