U Thant

U Thant was born on January 22, 1909, in Pantanaw. Working as an educator, writer, and close diplomatic adviser to Prime Minister U Nu, Thant was appointed Burma's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 1957. Following the tragic death of Dag Hammarskjöld in 1961, Thant was unanimously elected Secretary-General of the United Nations.

During the perilous October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Thant's quiet, impartial mediation between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev provided the face-saving diplomatic formula that averted global nuclear war. He served two full terms, mediating the 1965 India-Pakistan war and Six-Day War while fiercely condemning the Vietnam War. His 1974 funeral in Yangon sparked mass student democracy uprisings against the military dictatorship.