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U Thant
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== United Nations Secretary-General == [[File:U Thant swearing in.jpg|thumb|Thant swearing in to the United Nations Secretariat|left]] {{See also|1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection}} In September 1961, United Nations Secretary-General [[Dag Hammarskjöld]] was killed [[1961 Ndola United Nations DC-6 crash|in a plane crash]] ''en route'' to Congo. Within two weeks, the United States and the Soviet Union had agreed to appoint Thant as the Acting Secretary-General for the remainder of Hammarskjöld's term. However, the two superpowers spent another four weeks arguing over the details of his appointment. On 3 November 1961, the [[United Nations Security Council|Security Council]] recommended Thant in [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 168|Resolution 168]], and the [[United Nations General Assembly|General Assembly]] voted unanimously to appoint Thant to a term of office ending on 10 April 1963.<ref name="nytimes19611104">{{cite news | last1=Brewer | first1=Sam Pope | title=Thant Is Elected Interim U.N. Head | work=The New York Times | date=4 November 1961 | page=1}}</ref> During his first term, he was widely credited for his role in defusing the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] and for ending the [[Congo Crisis|civil war in the Congo]]. He also said that he wanted to ease tensions between major powers while serving at the UN.<ref>[http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1962/1962-Elections,-Other-Events/12295509437657-7/#title "1962 In Review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130321174537/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1962/1962-Elections%2C-Other-Events/12295509437657-7/#title |date=21 March 2013 }}. [[United Press International]].</ref> === First term: Cuban Missile Crisis === {{Quote box |quote = At a critical moment—when the nuclear powers seemed set on a collision course—the Secretary-General's intervention led to the diversion of the Soviet ships headed for Cuba and interception by our Navy. This was the indispensable first step in the peaceful resolution of the Cuban crisis. |source = —[[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]], Senate Foreign Relations Committee 88th Congress, 13 March 1963{{Sfn|Dorn & Pauk|2009|p=265}} |width = 25% |align = right}} [[File:U Thant and John F. Kennedy.PNG|thumb|Thant shaking hands with [[John F. Kennedy]] during Kennedy's visit to the UN Headquarters]] In less than one year in office, Thant faced a critical challenge to defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis, the moment when the world came closest to a nuclear war. On 20 October 1962, two days before public announcements were made, U.S. president [[John F. Kennedy]] showed Thant [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]] aerial reconnaissance photographs of Soviet missile installations in Cuba. The president then ordered a naval "quarantine" to remove all offensive weapons from Soviet ships bound for Cuba. Meanwhile, Soviet ships were approaching the quarantine zone. To avoid a naval confrontation, Thant proposed that the U.S. should make non-invasion guarantees in exchange for missile withdrawal from the Soviet Union. Soviet Premier Khrushchev welcomed the proposal, which formed the basis of further negotiations.{{Sfn|Dorn & Pauk|2012|p=80}} Khrushchev further agreed to suspend missile shipments while the negotiations were ongoing.<ref name="nyt62">{{cite news |title=Kennedy Agrees to Talks on Thant Plan, Khrushchev Accepts It; Blockade Goes On; Russian Tanker Intercepted and Cleared |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/10/19/home/crisis-26.html |access-date=7 April 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=26 October 1962 |archive-date=8 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908151735/http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/10/19/home/crisis-26.html |url-status=live }}</ref> However, on 27 October 1962, a U-2 plane was shot down over Cuba, deepening the crisis. Kennedy was under intense pressure to invade from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the [[EXCOMM|Executive Committee]] (ExComm). Kennedy hoped Thant would play the role of mediator and subsequently replied to ExComm and the Joint Chiefs, "On the other hand we have U Thant, and we don't want to sink a ship...right in the middle of when U Thant is supposedly arranging for the Russians to stay out."{{Sfn|Dorn & Pauk|2009|p=273}} Negotiations continued. The U.S. agreed to dismantle missiles in Turkey and guaranteed never to invade Cuba in exchange for removal of Soviet missiles in Cuba. Thant flew to Cuba and discussed with [[Fidel Castro]] allowing UN missile inspectors and the return of the body of the downed U-2 pilot. Castro, furious that the Soviets had agreed to remove missiles without his knowledge, categorically rejected any UN inspectors, although he did return the pilot's body. The inspection was done at sea by US reconnaissance aircraft and warships. The crisis was resolved and a war between superpowers was averted.{{Sfn|Lewis|2012}}{{Sfn|Dorn & Pauk|2009|p=292}} === Continuation of first term: War in the Congo === Thant's reappointment was assured when Soviet Premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]] made several favorable references to Thant in letters to U.S. president John F. Kennedy.