# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/u-thant
# Generated: 2026-08-13T04:12:21.657Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/u-thant"
name: "U Thant"
slug: "u-thant"
description: "He talked Kennedy and Khrushchev down from nuclear war in 1962, then spent a decade as the UN's quiet broker — the first Asian to run the organization, and the one who said the Vietnam War was a mistake while it was still being fought."
tagline: "UN Secretary-General from 1961 to 1971"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/U_Thant_(1963).jpg"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Politicians"
  slug: "politicians"
profileType:
  name: "Politician"
  slug: "politician"
birthDate: "1909-01-22"
deathDate: "1974-11-25"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           62.31
  momentum:             0
  historical:           24.550512
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     65
  profileCompleteness:  65
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
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    slug: "politicians"
  - name: "Politician"
    slug: "politician"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "Literature"
    slug: "literature"
  - name: "Journalism"
    slug: "journalism"
  - name: "20th Century"
    slug: "20th-century"
platforms:
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0857052/"
    handle:    "nm0857052"
sources:
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    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "U Tan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "У Тан"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "У Тан"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "У Тан"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "U Thant"
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    title: "U Thant"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Thant"
    title: "U Thant"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Thant"
    title: "U Thant"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Thant"
    title: "U Thant"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%9F%CF%85_%CE%98%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%84"
    title: "Ου Θαντ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "U Thant"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Thant"
    title: "U Thant"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Thant"
    title: "U Thant"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Thant"
    title: "U Thant"
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    title: "او تانت"
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    title: "U Thant"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Thant"
    title: "U Thant"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Thant"
    title: "U Thant"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikiquote.org/wiki/%E0%A6%89_%E0%A6%A5%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%9F"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/U_Thant"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://eo.wikiquote.org/wiki/U_Thant"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://pl.wikiquote.org/wiki/U_Thant"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://www.discogs.com/artist/5052604"
    title: "Discogs"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Thant"
    title: "U Thant"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Born in Pantanaw in 1909, Thant studied at Rangoon University and navigated Burma's colonial endgame with moderate politics, becoming a close ally of Prime Minister U Nu and serving in his cabinet from 1948 to 1961. He moved to the UN as Burma's envoy, then was thrust into the secretary-general's chair in 1961 after Dag Hammarskjöld died in a plane crash. Within a year he was mediating the Cuban Missile Crisis, drawing Kennedy and Khrushchev back from the edge, and by December 1962 he had ordered Operation Grandslam to end the Congo insurgency. Reappointed unanimously in 1966, he spent his second term openly criticizing American conduct in Vietnam and ushering newly independent states into the fold. He refused a third term and stepped down in 1971. When he died of lung cancer in 1974, Burma's military government denied him honors — riots erupted in Rangoon, and the regime crushed them with lethal force.