U Thant: The Third United Nations Secretary- General

U Thant was the Third United Nations Secretary-General 1961-1971 preceded by Dag Hammarskjold (Sweden) and succeeded by Kurt Waldheim (Austria). Although his real name is just “Thant”, putting a title, “U” for Married Man or professional, “Daw” for Married woman or professional, before any given name is Burmese’s way of writing as well as calling a person in respect.

His Early life

U Thant was born to Po Hnit (Father) and Nan Thaung (Mother) at Pantanaw, lower part of Burma on January 22,1909. During that time Burma was then known as British Burma. He was the eldest among his four other brothers. He was educated at Pantanaw National High School and University College, Rangoon, Burma. By their time, the family lived well-off as landowner. Unfortunately, his father died by the time Thant was 14 years old. He was married to Daw Thein Tin. U Thant was a devout Buddhist. He adapted Theravada Buddhism.

His Early Career

After his college education, he returned to Pantanaw and became a master at Pantanaw National High School. After winning first place in Anglo- Vernacular Secondary Teachership Examination, he became a headmaster by the age of 25.

He was a member of Burma’s Textbook committee and Council of National Education before World War II. In addition, he was an active free-lance Journalist. During his service as a headmaster, he became a close friend to U Nu who later became the prime minister of Burma after the Burma got independence from Britain.

When U Nu became the Prime Minister of Burma, he was appointed as a director of broadcasting 1948. In the following year, he was appointed as a secretary to Ministry of Burma’s information. From1951-1957, U Thant became a secretary to the Prime Minister. He wrote speeches and arranged foreign travels for U Nu.

He was the secretary of the First Asian-African summit held at Bandung, Indonesia, 1955. As the outcome of Bandung Summit, the Non-Aligned movement came into existence. He was Burma’s permanent representative to United Nations.

The UN Secretary-General

The death of Dag Hammarskjold in a plane crash resulted U Thant to become a Secretary- General by unanimously appointment of General Assembly on November 30, 1962 to continue the unexpired term of Dag.

U Thant was re-appointed for his second term as a Secretary-General in 1966 until he retired on December 31, 1971.

During his terms at United Nations, he established United Nations Development Programme(UNDP), United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITR), and United Nations Environmental Programme(UNEP). Among other, his two outstanding achievements are: defusing Cuban Missile Crisis and ending Civil War in Congo.

He was criticized in the United States of America for pulling out the UN troops from Sinai in response to the request made by Egypt. He criticized on Vietnam War. It eventually caused the relationship deteriorated between Johnson’s administration and U Thant.

His Death

U Thant died of lung cancer in New York on November 25, 1974. During that time Burma was already ruled by Military Junta. Out of his envy, General Ne Win did not allow the burial of U Thant to be conducted as National respected funeral. Then, a group of students snatched away U Thant’s coffin while it was placed in Kyaikasan Ground to pay their last respect by the countrymen. The Students Union buried U Thant’s coffin in University Campus but the Government destroyed it.

Upon hearing the storming in the University Campus on December 11, 1974, people rioted in the streets. And Martial law was declared. The guarding students of U Thant’s Mausoleum in the University Campus were killed. Thus, the U Thant’s Crisis has occurred in the History of Myanmar (Burma).

His Honorary Degrees

U Thant received honorary degrees (LL.D) from the following universities: Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada (25 May 1962); Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts (10 June 1962); Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey (12 June 1962); Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts (2 June 1963); Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (13 June 1963); Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire (16 June 1963); University of California at Berkeley, California (2 April 1964); University of Denver, Denver, Colorado (3 April 1964); Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania (8 June 1964); New York University, New York (10 June 1964); Moscow University, Moscow, Soviet Union (30 July 1964); Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario (22 May 1965); Colby College, Waterville, Maine (6 June 1965); Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (14 June 1965); University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada (28 May 1966); Hamilton College, Clinton, New York (5 June 1966); Fordham University, Bronx, New York (8 June 1966); Manhattan College, New York (14 June 1966); University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (30 March 1967); Delhi University, New Delhi, India (13 April 1967); University of Leeds, England (26 May 1967); Louvain University, Brussels, Belgium (10 April 1968); University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada (13 May 1968); Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts (19 May 1968); Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey (29 May 1968); University of Dublin (Trinity College), Dublin, Ireland (12 July 1968); Laval University, Quebec, Canada (31 May 1969); Columbia University, New York City (3 June 1969); the University of the Philippines (11 April 1970); and Syracuse University (6 June 1970).

He also received the following honorary degrees: Doctor of Divinity, The First Universal Church (11 May 1970); Doctor of International Law, Florida International University, Miami, Florida (25 January 1971); Doctor of Laws, University of Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut (23 March 1971); Doctor of Civil Laws degree, honoris causa, Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, (30 May 1971); Doctor of Humane Letters, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina (7 June 1971).

Sources

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Thant
• http://www.un.org/Overview/SG/sg3bio.html