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.