A very sad and disturbing Washington Post story recalls a young Quaker activist who fifty yeas ago set himself afire at the Pentagon to protest the Vietnam War. Horribly he was clutching his baby daughter, who fortunately escaped and lives today. He left behind a wife and two other small children. Pentagon personnel urgently tried to save him from the flames, to no avail.
Apparently the Quaker modeled himself on some Buddhist monks in South Vietnam who self immolated in the early 1960s to protest alleged discrimination by the regime of President Diem, a Catholic. Photos of the protest suicides appeared in U.S. media, undermining public support here for Diem, and ultimately prompting JFK to green light a South Vietnamese military coup against Diem. JFK was evidently surprised and upset when Diem and his brother were murdered in the coup.
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