U Thant

UN Secretary-General from 1961 to 1971

Fame62.3
Momentum0.0
Wikipedia15.3K

Source-basedStable

Lived 1909–1974, aged 65

Wikipedia
81 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1909–1974
Aged 65
Known for
Cold Case Hammarskjöld
2019

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

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.

Biography

About

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 sec…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from U Thant

U Thant

said1968

Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves.

— Portfolio for Peace (1968), p. 92

U Thant

said1968

Wars begin in the minds of men, and in those minds, love and compassion would have built the defenses of peace.

— "Buddhism and the Charter", in Jeffrey Rose and Michael Ignatieff (eds.) Religion and International Affairs (1968), p. 114

U Thant

said1964

Two world wars were fought to make the world safe for democracy. Today we have to wage a war on all fronts.

— Address in 1964, republished in Portfolio for Peace (1968), p. 14

U Thant

saidundated

To understand my feelings — and my conception of the role of Secretary General — the nature of my religious and cultural background must first be understood.

— p. 69

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Gallery