Buddhist+Protests

Buddhist Protests  In June 1963, Buddhist monks in South Vietnam had begun to lead giant protests against Diem and the nature of the oppressive Diem regime. Monks were highly respected in part because of the high amount of self-control that monks had. Considering this, there were even some monks that burned themselves alive in protest. They had enough self-control to sit still while they were burning to death. It is said that if it weren’t for the reporters being there to release this to the world then the monks would not have lit themselves on fire and done what they did. The matter of letting the world know what was going on in Vietnam was that important to them.

The obvious goal of these monks was to release to the world what Diem was doing in Vietnam. Not many people knew what was going on in Vietnam. Once the Buddhist monks had done this to themselves news about it ran rampant. TV, broadcasting stations, and radio was all over these stories and pictures of these monks were released the public in America. After these protests many Americans wanted to know what was going on in Vietnam for these monks to do this. After Americans found out, American policy changed in that America began to believe that Diem (the leader they put into Vietnam) was not able to do the job that they wanted him to. Diem was soon overthrown and assassinated.

Dougherty, Kevin, and Jason Stewart. The Timeline of the Vietnam War: The Ultimate Guide to This Divisive Conflict in American History. San Diego, CA: Thunder Bay, 2008. Print.

"MALCOLM W. BROWNE: The Buddhist Protests of 1963." PBS. PBS. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. < __http://www.pbs.org/weta/reportingamericaatwar/reporters/browne/protests.html>.__ 