Word: thant
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...after me," Dag Hammarskjold once said, "will be one of the Afro-Asians." Last week, nearly two months after Hammarskjold's death, the U.N. fulfilled his prophecy. Picked to succeed Dag, after weeks of haggling between Russia and the U.S., was Burma's permanent U.N. delegate, U Thant (rhymes with Du Pont).* His selection came after Russia finally backed away from its insistence on a troika leadership and compromised with the U.S. on the number and authority of assistant secretaries. The U S wanted five, one each from the U.S., Russia, Latin America, Africa and Western Europe; Russia...
Round-faced and greying, U Thant wears black-rimmed glasses and elegantly tailored Western suits, usually with an English-style striped tie. He does not drink, but smokes small black cheroots, and is the only official allowed to smoke in the presence of Burma's abstemious Prime Minister U Nu. Still known respectfully as saya (teacher), U Thant has written six books, including a 1933 history of the League of Nations and two recently published volumes in a projected three-volume history of his native country. He speaks fluent English, has an unassuming disposition that has made him exceptionally...
Born in January 1909 at Pantanaw in Burma's fertile Irrawaddy delta, U Thant comes from a cultured, well-to-do family of landowners. Oldest of four brothers, all of whom became prominent in Burmese government and business, he is married to the daughter of an eminent lawyer. They have a 22-year-old daughter, Aye Aye, and a son. Tin Maung ("Tinny"), 19, both taking sociology courses at Manhattan's Hunter College...
After Pantanaw National High School, U Thant attended Rangoon University, but dropped out in his second year when his father's death left him responsible for supporting his family. He returned to teach English and history at his old high school, at 21 passed his teacher's exams ahead of all other candidates in Burma. At college and later on the staff at Pantanaw, U Thant became a lifelong friend of U Nu; both were prolific spare-time journalists, specializing in spirited anticolonial articles...
...Thant became publicity director for the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League during its struggle to win freedom from the British, and served as the government's top press officer, winning high marks from newsmen for his honesty and knowledgeability. In 1953, when U Nu was Prime Minister, U Thant became his private secretary, speechwriter and alter...