U Thant

Burmese at the UN 1955

From left to right: unidentified; Daw Dora Than E; Dr. Htin Aung; U Thant; Daw Mya Yee; Mrs. James Barrington; U (Jimmy) Paw Htin; Colonel Lwin; Uncle Richard Paw Oo. This was possibly during U Nu's visit to the US in June-July 1955.

U Thant at the Ministry of Information c. 1951

The Ministry of Information was located at 22/4 Phayre Street (now Pansodan). U Thant (centre in white jacket) was then the Ministry's Permanent Secretary.

Richard Nixon's Visit to Myanmar in 1953

Vice-President of the United States Richard Nixon visited Myanmar in 1953. Nixon happened to visit on Thanksgiving Day and his Burmese hosts managed to rustle up a turkey for lunch. The US newspapers at the time reported on his confrontation with left-wing and anti-American demonstrators at Pegu. A very witty Burmese communist held a sign that reads: “Pax Vobiscum  [Peace be With You] Scant regard for homo sapiens of the East   begets doubts about your move for peace.  Rest assured,...

Prime Minister U Nu’s visit to the United States

Prime Minister U Nu made an official visit to the United States and spent more than three weeks there, from 24 June to 16 July 1955. The tour included Washington D.C., New York, Ann Arbor (Michigan University), Knoxville (Tennessee), San Francisco, Los Angeles, and the Grand Canyon (Arizona). He was accompanied by his wife, Daw Mya Yi, U Thant (then Secretary, Prime Minister's Office), and Colonel Lwin (later head of Military Intelligence) as well as Burma's Ambassador to the US...

During the Heyday of Burmese Diplomacy

Prime Minister U Nu at the Bandung Conference with Justice U Myint Thein (left) and U Thant (back). Burma was one of the organizers of the Bandung Conference of newly independent Asian and African states, together with India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Ceylon. The conference was a big step towards the creation of the Non-Aligned Movement. Video here: http://www.gettyimages.no/detail/video/representatives-of-thirty-nations-from-african-and-asia-news-footage/116591383

Burma's Key Role in the 1955 Asian-African Bandung Conference

The first Asian-African summit was held in Bandung, Indonesia, over 18-24 April 1955. Burma was one of the principal organizers of the Bandung Conference, together with India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Ceylon. The conference brought together 29 leaders of the newly independent non-Western world, representing no fewer than 1.5 billion people, more than half the entire planet. The host, Indonesia's president Sukarno called it "The First inter-continental conference of coloured people - so-called coloured peoples - in the history of mankind"....