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| nationality = Burmese | image = U Thant (1963).jpg | caption = U Thant in 1963 | alt = Official portrait of U Thant with a UN flag in the background. | order = 3rd Secretary-General of the United Nations | term_start = November 30, 1961 | term_end = December 31, 1971 | predecessor = Dag Hammarskjöld | successor = Kurt Waldheim | birth_date = | birth_place = Pantanaw, British Burma, British India | death_date = | death_place = New York City, United States | death_cause = Lung cancer | resting_place = Tomb south of Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon, | parents = | spouse = Daw Thein Tin | children = | relations = | religion = Theravada Buddhism |signature = U Thant Signature.svg }} Thant (; ; (:θa̰ɴ); January 22, 1909November 25, 1974), known honorifically as U Thant () was a Burmese diplomat and the third Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971; the first non-European to hold the position. A native of Pantanaw, Thant was educated at the National High School and at the Rangoon University. In the days of tense political climate in Burma, he held moderate views positioning himself between fervent nationalists and British loyalists. He was a close friend of Burma's first Prime Minister U Nu and served various positions in Nu's cabinet from 1948 to 1961. Thant had a calm and unassuming demeanor which won his colleagues' respect. He was appointed as Secretary-General in 1961 when his predecessor, Dag Hammarskjöld died in an air crash. In his first term, Thant facilitated negotiations between U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis, thereby narrowly averting the possibility of a global catastrophe. In December 1962, Thant ordered the Operation Grand Slam which ended secessionist insurgency in Congo. He was reappointed as Secretary-General on 2 December 1966 by a unanimous vote of the Security Council. In his second term, Thant was well known for publicly criticizing American conduct in the Vietnam War. He oversaw the entry of several newly independent African and Asian states into UN. Thant refused to serve a third term and retired in 1971. Thant died of lung cancer in 1974. A devout Buddhist and the foremost Burmese diplomat who served on the international stage, Thant was widely admired and held in great respect by the Burmese populace. When the military government refused him any honors, riots broke out in Rangoon. But they were violently crushed by the government, leaving tens of casualties. "U" is an honorific in Burmese, roughly equal to "Mr". "Thant" was his only name, per Burmese convention. In Burmese, he was known as Pantanaw U Thant, in reference to his hometown, Pantanaw. == Early life == Thant, the eldest of four sons, was born in Pantanaw, colonial Burma to a moderately wealthy family of landowners and rice merchants. Educated in Calcutta, Thant's father Po Hnit was the only person in the town who could communicate well in English. He was a founding member of the Burma Research Society and had helped establish ''The Sun'' (''Thuriya'') newspaper in Rangoon. Although his family members were ethnic Bamars and devout Buddhists, Thant's father, according to Thant Myint-U (U Thant's grandson), had distant ancestors who were "people from both India and China, Buddhists and Muslims, as well as Shans and Mons". He hoped that all his four sons would each earn a degree. His other sons, Khant, Thaung, and Tin Maung went on to become politicians and scholars.〔 Po Hnit had collected a personal library of various American and British books and cultivated a reading habit among his children. As a result, Thant became an avid reader and his school friends nicknamed him "The Philosopher". Apart from reading, he enjoyed various sports including hiking, swimming and playing Chinlone. He went to the National High School in Pantanaw. At eleven, Thant participated in strikes against the University Act of 1920. He dreamed of becoming a journalist and surprised the family by writing an article for the ''Union of Burma Boy Scouts'' magazine. When Thant was fourteen, his father died and a series of inheritance disputes forced Thant's mother, Nan Thaung, and her four children into difficult financial times.〔Franda, Marcus F. (2006). ''The United Nations in the 21st century: management and reform processes in a troubled organization.'' Rowman & Littlefield. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-7425-5334-7.〕 After the death of his father, Thant believed he would not be able to complete a four-year degree and instead worked for a two-year teaching certificate at Rangoon University in 1926. As the oldest son, he had to fulfill his filial duties and responsibilities of the family. At university, Thant, together with Nu, the future Prime Minister of Burma, studied history under D. G. E. Hall. Nu was told by a distant mutual relative to take care of Thant and the two soon became close friends. Thant was elected joint secretary of the University Philosophical Association and secretary of the Literary and Debating Society. In Rangoon, Thant met J.S. Furnivall, the founder of The Burma Book Club and ''The World of Books'' magazine, in which Thant regularly contributed. Promising a good post, Furnivall urged Thant to complete four-year university course and join Civil Service but Thant refused. After earning the certificate, he returned to Pantanaw to teach at the National High School as a senior teacher in 1928. He contacted Furnivall and Nu regularly, writing articles and participating in ''The World of Books'' translation competitions. In 1931, Thant won first place in All Burma Teachership Examination and became the school's headmaster by the age of twenty-five. Urged by Thant, his friend Nu took the local superintendent of schools position. Thant regularly contributed to several newspapers and magazines under the pen name "Thilawa" and translated a number of books, including one on the League of Nations.〔Naing, Saw Yan (January 22, 2009). (Remembering U Thant and His Achievements ). ''The Irrawaddy''.〕 His major influences were Sir Stafford Cripps, Sun Yat-sen and Mahatma Gandhi. In the days of tense political climate in Burma, Thant stood moderate grounds between fervent nationalists and British loyalists. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「U Thant」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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