← Back to the front page

The General Public Did Not Know All Of These Details During The Vietnam War

Khalid Elhassan February 7, 2023 29 min

The Fiery Moment That Seared Vietnam Into America’s Consciousness

thich quang duc getting doused with gasoline, moments before he set himself on fire — Thich Quang Duc getting doused with gasoline, moments before he set himself on fire. ChatGPT

On June 10^th, 1963, correspondents were tipped that “something important” would happen the next day near the Cambodian embassy in Saigon. On the 11^th, Associated Press photographer Malcolm Browne captured two Buddhist monks as they doused an elderly comrade seated lotus style with gasoline. The elderly monk, Thich Quang Duc, then struck a match and dropped it on himself, and maintained his serenity while flames engulfed him. Browne’s iconic photo of the event captivated the world. Vietnam entered America’s national conversation after the Burning Buddhist’s photo appeared on newspaper front pages across the US.

Major General Van Minh Duoung, one of the leaders of the coup that overthrew Diem, gives an interview after the event. Life Magazine

As president Kennedy put it: “No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one“. People questioned America’s support for Diem’s government, and Kennedy did not oppose a coup that overthrew it a few months later. On the night of November 1-2, South Vietnamese army units attacked the presidential palace, and captured it after a bloody siege. Diem and his advisor and younger brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, surrendered after they were promised a safe exile. They were placed in the back of an armored personnel carrier that was to take them to a military airbase. Instead, they were assassinated by South Vietnamese officers en route.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.