Samak had been known as a firebrand right-wing and ultra-royalist orator during the mid-1970s and served as minister of interior under Thanin Kraivichien after the Thammasat University massacre of 1976 until 1977.

TCP was launched with a rally at Sanam Luang to a huge crowd on Friday, March 9, 1979, the same day as the party's founding.

[2] In the March 1992 election, TCP lost most of its seats, dropping to 7 of 360, faced with the competition of the new Palang Dharma Party which attracted a majority of the Bangkok middle-class electorate.

One year later it also regained some strength on the national level, winning 18 out of a total of 391 seats, mostly due to the rival Palang Dharma Party's loss of popularity in Bangkok.

[3] In 2001, TCP founder and long-term leader Samak abandoned his party after he had been elected Governor of Bangkok on a nonpartisan platform.