Modern Era · Southeast Asia · Religion
1963
Thich Quang Duc burns
June 11, 1963
At a Saigon intersection, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk sat down in the lotus position, had gasoline poured over him by a fellow monk, and set himself on fire to protest the persecution of Buddhists by the Catholic Diem regime. A photographer captured it. President Kennedy called the picture the most powerful news image he had ever seen.