6 February 1956
Dag Hammarskjold’s Visit to Rangoon
room Myanmar
people Dag Hammarskjold U Raschid President U Ba U
On 6 February 1956 Dag Hammarskjold, the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, visited Rangoon. Dag Hammarskjold was arguably the UN's best chief ever, providing tremendous intellectual leadership, courage, and managerial talent. His top aides were the greatest international civil servants in history - Dr. Ralph Bunche and Sir Brian Urquhart.
Hammarskjold was on a round-the-world tour and later wrote that he came home with two unexpected "favourite countries" - Burma and New Zealand. He also wrote: "I remember the old women at the peace pagoda at Rangoon, praying for peace with flowers in their hands - poor, poor people who did not know much about the ways of the world, but knew that short of peace there was no future for them."
The first photograph shows Hammarskjold enjoying evening cocktails with President Dr. Ba U and Commerce and Industry Minister U Raschid at Government House.