Cold Open

It’s the morning of June 11th, 1963, in Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam.

32-year-old reporter Malcolm Browne steps back onto the sidewalk as hundreds of Buddhist monks and nuns walk down the center of the road. Traffic grinds to a halt as the orange-robed crowd blocks an entire intersection, chanting and banging drums. Malcolm feels a fizz of anticipation in the air. Not for the first time, a crisis is brewing in this fractious young country.

Nine years ago, when France gave up its colonies in Southeast Asia, Vietnam was divided into two states: capitalist South Vietnam and communist North Vietnam. The two countries almost immediately declared war on each other, and they’ve been engaged in a struggle for supremacy ever since. But South Vietnam’s government isn’t just fighting an external enemy. It also faces opposition from many of its own people. Despite Buddhism being the country’s majority religion, the Catholic-led regime is suppressing the right to worship – and that’s making many Buddhists angry. Yesterday, Malcolm got a tip that a Buddhist protest was going to take place in central Saigon, and he’s here to pick up the story.

A hush settles over the crowd as an elderly monk emerges from the procession and sits cross-legged on the road. Sensing that something newsworthy is about to happen, Malcolm reaches into his pocket and takes out a cheap camera. While Malcolm checks to make sure there’s a film loaded, one of the younger monks picks up a can of gasoline…and empties it over the elderly monk’s head. The older monk takes no notice. He moves only to rotate a set of beads around his neck as he mutters a prayer beneath his breath.

Then, he reaches inside his robes… strikes a match… and his gasoline-soaked body goes up in flames.

Malcolm’s professional instincts kick in. He snaps photographs as quickly as he can, worried that the monks will step in. But no one does. Instead, they all watch and pray as the elderly monk sits, unmoving, not uttering a sound as he slowly burns to death.

By the next morning, Malcolm Browne’s photographs of Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc will be on the front pages of newspapers around the world. But those pictures won’t just turn a protest about religious oppression into global news, they will help change the course of history. South Vietnam’s government will be toppled and the United States will be dragged deeper into the conflict — a chain of events that began with the spark of match and an act of self-sacrifice on a Saigon street on June 11th, 1963.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is June 11th, 1963: Vietnam’s “Burning Monk” Protest.

Act One

It’s May 8th, 1963, in Hue, a coastal city in South Vietnam, one month before Thich Quang Duc's self-immolation in Saigon.

39-year-old Thich Tri Quang leads a procession of 500 other Buddhist monks across a bridge and into the city. Police stand by watching, as the monks chant and wave flags. They’re here to celebrate Vesak, the most important Buddhist festival of the year. But there’s tension in the air—because by taking part in this holy event, the monks are breaking the law.

The vast majority of the South Vietnamese people are Buddhists, but not the country’s ruler: President Ngo Dinh Diem. He is a Catholic and has pursued many policies which seem to favor his fellow believers. Recently, President Diem passed a law banning the flying of religious flags. And that led to Buddhist banners being forcibly removed from cities across the country. But one week ago, during a Christian celebration, Catholic flags were widely flown, and the authorities took no action. It’s a double standard that looks set to continue in Hue. Given the number of police and military present, it appears that they’re not going to turn a blind eye to today’s Buddhist festival.

Tri Quang shakes his head as he passes another police vehicle— this one parked right underneath a Catholic flag that authorities have allowed to keep flying. The sight only confirms Tri Quang’s belief that the law is not being applied equally. But Tri Quang is a man of peace. He calls on his brethren to ignore the police and soldiers, as he leads them through the city to a Buddhist temple.

There, another 2,000 people are waiting and, once everyone is assembled, Tri Quang addresses the crowd. Although he’s angry, his message is still one of compromise. He doesn’t want Buddhists to be singled out for preferential treatment. He just wants all religions to be treated equally. But even as Tri Quang speaks, he can hear police and army vehicles starting to block off roads near the temple.

Tri Quang is not looking for trouble, so he decides to end his speech and allow the crowd to disperse before the police break up the demonstration. But before they go, Tri Quang asks his supporters to congregate at the local radio station later that evening, where Tri Quang is scheduled to deliver a speech that’ll be broadcast to the entire region.

