U Thant ( January 22; 1909 - November 25; 1974) was a Burmese diplomat and the third Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971.

A native of Pantanaw; Thant was educated at the National High School and at 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.

He was appointed as Secretary-General in 1961 when his predecessor; Dag Hammarskj鰈d 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 2nd 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.