The Untold Story of a UN Secretary-General

U Thant’s rise to become UN secretary-general, the world’s top diplomat, was, to say the least, unlikely. Thant grew up in a small town in what was then rural Burma, at the time part of the British empire. After studying for two years at Rangoon University, he served as headmaster of a local school in his hometown. When Burma became independent in 1948, 39-year-old Thant joined government service and rapidly rose to prominence as the prime minister’s secretary. In less than a decade, he found himself at the centre of global politics as Burma’s ambassador to the United Nations.

During his decade in office, Thant played a proactive, visible and frequently controversial role in world affairs. However, within a few years of retiring he succumbed to lung cancer. Thant’s memoirs were published posthumously in 1978, but otherwise surprisingly little has been written about his career.

The 1960s was a very different era. With US–Soviet tensions at an all-time high and recently independent Afro-Asian countries seeking to expand their roles, world politics were in disarray and there was plenty of scope for a proactive UN. Both superpowers viewed the UN with suspicion but were also willing to use it to advance their own interests. At the time, the organisation was more compact and manageable, compared with the sprawling bureaucracy it is today.

During Thant’s first term, the UN was on a high. There was widespread optimism that it could help to promote peace, and it had the strong support of the Kennedy administration, whose UN ambassador Adlai Stevenson worked closely with Thant. However, as the number of global conflicts grew, it became increasingly difficult for Thant to tread the fine line between the interests of the two superpowers and various conflicting parties while maintaining his credibility as head of the UN.

By the late 1960s, the war in Vietnam and the Arab-Israeli conflict had strained Thant’s ties with the US to near breaking point. He was widely criticised for not doing more to prevent the buildup of tensions that led to the Six-Day War in the Middle East. And the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 simply highlighted the impression of the UN as ineffectual.

Peacemaker sheds important new light on the behind-the-scenes role Thant played in resolving the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Addressing the Security Council on tensions surrounding Cuba, Thant reminded members that ‘All conflicts have more than two sides, those of the two antagonists and that of the rest of the world.’ Thant Myint-U’s account of the crisis provides a timely reminder that the parties to a conflict must be willing to negotiate, and to exercise restraint.

He also provides a detailed account of Thant’s little-known 1965 proposal for peace negotiations with Vietnam, which secretary of state Dean Rusk, one of the US administration’s leading hawks, neglected to pass on to president Lyndon Johnson. Thant subsequently highlighted this as a missed opportunity, which did not improve his relations with the State Department.

Thant Myint-U’s narrative is rich with personal details, from Thant’s taste for daiquiri cocktails and Burmese cigars to the furniture and artwork in his office on the 38th floor of the UN building. Alongside his hectic work schedule, Thant liked to entertain. His guests included heads of state, politicians, diplomats, and even show-business celebrities such as Frank Sinatra and John Lennon. Thant Myint-U spices up his account with details of the dishes served at Thant’s most noteworthy gatherings.

Thoroughly researched and elegantly written, Peacemaker looks set to become the definitive biography of U Thant.

With Antonio Guterres’s term at the UN ending in December, candidates are already lining up to succeed him. Peacemaker’s detailed account of the backroom dealing at the UN during leadership transitions provides valuable pointers for the upcoming contest to appoint the next secretary-general.

Robert Wihtol is an adjunct faculty member at the Asian Institute of Management and former Asian Development Bank country director for China and director general for East Asia.

AI contributed no ideas to this article – Robert Wihtol.

This article appeared originally at The Strategist (ASPI).