163. Telegram From the Embassy in Vietnam to the Department of State1
1146. CINCPAC for POLAD. At about 1000 hours this morning Buddhist bonze burned himself to death2 at corner Phan Dinh Phung and Le Van Duyet Streets in Saigon. Preliminary information indicates Bonze (name unknown) was surrounded by massed ranks of from 200 to 300 Bonzes, applied gasoline to robe, and ignited it. Police tried vainly break through ranks of Bonzes. Embassy officer has viewed body. Burning viewed by crowd of 400-500 spectators.
Quang Duc’s suicide was photographed by Malcolm Browne of Associated Press. Several American newsmen had been informed in advance that something important might happen that morning near Xa Loi Pagoda, but only Browne responded. His photograph, taken an instant after the flames erupted, was published around the world. In John Mecklin’s view, the photograph “had a shock effect of incalculable value to the Buddhist cause, becoming a symbol of the state of things in Vietnam.” (Mecklin, Mission in Torment, p. 157)
Crowd orderly but growing. Police maintaining Bonzes in places and refusing permit procession to continue. Reportedly another Bonze prepared disembowel himself in protest today.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, SOC 14-1 S VIET. Unclassified; Operational Immediate. Repeated to CINCPAC. The time of transmission is not given on the source text. The telegram was received at 12:08 a.m.↩
- according to a report by COMUSMACV on June 12, the incident took place shortly after 11 a.m. The MACV report identified the bonze who died as Quang Duc, estimated the supporting group of bonzes and nuns at 400-500, and noted that the Buddhists used loudspeakers to proclaim that Quang Duc had died to emphasize the five demands made upon the South Vietnamese Government after the May 8 incident in Hue. (Telegram 121015Z from Admino COMUSMACV to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, June 12; Ibid.)↩