The most striking historical photos you have seen? No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one." John F. Kennedy



The most striking historical photos you have seen?
No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one." John F. Kennedy
Thich Quang Duc was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963.


Another photograph of the scene
Diem once told a high-ranking officer, forgetting that the officer was of Buddhist descent, "Put your Catholic officers in sensitive places. They can be trusted."
As a result, many officers in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam converted to Roman Catholicism as their military prospects depended on it.
Additionally, the distribution of firearms to village self-defense militias saw weapons given only to Roman Catholics, with some Buddhists in the army being denied promotion if they refused to convert to Roman Catholicism.
Given the circumstances, Quang Duc was protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government led by Ngo Dinh Diem.


Following Quang Duc’s self-immolation, schocking photographs of the incident were circulated widely across the world and brought attention to the discriminatory policies of the Diem government.
After his death, his body was re-cremated, but his heart remained intact

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