Quảng Đức, about 66, sat in the lotus position while another monk poured petrol over him, then struck a match. He did not move or cry out as he burned. The Associated Press photographer Malcolm Browne, tipped off by monks, captured the scene, and his photograph was seen around the world. President Kennedy said no news picture had ever generated so much emotion. The protest deepened the crisis that led to President Ngô Đình Diệm's overthrow and death that November.
In May 1963, government troops in Huế opened fire on Buddhists protesting a ban on flying religious flags on the Buddha's birthday, and nine people died. Diệm, a Catholic in a majority-Buddhist country, refused to accept blame. Monks began organizing protests, and a few foreign correspondents were told that something important would happen on June 11.
That morning, a procession of about 350 monks and nuns marched to the intersection of Phan Đình Phùng and Lê Văn Duyệt streets. Quảng Đức stepped from a car, sat on a cushion and prayed while petrol was poured over him. The journalist David Halberstam, who was there, wrote that he was too shocked even to take notes, and that the monk "never moved a muscle" as the flames consumed him.
The government's response made things worse. Diệm's sister-in-law, Madame Nhu, dismissed the death as a "barbecue" and offered to supply the mustard. By autumn the United States had quietly signalled support for a coup, and on November 2 Diệm and his brother were killed.
Key people: Thích Quảng Đức, Ngô Đình Diệm, Malcolm Browne, Madame Nhu