Family Weekly August 18, 1963
The Ex-Schoolteacher Who Meets
THE MEN WHO DECIDE OUR DESTINIES
U Thant of the United Nations
Not long ago he was a
shy schoolmaster in
the Burmese rice paddies;
now he challenges
world leaders on war-and-peace
decisions
Last year, U Thant, Secretary-General
of the
United Nations, hurriedly
left his 38th-floor office in
the UN building in the
midst of a war crisis be
tween The Netherlands and
Indonesia.
He had just received word that
his only son, Tin Mating ("Tinny"),
21, had been killed in a bus mishap
while vacationing in his native
Rangoon, Burma. Now the Secretary-General
returned to his New
York City mansion facing the Hud
son to console a deeply bereaved
Madame Thant.
The next day he was confer
ring with special mediators on
the Indonesian crisis, and when
"Tinny's" funeral services were be
ing held in Burma the Secretary
General was delivering an impor
tant address in Ottawa, character
istically admonishing both Russia
and the United States for their "ob
session with the past" which, he
felt, jeopardized world peace.
Only a few months ago, Thant's
voice, soft and placating during
the shrillest of international argu
ments, trembled as he delivered the
eulogy for his close friend, the
late UN Undersecretary Omar
Loutfi, whom Thant praised for
"evenness of temper and political
realism" words which many use
to describe Thant himself.
Then, visibly shaken, Thant left
to unravel still another problem,
the refusal of Russia and France
to meet special financial obligations
to the United Nations.
These two personal crises shed
light on the veiled character of the
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"little teacher" with timeless face
and Buddha smile, who, in a rela
tively short time, has risen from
schoolmaster in Burma's rice pad
dies to leader of a 110-nation or
ganization. He is a man deeply con
cerned with people who has been
thrust into a position in which he
must remain aloof and "neutral."
He is a reluctant officeholder whose
success is at the mercy of East and
West yet one who unhesitantly
tells off both sides.
After the death of Dag Ham
marskjold in 1961, Thant was
named acting Secretary-General to
fill Dag's unexpired term. Russia
objected to him as Dag's full-time
successor because she wanted a
three-man directorship. The U. S.
had reservations because he "lacked
forceful character." Thant was so
unknown that some British Com
monwealth delegates couldn't pro
nounce his name. (It's OO-THONT,
the "U" being a Burmese cross be
tween "mister" and "sir.") But
Asians and Africans prevailed with
their stop-gap candidate and hoped
he'd win friends before 1963 when
the UN elected a Secretary-General
for a full term.
THANT'S IDEA of winning friends
was to visit Moscow and tape a
radio program telling the Russian
people that their government was
not giving them the full story on
the Congo. He also took President
Kennedy to task for resuming nu
clear testing. When not scolding
both sides impartially, Thant was
eminently successful in cooling
various world crises, most notably
in the Congo. As the UN election
approached, both sides seemed fa
vorably disposed then came the
Cuban crisis of last October.
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Under the UN charter, the pow
er of the Secretary-General pretty
much reflects the decisiveness of
the man on the 38th floor. During
the Cuban peril, Thant made the
office a take-charge position. He
blasted Khrushchev's arms smug
gling; he deplored Kennedy's block
ade. Eventually, he' brought both
sides together for talks and became
an avenue through which each could
back down without losing face.
When the Secretariat election
came, Thant won more easily than
expected. "Every time a serious
crisis threatens world peace," said
Anastas Mikoyan, Russian first
deputy premier and firm troika
advocate, "we shall turn to Secretary-General
Thant, who has won
confidence and support."
Cuban dealings provided two in
sights into the man behind the in
scrutable countenance. Thant, a
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"A L
nonabstemious Buddhist, enjoys an
occasional Daiquiri cocktail (a fa
vorite of President Kennedy, too).
Once a reporter pointed to Thant's
glass and asked, "Is . that Cuban
rum you're drinking?"
"Yes," Thant confessed with a
sly smile, "but bought in the U. S."
Thant retains the Buddhist's re
spect for contemplation. During
tense moments in the UN, he orders
his aides to leave him while he
meditates alone. He does so in
strange surroundings for such an
Oriental custom: he has never
changed the chaste Scandinavian
decor of Hammarskjold's office;
only a delicately worked silver bowl
and cigarette box bring a touch of
Asia to the austere room.
These withdrawn moments give
Thant what he calls "emotional
equilibrium," a characteristic he
feels sadly lacking in the world.
World Crises By JACK RYAN h rli
" g I Pi lw y : .v
.-r V Thant's family visits the UN: Mrs. Thant (r.), daugh-
g (I terAyeaya, her husband Tin Myiantf far r.), and the Thant s'
J latt ton, Tin Maung. At left, Thant hold press conference.
"The emotional qualities of man
have been dominant for a long time.
I think qualities like bitterness and
intolerance and hysteria have been
rampant all over the world. I am
against all emotional . . . hysteria."
Thant has a temper, but only in
competence and stupidity can set it
oft. Last year when the Katanga
nese tried to frame UN troops with
a phoney massacre, Thant threw up
his hands and cried out undiplo
matically: "How can you work with
a bunch of clowns like that?"
Thant differs from Hammarsk
jold in temperament and work hab
its, if not in dedication. Dag was
aesthetic and - bombastic; Thant
pragmatic and philosophical. The
late Secretary-General ran a one
man show; Thant consults regular
ly with his assistant secretaries.
