Fifty-nine years ago today, Malcolm Browne, an @AP correspondent, photographed the shocking and horrific self-immolation of a Buddhist monk in Saigon. I talked to Malcolm about his iconic photo in 2011 when I was the international picture editor @TIME...🧵
There are two photos from that day that are the most widely seen. A heavily-cropped version of the image above, and this one, made just before. Malcolm told me he used a “cheap Japanese camera," referring to his 1962 Petri 7s rangefinder with a 45/2.8.
Malcolm had received a phone call from a monk the night before alerting him that something big was going to happen. The photos leading up to that shocking moment are eerily peaceful. Here is a partial contact sheet (Malcolm told me he shot about 10 rolls of Tri-X):
On June 11, 1963, a monk named Thich Quang Duc calmly exited a car and sat on a cushion in an intersection. A younger monk drenched him with gasoline. "He got out a matchbook, lighted it, and dropped it in his lap and was immediately engulfed in flames. Everybody was horrified."
Malcolm Browne's iconic photo was, surprisingly, not used by the @nytimes. They went with another, less graphic, photo of Malcolm's from that day instead:
However, Malcolm's photo DID appear in the @nytimes on June 27, 1963. In a full-page ad purchased by a group of clergymen.
In fact, the "burning monk" photo wasn't all that widely published in US newspapers (the @washingtonpost didn't use it). And when it 𝘸𝘢𝘴 published, it was inside, not on front pages. Here is the @BostonGlobe and the @latimes on June 12, 1963:
@LIFE magazine published a spread with Malcolm's photos in the June 21, 1963 edition.
@TIME and @usnews published the "burning monk" photo small on the inside (I tried but couldn't find @newsweek).
And I'm sure a lot of people first saw Malcolm's iconic photo on the cover of Rage Against the Machine's debut album released on November 3, 1992. cc: @tmorello
The photos from the aftermath of the self-immolation are surreal. President Kennedy, said of Malcolm's iconic photo: "No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one."
I'm forever thankful that I was able to talk to Malcolm back in 2011. He was gracious with his time despite the fact he'd just broken his neck and was suffering from Parkinson's. Malcolm died in 2012. RIP🙏🏻time.com/3791176/malcol…
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.