<ref name="nytimes19621129">{{cite news | last1=Brewer | first1=Sam Pope | title=Russians Agree to Naming Thant for a Full Term | work=The New York Times | date=29 November 1962 | page=1}}</ref> In November 1962, the General Assembly voted unanimously to promote Thant from Acting Secretary-General to Secretary-General for a term ending on 3 November 1966.<ref name="nytimes19621201">{{cite news | last1=Burnham | first1=Alexander | title=U.N. Names Thant for 4-Year Term | work=The New York Times | date=1 December 1962}}</ref> For personal reasons, Thant wanted his term to end five years from his initial appointment,<ref name="nytimes19621129"/> and he would henceforth consider his first five years in office to be a single term.<ref name="nytimes19660902">{{cite news | last1=Middleton | first1=Drew | title=Thant Declares He Will Not Seek Second U.N. Term | work=The New York Times | date=2 September 1966 | page=1}}</ref> Although a manifest pacifist and a devout Buddhist, Thant did not hesitate to use force when required. During the Congo Civil War in 1962, Katangan secessionists led by [[Moise Tshombe]] repeatedly attacked UN Operation in the Congo forces (ONUC). In December 1962, after ONUC suffered a sustained four-day attack in Katanga, Thant ordered the "[[Operation Grandslam]]" to gain "complete freedom of movement for ONUC all over Katanga." The operation proved to be decisive and ended the secessionist insurgency once and for all. By January 1963, the secessionist capital [[Lubumbashi|Elizabethville]] was under full UN control.{{Sfn|Dorn|2007|p=161}} In his speech at [[Columbia University]] Thant expressed expectation of completion of the [[United Nations Operation in the Congo]] in mid 1964.<ref name="Institut">Tomanović, M. (1965). ''Hronika međunarodnih događaja 1964''. [[Belgrade]]. [http://www.diplomacy.bg.ac.rs/index_en.php Institute of International Politics and Economics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816142044/http://www.diplomacy.bg.ac.rs/index_en.php |date=16 August 2018 }}, p.223. (in [[Serbo-Croatian]])</ref> For his role in defusing the Cuban crisis and other peacekeeping efforts, the Norwegian Permanent Representative of the United Nations informed Thant that he would be awarded the 1965 Nobel Peace Prize. He humbly replied, "Is not the Secretary-General merely doing his job when he works for peace?"{{Sfn|Dorn|2007|p=147}} On the other hand, Chairman [[Gunnar Jahn]] of the Nobel Peace Prize committee lobbied heavily against giving Thant the prize, which was, at the last minute, awarded to [[UNICEF]]. The rest of the committee all wanted the prize to go to Thant. The disagreement lasted three years, and in 1966 and 1967 no prize was given, with Gunnar Jahn effectively vetoing an award to Thant.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lundestad |first1=Geir |title=The Nobel Peace Prize, 1901–2000 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/themes/peace/lundestad-review/ |website=nobelprize.org |access-date=7 April 2018 |quote=In 1965 and 1966 a majority of the committee clearly favoured giving the prize to the third Secretary General, U Thant, and even to the first, Norway's Trygve Lie, but chairman Jahn more or less vetoed this. |archive-date=18 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618204330/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/themes/peace/lundestad-review/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Outraged, Thant's undersecretary and Nobel Prize laureate [[Ralph Bunche]] called Gunnar Jahn's decision "gross injustice to U Thant."{{Sfn|Dorn|2007|p=147}} In April 1964, Thant accepted the [[Holy See]]'s designation of itself as a UN [[permanent observer]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=McCann |first1=Eamonn |title=How did the Holy See get recognition as a state? It just did |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/how-did-the-holy-see-get-recognition-as-a-state-it-just-did-1.1664452 |access-date=7 April 2018 |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |date=23 January 2014 |quote=In March 1964 pope Paul VI wrote to UN secretary general U Thant saying he was minded to appoint a permanent observer. In April, U Thant wrote back saying, in effect, fair enough, come ahead. |archive-date=30 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130030042/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/how-did-the-holy-see-get-recognition-as-a-state-it-just-did-1.1664452 |url-status=live }}</ref> There appeared to be no involvement of the General Assembly or the UN Security Council in the decision.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kissling |first1=F. |last2=Shannon |first2=D. |title=Church and state at the United Nations. A case of the emperor's new clothes. |journal=Conscience (Washington, D.C.) |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=11–2 |pmid=12178922 |year=1996}}</ref> [[File:Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, S. Rajaratnam, Abdul Rahim Ishak, Wong Lin Ken with U Thant at the UN in 1967.jpg|250px|thumb|[[Prime Minister of Singapore]] Visits [[UN Headquarters]] on 21 October 1967: Seen here, from left: Inche Rahim Ishak ([[Abdul Rahim Ishak]]), Minister of State for Education of Singapore; Prime Minister [[Lee Kuan Yew]]; Secretary-General U Thant; [[S. Rajaratnam]], Minister of Foreign Affairs of Singapore; and Ambassador [[Wong Lin Ken]], Permanent Representative of Singapore to the United Nations.