Editing U Thant (section)

=== First term: Cuban Missile Crisis ===
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 |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}}
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[[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}}