Burning Monk
Photographer: Malcolm Browne
Date: June 11, 1963
Location: Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam
Malcolm Browne photographed Thích Quảng Đức, a 73-year-old Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk, as he burned himself to death at the intersection of Phan Đình Phùng Boulevard and Lê Văn Duyệt Street in Saigon on June 11, 1963. Thích Quảng Đức's act of self-immolation was a protest against the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam's Catholic-dominated government under President Ngô Đình Diệm, whose policies restricted Buddhist ceremonies, flying of Buddhist flags, and other religious practices. Browne, then an AP correspondent, had been tipped off the night before. His photographs were at first rejected by U.S. wire services as too disturbing, but were eventually published worldwide and triggered international outrage. President Kennedy said no news picture in history had generated so much emotion around the world. The photograph won the World Press Photo of the Year in 1963. Browne, along with Halberstam and Sheehan, won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1964. Thích Quảng Đức's heart reportedly survived the cremation and is preserved as a holy relic. Diệm's regime was overthrown in a military coup later that year.
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