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James Harrison Wilson "Jim" Thompson (born 21 March 1906) was an American businessman who helped revitalise the Thai silk industry in the 1950s and 1960s. The son of a prominent Delaware family, Thompson graduated from Princeton University (1928) and studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. From 1931 to 1940, he worked as an architect in New York City designing homes for the East Coast rich. In 1941, he quit his job and enlisted with the Delaware National Guard regiment. During World War II, he served as an operative in the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency. He fought in North Africa, Europe and the China-Burma-India war zone. After the war, he was assigned to the US legation in Bangkok, Thailand. He left the army in 1946 and became interested in silk weaving. He co-founded the Thai Silk Company in 1948. The firm achieved a coup in 1951 when its fabrics were used for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, ''The King and I''. From then on, the company prospered. ==Disappearance== Thompson disappeared from Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands while going for a walk on Sunday, 26 March 1967. He left “Moonlight” bungalow (now the Jim Thompson cottage) at 1:30 pm. He failed to return before 6 pm. An intense search was conducted after he was declared as lost. More than 500 people were involved in the hunt. They included the police, the army, Orang Asli trekkers, Gurkhas, tourists, residents, mediums, scouts, missionaries, adventure seekers, American school students and British servicemen convalescing at the resort. At the end of the hunt, Thompson was not to be found, and no clues were unearthed. The official search lasted for 11 days, and sporadic additional searching went on for months. The case generated world-wide publicity and intense speculation, with most press reports and analysts contending that Thompson had been kidnapped (although no ransom note was forthcoming); had been murdered (although no body was ever found); had voluntarily left to do secret work in resolving the Vietnam conflict (although no evidence was presented); or was eliminated by business rivals (although no evidence on this emerged). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Disappearance of Jim Thompson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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