Secretary-General U Thant As we watch the sun go down, evening after evening, through the smog across
(left) with USSR Premier the poisoned waters of our native earth, we must ask ourselves seriously whether
Nikita S. Kr ushchev
(center), Foreign Minister
Andre Gromyko and Deputy
Foreign Minister Valerian A.
Zorin, on April 10, 1967 in
Moscow. The Secretary-
General was present to
attend the signing of the
nuclear test-ban treaty by the representatives of the USSR, United
Kingdom and the United States.
Third United Nations Secretary General U Thant
U Thant, who served as Secretary-General of the United Nations
from 1961 to 1971, was chosen to head the world body when Sec-
retary-General Dag Hammarskjold was killed in an air crash in
September 1961.
U Thant was born at Pantanaw, Burma, on 22 January 1909, and
was educated at the National High School in Pantanaw and at
University College, Rangoon.
Prior to his diplomatic career, U Thant's experience was in educa-
tion and information work. He served as Senior Master at the Na-
tional High School, which he had attended in Pantanaw, and in
1931, he became Headmaster after winning first place in the Anglo-
Vernacular Secondary Teachership Examination.
He was a member of Burma's Textbook Committee and of the
Council of National Education before World War II, and was an
Executive Committee member of the Heads of Schools Associa-
tion. He was also active as a free-lance journalist.
In 1942, U Thant served for a few months as Secretary of Burma's
Education Reorganization Committee. In the following year, he
returned to the National High School as Headmaster for another
four years.
U Thant was appointed Press Director of the Government of Burma
in 1947. In 1948, he became Director of Broadcasting, and in the
following year, he was appointed Secretary to the Government of
Burma in the Ministry of Information. In 1953, U Thant became
Secretary for projects in the Office of the Prime Minister, and in
1955, he was assigned additional duties as Executive Secretary of
Burma's Economic and Social Board.
At the time of his appointment as Acting Secretary-General of the
United Nations, U Thant had been Permanent Representative of
Burma to the United Nations, with the rank of Ambassador (1957-
1961).
During that period, he headed the Burmese delegations to the
sessions of the General Assembly, and in 1959, he served as one
of the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly's fourteenth session. In
1961, U Thant was Chairman of the United Nations Congo Concilia-
tion Commission and Chairman of the Committee on a United
Nations Capital Development Fund.
During his diplomatic career, U Thant served on several occasions
as Adviser to Prime Ministers of Burma.
Secretary-General U Thant
(right) calling on Prime
Minister Indira Ghandi of
India at her residence in
New Dehli during his offi-
cial visit to India on April
10, 1967.
we really wish some future universal historian on another planet to say about us:
"With all their genius and with all their skill, they ran out of foresight and air and
food and water and ideas," or, "They went on playing politics until their world
collapsed around them." (U Thant, 1909-1974)
U Thant began serving as Acting Secretary-General since 3 No-
vember 1961, when he was unanimously appointed by the General
Assembly, on the recommendation of the Security Council, to fill
the unexpired term of the late Secretary-General, Dag Hammar-
skjold. He was then unanimously appointed Secretary-General by
the General Assembly on 30 November 1962 for a term of office
THIRD UNITED NATIONS
ending on 3 November 1966.
U Thant was re-appointed for a second term as Secretary-General
SECRETARY-GENERAL
of the United Nations by the General Assembly on 2 December
1966 on the unanimous recommendation of the Security Council
(resolution 229, 1966). His term of office continued until 31 Decem-
ber 1971.
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); Uni-
versity of Denver, Denver, Colorado (3 April 1964); Swarthmore
College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania (8 June 1964); New York Uni-
versity, 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 Col-
lege, 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 Unversity, 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); Co-
lumbia 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 Inter-
national 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 Caroli- Secretary- General U Thant
na (7 June 1971).
U Thant retired at the end of his second term in 1971 and he died
(Term: 1961-1971)
on 25 November 1974 after a long illness.
(Source: http://www.un.org)
Wars begin in the minds of men, and
Secretary-General U Thant
in those minds, love and compassion
is seen as he taped a Unit- would have built the defences of peace.
ed Nations Day message
for the UN Radio and Tele-
vision at Headquarters on
(U Thant, 1909-1974)
October 12, 1971.
Society of Burma (Des Moines, Iowa)