Pridi Banomyong was born on May 11, 1900 in Ayudhya, the former capital of Thailand. He was the eldest son of a relatively well to do farming family. Pridi became interested in revolutionaries when he was very young. At the age of 14, he completed his secondary education. Too young to enroll in any institution for higher education, Pridi stayed with his family for an extra two years, helping them in rice farming before darting off to law school in 1917. Pridi was a bright student, he finished law school when he was 19, a year short of the minimum age requirement to enter the bar (Naeti-Banditya Sapha). He became a barrister at law and was simultaneously awarded a scholarship to do Master's and Ph.D. studies in France. In 1924, he obtained his "Bachelier en Droit", "Licencié en Droit" and in 1926 a "Doctorat d'Etat" and "Diplôme d'Etudes Supérieures d'Economie Politique" from Université de Paris. Pridi was the first Thai to earn this appellation. It was during his time in Paris, that he and a few like-minded Thais set up the People's Party (Khana-Rassadorn). They vowed to transform the Thai system of governance from absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. The group elected Pridi as their provisional leader....
             Later in 1927, Pridi returned to Thailand and joined the bureaucracy and rose quickly through the ranks. He was granted a non-hereditary title of Luang Praditmanuthum. At dawn on 24 June 1932, the People's Party, consisting of government officials, military officers, and ordinary civilians rapidly and bloodlessly took control of the government, changing it from absolute to democratic, constitutional monarchy and installing the 1932 provisional constitution as the supreme law of the land.
             Between 1933 and 1947, Pridi held various important positions including.. Minister of Interior, Minister of Foreign affairs, Minister of Finance, Regent and Prime Minister. King Rama VIII officially appointe...