A few hours later, Tri Quang arrives at this radio station and finds that his followers have indeed massed in the street outside. But despite such a clear demonstration of support, authorities deny Tri Quang entry to the radio station. The government has ordered that his broadcast be canceled.

A standoff develops outside the station. The Buddhists protest what they see as censorship. While the police and army watch warily from a short distance away. The atmosphere is tense. And then, two explosions rip through the street in quick succession. A few seconds later, soldiers fire guns and throw grenades into the crowd. The protesters scatter in panic as soldiers advance up the street with weapons drawn.

When the smoke clears, the protesters are gone. But nine people are dead, including two children, and another four are seriously injured. The army general in charge blames the deaths on a stampede that followed the bomb blasts. He suggests that the North Vietnamese planted the bombs to provoke a panic, and claims that the army used non-lethal concussion grenades to regain order. But these claims ring hollow when President Diem refuses permission for autopsies to be carried out on the victims, and orders the arrest of a local doctor who claims the dead suffered injuries consistent with gunfire and grenade explosions, not a stampede.

Despite this outbreak of violence, over the next few days, Tri Quang and other Buddhist leaders attempt to negotiate with the government. They ask for compensation for the victims’ families and an end to the persecution of Buddhists. But President Diem bluntly refuses to accept responsibility and antagonizes his opponents further by announcing a 9 PM curfew on the day of the funerals to prevent further disorder from breaking out.

This continuing discrimination will leave Buddhist leaders like Tri Quang frustrated. They will refuse to respond with force though and will continue to protest non-violently—but the tension will only escalate, until, one Buddhist monk will eventually resort to extreme measures, actions which will capture the attention of the entire world.

Act Two

It’s June 11th, 1963, in Saigon, a few seconds after Thich Quang Duc set himself on fire.

The young Buddhist monk who poured gasoline over Quang Duc's head stands back with tears in his eyes. Even though the young monk knew what was about to happen, it is still a shock to see his friend taking his own life.

Following the massacre that killed nine people in Hue, Buddhist protests in South Vietnam coalesced into a five-point manifesto. Buddhist leaders wanted religious equality between Buddhists and Catholics, the freedom to fly Buddhist flags, compensation for the victims of the massacre, punishment for the soldiers responsible, and an end to the arbitrary arrest of Buddhists. President Ngo Dinh Diem met with a Buddhist delegation to discuss their grievances, but he didn’t take them seriously. The official government press release that followed the meeting even referred to the Buddhists as “damn fools.” So, with little progress made, Quang Duc volunteered to make the ultimate sacrifice and show everyone the strength of feeling among South Vietnam’s Buddhists.

Now, as Quang Duc burns, the young monk who poured gasoline over him becomes aware of the eerie silence that's settled over the busy intersection. To ensure that there can be no confusion over what is happening, he begins loudly chanting: “A Buddhist priest becomes a martyr.” Then the young monk spots a western man with a camera and begins to alternate his chanting between Vietnamese and English. He hopes that this photographer is a journalist who might report Quang Duc's self-immolation and the Buddhist protests to the world.

The young monk’s chant is soon drowned out by the sirens of approaching fire engines. But the firefighters are prevented from intervening by the monks and nuns surrounding the intersection, who refuse to move out of the way. Ten minutes after setting himself alight, Quang Duc's body slumps backward and the fire begins to subside. The young monk smothers the last flames with a robe. And then, with the help of several other monks, he lifts up the charred corpse and lays it inside a wooden casket.

The thick smoke from the fire has drawn many onlookers, and the initial procession of 350 demonstrators swells to a crowd of more than a thousand. Addressing these protestors, Buddhist leaders repeat their demands for religious equality. But they seem to fall on deaf ears. Five hours later, when the protest begins to disperse, 36 monks and nuns hold an impromptu prayer meeting on the street. But it’s not long before it’s broken up by police in riot gear, who arrest the monks and nuns for holding an unauthorized religious assembly. It’s a disappointing end to the day. Quang Duc's death appears to have changed nothing.

But over the next few days, Quang Duc's fellow monks realize that his public suicide has had an effect. Malcolm Browne’s photographs escalate the crisis from a domestic problem into an international scandal.

