Sithu U Thant

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.

Development Goals

In September 2000, after a meeting of U.N. diplomats and others, they agreed on Millennium Development Goals. These consisted of eight world development goals for the start of the new millennium, with the intention of reaching them by the year 2015:

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger;
Achieve universal primary education;
Promote gender equality and empower women;
Reduce child mortality;
Improve maternal health;
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases;
Ensure environmental sustainability; and
Develop a global partnership for development

The souvenir sheet on this album page was issued to commemorate the agreement and to remind world leaders and others to continue to work towards these goals.

Note

I’m glad the U.N. Post Office issued a stamp commemorating U Thant, the third Secretary General. He was a good leader and a kind man who deserves to be celebrated. There are a few stamps of Trygve Lie and Dag Hammarskjöld, the first and second Secretaries General, but there weren’t any of U Thant until this issue.

Contains 6 spots: own 6 – 6 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.
Album or Web Page Last changed Nov 17, 2025

Stamp Details

The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.

spot	own	catalog	subject	description	comment
1.1	✓	437	Sithu U Thant	1.15 (feb 2009) comm., multicolor

Endangered Species

2.1	✓	438	Rajah Brookes Birdwing	0.65 (mar 2009) comm., multicolor
2.2	✓	439	Emperor Scorpion	0.65 (mar 2009) comm., multicolor
2.3	✓	440	Blue Ground Beetle	0.65 (mar 2009) comm., multicolor
2.4	✓	441	Mexican Redknee Tarantula	0.65 (mar 2009) comm., multicolor
3.1	✓	457	Millennium Development Goals	5.20 (sep 2009) comm., multicolor

Footnotes

Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.

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