<ref name=UN1>{{Cite web|url=https://media.un.org/photo/en/asset/oun7/oun7620127|title=Prime Minister of Singapore Visits UN Headquarters|accessdate=January 7, 2025|work=[[United Nations]]|date=21 October 1967}}</ref> ]] === Second term: Arab–Israeli conflict and Vietnam War=== {{Quote box |quote = After the Six-Day War, [Thant] allowed himself to become a convenient scapegoat for international inaction, accepting this unenviable role with as much Buddhist detachment as could be summoned. |source = —[[Walter Dorn]], 2007{{Sfn|Dorn|2007|p=177}} |width = 25% |align = right}} Thant announced in 1966 that he would not stand for a second term,<ref name="nytimes19660902"/> but he accepted a [[Draft (politics)|draft]] when the Security Council assured him that he would not be a "glorified clerk."<ref name="nytimes19661202">{{cite news | last1=Middleton | first1=Drew | title=Election of Thant with Wider Role in U.N. Due Today | work=The New York Times | date=20 September 1966 | page=1}}</ref> On 2 December 1966, the General Assembly re-appointed Thant to a term ending on 31 December 1971, on the unanimous recommendation of the Security Council.<ref name="nytimes19661203">{{cite news | last1=Middleton | first1=Drew | title=Thant, Renamed, Vows New Effort to End Asian War | work=The New York Times | date=3 December 1966 | page=1}}</ref> During his second term, he oversaw the entry into the UN of dozens of new Asian and African states, and was a firm opponent of [[apartheid]] in South Africa. He also established many of the UN's development and environmental agencies, funds and programmes, including the [[UN Development Programme]] (UNDP), the [[UN University]], the [[United Nations Conference on Trade and Development]], [[United Nations Institute for Training and Research]] (UNITAR), and the [[UN Environmental Programme]]. The [[Six-Day War]] between [[Arab]] countries and [[Israel]], the [[Prague Spring]] and subsequent Soviet invasion of [[Czechoslovakia]], and the [[Bangladesh Liberation War|Indo–Pakistani War]] of 1971 leading to the birth of [[Bangladesh]] all took place during his tenure as secretary-general.{{Sfn|Lewis|2012}} [[File:U-Thant 2.jpg|thumb|right|Thant meeting with U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson in the Cabinet Room of the White House on 21 February 1968]] He was criticized in the US and Israel for agreeing to pull UNEF troops out of the [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]] in 1967 in response to a request from [[President of Egypt|Egyptian president]] [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]].<ref>Rikhye, Indar Jit (1980). ''The Sinai Blunder: Withdrawal of the United Nations Emergency Force leading to the Six-Day War of June 1967''. Routledge. {{ISBN|978-0-7146-3136-3}}.</ref> The Permanent Representative of Egypt had informed Thant that the Egyptian government had decided to terminate UNEF's presence in the Sinai and the Gaza Strip, and requested steps that would withdraw the force as soon as possible, which Thant was obligated to accept{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}. The UN afterwards stated, "Because Israel refused to accept UNEF on its territory, the Force had to be deployed only on the Egyptian side of the border, and thus its functioning was entirely contingent upon the consent of Egypt as the host country. Once that consent was withdrawn, its operation could no longer be maintained."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/unef1backgr2.html |title=Middle East UNEF: Background |publisher=United Nations |access-date=23 May 2014 |archive-date=8 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808112941/http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/unef1backgr2.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Thant, by flying to [[Cairo]] in a last-minute peace effort, tried to persuade Nasser not to go to war with Israel.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} In Israel, his abrupt unilateral withdrawal of UNEF without any diplomatic process or wider consultation was regarded as a violation of United Nations assurances and commitments given to Israel in 1957, on the basis of which Israel had withdrawn from Sinai and Gaza at that time,<ref>''Abba Eban: An Autobiography'' by Abba Eban (Random House, 1977), pp. 321–322</ref> and it "thereafter inspired Israel's refusal to place her vital interests again in United Nations hands".<ref>''Abba Eban: An Autobiography'' by Abba Eban (Random House, 1977), p. 323</ref> Thant's once good relationship with the US government deteriorated rapidly when he publicly criticized American conduct of the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>Dennen, Leon (12 August 1968). [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ttEdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=b0YEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4623,4372187&dq= U Thant Speaks No Evil on Czech Crisis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816233449/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ttEdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=b0YEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4623,4372187&dq= |date=16 August 2021 }}. ''Daily News''.</ref> His secret attempts at direct peace talks between [[federal government of the United States|Washington]] and [[North Vietnam|Hanoi]] were eventually rejected by the [[Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson administration]].