Thant, U | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

(1909–1974), Burmese official and secretary-general of the United Nations. Educator and third secretary general of the United Nations (1961–1971), U Thant was one of the few Burmese to have held high-level international office. Educated at National High School, Pantanaw, and at the University of Rangoon, he served mostly as headmaster of National High School, Pantanaw, until 1947. He was also briefly secretary to the educational reorganization committee of the government of Japanese-occupied Burma. U Nu recruited him in various capacities, including as press director in 1947, as director of broadcasting in 1948, as secretary of the Ministry of Information in 1949 and, briefly, as Secretary to the Prime Minister in 1954.

U Thant is best remembered, however, for his services to the U.N., where he embarked on a rapid career. He began serving as Burmese delegate to the U.N. in 1952, and became permanent U.N. representative in 1957. He was appointed vice president of the U.N. General Assembly in 1959. In November 1961, after the death of U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, the United States and the Soviet Union disagreed on the successor, and U Thant was appointed in a compromise. He was elected permanent secretarygeneral in November 1962, and extended by a further five years in December 1966.

U Thant was a devout Buddhist and meditator, and he brought valuable qualities to the resolution of international problems. During his first term as secretary general he resolved some major international tensions, including the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba (1962). He had less success in his second term, when the U.N. moved from peacekeeping to questions of economic and social development.

When he retired from the U.N., he was succeeded by Kurt Waldheim in 1971, by which time Burma had been under military rule for almost a decade. After his death from cancer in New York on 25 November 1974, his body was returned to Burma, only to became the focus for demands for democratic reforms. His remains were briefly seized by students on 5 December 1974 and buried in a makeshift mausoleum on the grounds of the Arts and Science University in Rangoon.

Baal-Teshuwa, Jacob, ed. (1964) U Thant: Toward World-Peace. New York: Thomas Yoseloff.

Bingham, June. (1966) U Thant: The Search for Peace. New York: Knopf.

Manton, Thomas Brewster. (1968) U Thant: A Political Biography—An Enquiry into the Background and the Major Political Actions of the Third Secretary-General of the United Nations. Washington D.C.: The American University.

Nassif, Ramses. (1988) U Thant in New York, 1961–1971: A Portrait of the Third UN Secretary-General. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Selth, Andrew. (1989) Death of a Hero: The U Thant Disturbances in Burma, December 1974. Nathan, Australia: Griffith University, Division of Asian and International Studies, Centre for the Study of Australian-Asian Relations.

Thant, U. (1958) "A Burmese View of World Tensions." Burma VIII (July): 14–21.

——. (1978) View from the UN. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

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