Burning Monk by Malcolm Wilde Browne

Burning Monk

World Press Photo of the Year, prize singles

11/6/1963

Saigon, Vietnam Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc sets himself ablaze to protest the South Vietnamese government’s persecution of Buddhists. The self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc occurred during the Buddhist crisis in Vietnam, the civilian upheaval against the predominantly Catholic government of President Ngo Dinh Diem, which was supported by the United States. Although the Buddhists constituted a majority of the Vietnamese, Catholics enjoyed special privileges under Diem’s regime. These privileges were resented by the Buddhists, who began establishing religious and secular organizations to create and activate more political and social awareness. The crisis was precipitated by the shootings of nine unarmed civilians on 8 May 1963 in Hue during a demonstration. Following this incident, street demonstrations by Buddhist monks and nuns demanding political reform and religious freedom became frequent and were violently suppressed by the government.

Commissioned by: The Associated Press

Photo Credit: Malcolm Wilde Browne

Malcolm Wilde Browne was born on 17 April 1931 in New York City. Browne, a graduate in chemistry, started his journalistic career when he was drafted during the Korean War. In Korea, he was assigned to write for the Pacific edition of the military newspaper Stars and Stripes. In 1959, he joined Associated Press and worked in Baltimore until 1961, when he was appointed chief correspondent for AP in Indochina and moved to Saigon in South Vietnam. He was one of the first American journalists to cover the war in Vietnam. His insightful reporting earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1964, which he shared with New York Times correspondent David Halberstam. In 1965, ABC television offered him a position as chief correspondent for Indochina. Unsatisfied with TV reporting, Browne left ABC after only one year to spend a year in New York as an Edward R. Murrow fellow of the Council of Foreign Relations. In 1968, he was appointed correspondent for The New York Times for South America. Subsequent assignments were in South Asia (1971), Eastern Europe (1973), and other regions. When he returned to New York in 1977, he switched to science writing. After serving as a senior editor for Discover magazine, he returned to The New York Times in 1985, and covered the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Malcolm Browne died on 28 August 2012 from complications related to Parkinson’s disease, with which he was diagnosed in 2000.