[3] His father was the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army[4] from 1948 to 1954 and exerted a strong influence on the country's politics and economy.

[5] Chatichai and Boonruen had two children, daughter Wanee Hongpraphas, and their son political scientist, social activist, and former senator Kraisak Choonhavan.

In 1951, the military, led by Chatichai's father and his brother-in-law, Phao Siyanon, effectively assumed power in Thailand in a "silent coup".

In 1957, Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat—a rival of Chatichai's father and brother-in-law—staged a coup d'état against the government of Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram.

[4] During the following years he consecutively served as the Thai ambassador to Austria, Switzerland, Turkey, Yugoslavia, the Holy See[9] and the United Nations.

[11] Chatichai continued as deputy foreign minister after the 1973 democratic uprising, serving in the interim cabinet of Sanya Dharmasakti.

[15] After the snap election in April 1976, in which the Thai Nation Party expanded its share of seats significantly, he was minister of industry in the government of Seni Pramoj until it was overthrown by a military coup d'état after the Thammasat University massacre of 6 October 1976.

Chatichai's government initiated many infrastructure projects, including an expansion of the telecommunications network in partnership with the state-owned Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT), development of the Eastern seaboard of Thailand, and road and rail networks in partnership with the Mass Rapid Transit Authority (MRTA) in the Greater Bangkok Area.

[20] The formerly right-wing Thai Nation Party had de-ideologized itself and now represented the interests of the rising class of provincial businessmen.

It advocated a reinforcement of the role of parliament, in which politicians from the provinces were strongly represented, in contrast with the unelected power elites in the administration and military which had made political decisions during the tenure of Chatichai's predecessor, Prem Tinsulanonda.

Chatichai's government emphasised the economic development of the periphery at the expense of Bangkok's big businesses and military expenditures, which it tried to cut.

[22][failed verification] On 23 February 1991, the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army, General Sunthorn Kongsompong, and the generals of the Chulalongkorn Military Academy class 5, Suchinda Kraprayoon, Issarapong Noonpakdi, and Kaset Rojananil, formed the National Peace Keeping Council to depose Chatichai's government in a coup d'état.

[citation needed] At the same time, they acted in the interest of the traditional elite of the bureaucracy, military and Bangkokian business circles, whose influence the Chatichai government had sought to curtail.

[23][24] The coup group called the form of governance under Chatichai "parliamentary dictatorship"[25] and alleged a moral decline.