U Thant

U.N. New York, Page 61.0 (BL-1)

The third Secretary-General of the United Nations was U Thant (1909 - 74), a Burmese diplomat. He served as Secretary-General for a little over ten years, from 1961 to 1971.

Thant was famous for being part of the negotiations during the Cuban Missle Crisis in 1962, involving U.S. President John Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. He was instrumental in the acceptance of several new member states, in particular from Africa.

Thant had a relaxed manner that made him well respected and liked. His term was renewed in 1966 by a unanimous vote of the Security Council. He retired in 1971 and died of lung cancer in 1974.

Note

The stamps on the album pages in this section of my collection of United Nations stamps were issued while U Thant was the Secretary General. There may be a couple of stamps that were issued after his departure because that’s how the stamps on the album pages are layed out by Leuchtturm. I don’t want to create my own printed album pages for that overlapping period. As they are now is close enough for me. Incidentally, this sub-album is complete.