{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} In 1971, the participation of the [[People's Republic of China]] in the United Nations, which was a long-standing problem, was realized. Thant sent a message to the Chinese government asking China to send a delegation.<ref>{{cite news |work=The New York Times |date=28 October 1971 |title=Thant Asks China to Name Delegate to Council Soon |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/28/archives/thant-asks-china-to-name-delegate-to-council-soon-thant-urges-china.htmlfirst=Tad |last=Szulc |access-date=1 January 2020}}</ref> === Retirement === On 23 January 1971, Thant announced that he would "under no circumstances" be available for a third term as secretary-general. The [[1971 United Nations Secretary-General selection]] was delayed by the anticipated arrival of the People's Republic of China, and the Security Council did not begin voting until two weeks before the end of Thant's term. After every candidate was vetoed in the second round, [[Kurt Waldheim]] accidentally won in the third round when the United States, United Kingdom, and China failed to coordinate their vetoes and all abstained.<ref name="frus247">{{harvnb|FRUS 1969–1976 V|loc=[https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v05/d247 Document 247]}}: Telegram From the Mission to the United Nations to the Department of State, 22 December 1971, 0356Z.</ref> Unlike his two predecessors, Thant retired after ten years on speaking terms with all the big powers. In 1961, when he was first appointed, the [[Soviet Union]] tried to insist on a ''[[triumvirate|troika]]'' formula of three secretaries-general, one representing each [[Cold War]] bloc, to maintain equality in the United Nations between the superpowers. By 1966, when Thant was reappointed, all the big powers, in a unanimous vote of the Security Council, affirmed the importance of the secretary-generalship and his good offices, a clear tribute to Thant's work.{{Sfn|Lewis|2012}} In his farewell address to the United Nations General Assembly, Secretary-General Thant stated that he felt a "great sense of relief bordering on liberation" on relinquishing the "burdens of office".<ref name="NYTObit">{{cite news |last1=Whitman |first1=Alden |title=U Thant Is Dead of Cancer at 65 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/26/archives/u-thant-is-dead-of-cancer-at-65-ut-thant-is-dead-of-cancer-united.html |access-date=6 April 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=26 November 1974 |archive-date=7 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407182923/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/26/archives/u-thant-is-dead-of-cancer-at-65-ut-thant-is-dead-of-cancer-united.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Popham |first1=Peter |title=The Lady and the Peacock: The Life of Aung San Suu Kyi |date=2011 |publisher=[[Rider Books]] |isbn=978-1-61519-064-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ladypeacocklifeo0000poph/page/224 224]|url=https://archive.org/details/ladypeacocklifeo0000poph |url-access=registration |access-date=6 April 2018 |quote=Already unwell, he told the General Assembly that he felt "a great sense of relief, bordering on liberation" at relinquishing "the burdens of office"...}}</ref> In an editorial published around 27 December 1971, praising Thant, ''[[The New York Times]]'' stated that "the wise counsel of this dedicated man of peace will still be needed after his retirement". The editorial was titled "The Liberation of U Thant".<ref>{{cite news |title=The Liberation of U Thant |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/29/archives/the-liberation-of-u-thant.html |access-date=6 April 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=29 December 1971 |archive-date=7 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407183024/https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/29/archives/the-liberation-of-u-thant.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After his retirement, Thant was appointed a senior fellow of the Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs. He spent the last years of his life writing and advocating the development of a true global community and other general themes he had tried to promote while he was secretary-general.{{Sfn|Lewis|2012}} While serving as secretary-general, Thant lived in [[Riverdale, Bronx]], on a {{convert|4.75|acre|ha|adj=on}} estate near 232nd Street, between Palisade and Douglas Avenues.<ref>Dunlap, David W. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5D81731F935A25752C1A961948260 "Bronx Residents Fighting Plans Of a Developer"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090204215614/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5D81731F935A25752C1A961948260 |date=4 February 2009 }}, ''The New York Times'', 16 November 1987. Accessed 4 May 2008. "A battle has broken out in the Bronx over the future of the peaceful acreage where U Thant lived when he headed the United Nations. A group of neighbours from Riverdale and Spuyten Duyvil has demanded that the city acquire as a public park the {{convert|4.75|acre|m2|adj=on}} parcel known as the Douglas-U Thant estate, north of 232d Street, between Palisade and Douglas Avenues."</ref>
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