Did that the UN leader who stopped the Cuban Missile Crisis was a former school principal from Burma? His name was U Thant, and he was a teacher who made the monumental leap from school to world diplomacy in 1957.
His strategic move to New York unexpectedly placed him at the middle of the world’s most dangerous geopolitical theater. In a couple of short years, this humble diplomat will prove to carry the important thing to stopping global nuclear war.
From the classroom to the UN headquarters
The life journey of a person whose full name was Maha Thray Sithu U Thant began in a small town in Southeast Asia. He was born on January 22, 1909 in Pantanaw, Burma.
Before entering the world of diplomacy, he began his profession in education. He worked as a teacher within the Thirties and later became principal of the Pantanaw State High School.
His profession in government began after the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, then still often called Burma. The government appointed U Thant as director of broadcasting and later as secretary of the Ministry of Information.
In the late Fifties, his position within the ministry was the bridge to his diplomatic profession. In 1957, Prime Minister U Nu officially sent U Thant to New York to function Permanent Representative to the United Nations. He was recognized by many countries as a neutral diplomat.
A surprising historical selection
The opportunity for U Thant to guide the UN arose in September 1961. The second UN Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld, died in a plane crash during a peacekeeping mission in Africa.
The tragic event left a really sensitive power vacuum on the UN at the tip of that 12 months. The United States and the Soviet Union were in a tense situation in the course of the Cold War. Both nations have repeatedly used their veto power over any newly proposed leadership candidate.
The UN needed a mediator acceptable to all factions. U Thant proved to be a perfect compromise candidate who was seen as truly neutral.
Burma’s position as a non-aligned country made U Thant acceptable to each the Western and Eastern blocs. The UN General Assembly finally adopted a decisive resolution on November 3, 1961.
On that day, U Thant was officially appointed as the brand new Acting Secretary-General of the United Nations. His election was the primary Asian representation within the UN leadership.
Defusing the Cuban Missile Crisis
U Thant’s leadership faced a direct test in the course of the direct confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union in October 1962.
Tensions got here to a head when the Soviet Union secretly built nuclear missile bases in Cuba.
US President John F. Kennedy reacted immediately, imposing an entire naval blockade across the island. American warships surrounded the waters, preparing to intercept Soviet military ships heading toward the Caribbean.
The world was on the point of nuclear war as each factions refused to speak directly. In the midst of this entire impasse, U Thant took an lively role as a mediator in his own right.
He bypassed the normal, slow UN bureaucratic channels. U Thant sent the emergency moratorium proposal on to President Kennedy and Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev.
The proposal contained a particular bipartisan compromise. He asked the Soviet Union to temporarily suspend the deployment of military ships. At the identical time, he asked the United States to postpone the naval blockade operation.
This timely intervention provided Washington and Moscow with the vital negotiating space for talks. The short break allowed either side to bypass public attitudes and reach a peaceful resolution.
The Soviet Union agreed to completely eliminate missile sites. In return, the United States issued a public guarantee that it could not invade Cuba. This successful mediation consolidated his diplomatic power.
The UN General Assembly voted unanimously to appoint him to a second term on December 2, 1966.
His long-lasting legacy
After successfully averting the Cuban Missile Crisis, U Thant focused on internal UN reforms. He combined separate branches of technical assistance to create the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). His 1968 environmental report on industrial pollution also laid the foundations for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
Following UN structural reforms, U Thant declined to run for a 3rd term and stepped down from office in late 1971. He lived quietly in retirement until his death from lung cancer in New York in 1974. His body was returned to Burma and stays buried in U Thant’s mausoleum in Rangoon.
