63 years ago today, November 3, 1962 (October 7, 1962, lunar calendar), U Thant became Secretary-General of the United Nations. U Thant U Thant, then Secretary-General of the United Nations, was born on January 22, 1909 in Banthingwu, Myanmar. Graduated from Yangon University and studied in the UK. He began to work in education in 1931 and later worked in the government education and press and publication departments. In 1953, he served as Planning Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office. Since May 1957, he has served as Myanmar's representative to the United Nations. After the death of Hammarskjöld in a plane crash in September 1961, U Thant was unanimously recommended by the United Nations Security Council as Acting Secretary-General on November 3. He was officially elected Secretary-General on November 3, 1962, and was re-elected in December 1966. During his tenure, he mediated the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the India-Pakistan dispute in 1965, and the Third Middle East War in 1967. He died of illness in New York in November 1974.