And this leads South Vietnam’s most powerful ally, the United States, to put pressure on President Diem. They want him to reopen the negotiations that stalled after the Hue massacre. Diem knows he's in a weak position without American support so he appeals for calm and asks the Buddhists to trust him. But President Diem’s past actions have poisoned his relationship with South Vietnam’s main religion. And Buddhist confidence in President Diem falls even further when his wife is heard joking about Quang Duc's suicide, and when his ministers start circulating conspiracy theories suggesting to the media that Quang Duc was an unwilling martyr who had to be drugged before he set himself on fire. Or they hint that the entire thing was arranged by American photojournalist Malcolm Browne, who bribed Quang Duc to commit suicide just to secure a news story.

These rumors and President Diem’s actions only inflame tensions and worse is to come. Two months after Quang Duc's death, South Vietnamese special forces raid several Buddhist temples. Their aim is to find and seize Quang Duc's ashes. And while Buddhist monks do escape with the cremated remains, government soldiers manage to confiscate Quang Duc's charred heart, which had been venerated as a relic in the weeks since his death.

President Diem’s heavy-handed response doesn’t go unnoticed. Far beyond Saigon, South Vietnam’s most important ally is watching with growing disapproval. And it won’t be long before President Diem loses the backing of the United States. And without American support, his days in office will be numbered.

Act Three

It’s 8 PM, on November 1st, 1963, in the Presidential Palace in Saigon, five months after Thich Quang Duc's self-immolation.

The 62-year-old President of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, flings open a trapdoor, revealing a dark secret staircase beneath the floor. He hurries down the steps, clutching a briefcase stuffed with dollar bills. Just behind him is his younger brother and political adviser, Ngo Dinh Nhu. Two loyal aides follow, closing the trapdoor behind them, and together, the four men descend deep into the earth until they reach a tunnel. Then they hurry through the darkness, and away from the palace, their hearts pounding with fear.

Only a few hours ago, a military coup toppled Diem’s regime. His anti-Buddhist policies have alienated the vast majority of his people and angered his main ally, the US Government. When the Americans withdrew their support of Diem, two unhappy generals in the South Vietnamese Army made their move. The coup was swift. But Diem still had a trick up his sleeve. Anticipating a day like this, Diem had three secret escape routes built out of the presidential palace, and, now, he’s managed to slip unnoticed into one of these tunnels.

Soon Diem and his entourage emerge from the tunnel and run to a waiting car. The driver uses back roads to avoid army checkpoints and stops at the home of a friendly Chinese merchant on the outskirts of Saigon. After a sleepless night, Diem and his brother move again to a nearby Catholic church—but they arrive just as Mass is finishing, and they’re recognized by one of the departing worshipers. A few minutes later, security forces rush into the church with guns drawn. Former president Diem has no choice but to surrender, and soon Diem and his brother are bundled into an armored personnel carrier and taken to army headquarters.

There, the generals intend for Diem to give up power in a televised address to the nation, one that will boost the new regime’s legitimacy. But Diem will never get the chance to resign. When the armored car arrives at its destination, the generals are aghast to find that Diem and his brother have been murdered by the soldiers guarding them.

The assassination of Diem has far-reaching consequences. Hopes that this new regime will be any better than the old already seem misplaced. The generals behind the coup soon begin infighting, and South Vietnam is plunged into months of uncertainty. With Communist North Vietnam poised to take advantage of the chaos, the United States steps up its involvement in the region. Its military commitment in Vietnam will only grow from that point on. And by the mid-1960s, American troops will be on the ground, fighting an ultimately doomed war against the Communist forces of the north.

It's a war that will change both Vietnam and the United States. It will result in the deaths of thousands of Americans and up to 3 million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians. And although he didn’t know it at the time, one of the steps that led to war came when Buddhist priest Thich Quang Duc shocked the world by setting himself on fire in the streets of Saigon on June 11th, 1963.

Outro

Next on History Daily. June 12th, 1987. President Ronald Reagan delivers a famous speech in Berlin, Germany, challenging Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “Tear down this wall.”

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Matthew Filler.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Scott Reeves.

Edited by Dorian Merina.

Managing producer, Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.