The Burning Monk, Unveiled
Malcolm Browne's riveting account of his iconic photo, which led to a newly-discovered angle.
Warning: This story contains graphic photographs. Viewer discretion is advised.
"No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one," President John F. Kennedy remarked after seeing Malcolm Browne's photo capturing the shocking suicide of a Buddhist monk in Saigon on June 11, 1963.
I interviewed Browne in 2011 when I was the international picture editor of TIME. It was fascinating to hear, first hand, the circumstances leading to his now-iconic photo of Thich Quang Duc. Here’s our conversation, edited for brevity.
Browne, a correspondent for the Associated Press based in Vietnam, was tipped off by a monk the night before. “I had some hint that it would be something spectacular, because I knew these monks were not bluffing,” Browne told me. “They were perfectly serious about doing something pretty violent.”
The photos leading up to the horrific moment are eerily peaceful. Browne told me he shot 10 rolls of film with his Japanese-made Petri camera — “a cheapie” he called it — so these are only a few of the photos he made that day.
“At a signal from the leader, they all started out into the street and headed toward the central part of Saigon on foot,” Browne recalled. The photos Browne shot before the dramatic conclusion to the protest are measured and calm, yet foreboding.
“When we reached there, the monks quickly formed a circle around a precise intersection of two main streets in Saigon. A car drove up. Two young monks got out of it. An older monk, leaning a little bit on one of the younger ones, also got out. He headed right for the center of the intersection.”
“The two young monks brought up a plastic jerry can, which proved to be gasoline. As soon as he seated himself, they poured the liquid all over him,” Browne told me. “He got out a matchbook, lighted it, and dropped it in his lap and was immediately engulfed in flames. Everybody that witness this was horrified.” Notice the open door of the car, a 1957 Austin A95 Westminster (on display at the Thien Mu Temple in Hue, Vietnam).
The AP moved this heavily-cropped version first. It wasn’t as widely published as it would have seemed — The New York Times didn’t run it at all. “They felt it was too grisly a picture, wasn’t suitable for a breakfast newspaper,” Browne said. The New York Times published a photo of the monks blocking the firetruck instead.
However, Browne's photo eventually did appear in The New York Times — two weeks later in a full-page ad purchased by a group of clergymen.
When Brown’s photo was published in the United States, it was inside, not on front pages. Here’s The Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times on June 12, 1963.
LIFE magazine published a spread with Malcolm's photos in the June 21, 1963 edition.
TIME (below, left) and U.S. News & World Report published the “burning monk” photo small, inside the FOB.
“He never yelled out in pain,” Browne told me. “His face seemed to remain fairly calm until it was so blackened by the flames that you couldn’t make it out anymore.”
Browne’s photo named the World Press Photo of the Year in 1963. Here he is at the awards ceremony in Amsterdam.
Over time, the AP moved other images from the disturbing sequence. This photo captures the terrified reaction of another monk as well as a myriad of shocked faces throughout the crowd.
Browne kept shooting long after Thich Quang Duc’s death.
But the photo below, that the AP dubbed “The Ultimate Protest,” is the most often seen.
I’ve always been intrigued by the monk in the background holding a camera on the far left and for years have wondered about the photos he shot that day. I recently discovered this remarkable image, shot on the opposite side from Browne, which I believe was taken by that anonymous monk.
Several compelling details lead me to believe the photo is authentic. The angle from which the image was taken closely matches where the monk was seen in Browne’s photo. The flames are blowing in the same direction as Browne’s and the traffic light and building in the background can also be seen on Browne’s contact sheet.
The only thing that can’t be seen is Browne himself — he would have been just to the right of the frame during this moment. Either way, this is a thrilling find.
I'm forever thankful I was able to talk to Browne back in 2011. He was gracious with his time despite the fact he'd just broken his neck and was suffering from Parkinson's. Browne passed away in 2012. In his obituary in The New York Times he was quoted, “My life is terrific. It affords the greatest possible variety of experience. That, after all, is why I became a journalist.”