Hump Day Horror


 On this day in 1963, Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc publicly burned himself in a plea for "charity and compassion" to all religions.

It's one of the most famous photographs ever taken.  Malcolm Browne was in South Vietnam covering the war as Associated Press chief correspondent for Indochina.  

President Ngo Dinh Diem was not just fighting communism and North Vietnam, he was oppressing the Buddhist majority.  His sister-in-law, Madame Nhu, joked about self-immolation, offering to supply matches. Five monks followed Duc.

The image helped fuel opposition to the war, where the United States was assisting South Vietnam.

It won World Press Photo of the Year, and Browne was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting.

Diem was assassinated in a coup that took place in November of 1963.


Rage Against the Machine used the photo for their self-titled album in 1992.



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