UNLIKE RAMMARSKJOLD, who
kept lights burning through
the night, Thant is an eight-hour-a-day
man whenever possible. He be
lieves that in stepping away from
his work he gets a better perspec
tive on it. Thant leaves Villa Bella
Vista, his 14-room residence in the
Riverdale section, in a chauffeured
limousine in time for his first order
of business, reading cabled reports,
at 10 a.m. each morning. Next come
meetings with his staff; afternoon
appointments are for visiting dig
nitaries, from Russian priests to
Guinea's foreign minister.
Lunch is usually a business af
fair (a recent guest was the king
of Morocco) in the dining room of
Thant's personal suite adjoining
his office. The suite also includes
a bathroom, bedroom, conference
room, and kitchen. Like Ham
marskjold, Thant only uses it for
a quick wash and wardrobe change
enroute to formal evening affairs.
Around 6 p.m., Thant returns to
his home. The UN owns the house
and allows Thant $6,000 to run it
He also receives $27,600 in yearly
salary and $22,600 for expenses.
In the past, Madame Thant at
tended two or three major diplo
matic functions a year, but since
the death of her son she has become
a virtual recluse. The Thants' most
frequent visitor is their daughter,
Ayeaya, 23, a recent Hunter Col
lege (New York) graduate in so
ciology, and her husband U Tin
Myiant, an electronic-engineering
student. Friends say his daughter
has become "quite Americanized,"
unlike Thant himself, who, al
though impeccable in English dress
and speech during business hours,
has retained Burmese traditions
during his six years in the U. S.
When he arrives home, Thant
changes to a longyi, a long Bur
mese kilt In discussing relaxa
tion, Thant describes as "unfortu
nate" the fact that he never devel
oped a taste for anything "light." He
is an avid reader, but only in ponder
ous political history. "Throughout
my life, I have had a passion for
just serious reading," he says and
then as an afterthought adds: "al
though at one time Sherlock
Holmes was popular in Burma, and
I liked Sherlock Holmes very much."
Sometimes Thant will hike a bit,
but he is not much for the strenu
ous life. If a good boxing match is
on television, however, he will be
sure to tune it in.
Thant believes the way of life
he was taught as a child in Burma
could help the world find peace.
Thant was the oldest of four sons
(three are now in government; one
is an editor) of a well-to-do family
in Pantanaw, a town of some 15,
000 on the marshy Irrawaddy delta
near Rangoon. He describes his fa
ther as a "lover of books," and
Thant himself grew naturally into
a passive, bookish youth.
"I was not fond of games," he
recalls. "My hobby was just hiking
and swimming. In those days one
used to get up at 6:30 in the morn
ing, do some hiking for 46 minutes
or so, then swim." But the remain
der of the day was devoted to read
ing and writing at home.
"AT Y S0LE 8n,bition'" Thant says,
iVX "has been to be a political
journalist." He was at the Univer
sity of Rangoon when his father
died and he had to return home to
assume duties as head of the fam
ily. When he returned to university
life, he began to study teaching. In
doing so, he met the man who
shaped his future, U Nu.
U Nu was a young political radi
cal, advocating freedom from Brit
ish colonialism. Where Thant was
a dispassionate observer, Nu was
the energetic mover and shaker.
Opposite as they were, the two stu
dents became friends and lifelong
associates and, imperceptibly at
first Thant was on his way from
the scholar's ivory tower to the
diplomats' glass-and-steel tower on
the East River.
Burmese journalists claim that
one of Thant's early roles was to
act as a courier of love messages
between Nu and the young girl he
loved. When the couple's marriage
plan was thwarted by their fami
lies, Thant arranged a river rendez
vous and had a boat ready to carry
them off on an elopement
After those early years, Nu
rushed into political battle, while
Thant retired to a quiet teaching
job in Pantanaw. It was not until
after World War II that Thant ac
tively engaged in government With
freedom, Nu became Burma's prime
minister and immediately appoint
ed Thant head of the new nation's
press relations.
Burmese politicians were inclined
to be derisive of the "little teacher"
at first But when Thant reportedly
got away with lighting one of his
favorite black cheroots in the pres
ence of Nu, a militant antitobacco
and antiliquor crusader, they
guessed the prime minister had a
friend he needed badly. It proved
so: Nu came to rely on Thant for
speeches, confidences, and guidance.
In 1967, he appointed Thant am
bassador to the UN. Once again
Thant's scholarly composure was
mistaken for "lack of forcefulness"
but once again, not for long.
RECENTLY Thant made some ob
servations on the future of the
world. He feels that the 1970s ("If
there are 70s") will see four ma
jor powers astride the world rath
er than just Russia and the United
States. Western Europe will be
added along with China, which, he
says, will explode an atomic device
"possibly this year or next"
Thant feels the UN will then be
a peacemaker only in brushfire wars
which, if unchecked, might spread.
But the world organization will not
be able to awe the nuclear powers:
they must learn to live among them
selves, he says, and now is the mo
ment for them to figure out how.
Can the world achieve stability?
Thant replies only that he is "es
sentially an optimist." In the mean
time, the little teacher calmly pre
pares to meet the next crisis.
Vmallu VMklu Aaunutf If IH1
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