During WW2, the Japanese demaned for access through Thailand for it's forces to invade countries such as Burma and Malaya. Under pressure from Japan and because it was in no position to fight with the Japanese force, the Thai government declared war on Britain and the United States. However, the Thai ambassador in Washington, Seni Pramoj, and Pridi panomyoung, the senior statesman, refused to deliver the declaration to the United States government. They were conservative aristocrats whose anti-Japanese credentials were well established. Hence, the Free Thai Movement was organized, recruiting Thai students in the United States to work with the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The OSS trained Thai personnel for underground activities, and units were readied to infiltrate Thailand. From the office of the regent in Thailand, Pridi ran a clandestine movement that by the end of the war had with Allied aid armed more than 50,000 Thai to resist the Japanese. With the end of the war and the Japanese surrender, the Seri Thai-dominated government immediately acted to "restore the pre-war status quo". As regent, Pridi termed "the declaration of war illegal and null, and void, and repudiated all agreements made with Japan by the formal government".