Norman Morrison | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1933-12-29)December 29, 1933 Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | November 2, 1965(1965-11-02) (aged 31) |
| Cause of death | Self-immolated to protest American involvement in theVietnam War |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | College of Wooster |
| Spouse | Anne Welsh |
| Children | 3 |
Norman R. Morrison[1] (December 29, 1933 – November 2, 1965) was an Americananti-war activist. On November 2, 1965, Morrison doused himself in kerosene and set himself on fire below the office ofSecretary of DefenseRobert McNamara atthe Pentagon[2] to protestUnited States involvement in theVietnam War, leading to his death. This action was inspired by photographs of Vietnamese children burned by napalm bombings, and may have been inspired byThích Quảng Đức and other Buddhist monks, who burned themselves to death toprotest the repression committed by theSouth Vietnam government of Catholic PresidentNgo Dinh Diem.[3]
Morrison was born inErie,Pennsylvania and was raisedPresbyterian.[4] At 13, his family moved toChautauqua,New York, where Morrison joined theBoy Scouts of America and entered theGod and Country Program, becoming the youngest BSA member inChautauqua County to earn aGod and Country award. Morrison graduated from theCollege of Wooster in 1956. He had gained an interest in theQuakers and their ideals, but continued to attend Presbyterian seminars inPittsburgh and at theUniversity of Edinburgh inScotland. Morrison became a member of theReligious Society of Friends in 1959 and by 1965, he worked for Stony Run Friends Meeting inBaltimore as its Executive Secretary. As an ardent believer in the principle ofpacifism, he condemned the actions of the U.S. military in the Vietnam War.[5]
Six months before the act, on March 9,President of the United StatesLyndon B. Johnson had authorized the use ofnapalm in the Vietnam War, which, by the end of the war, would end up killing at least 50,000 civilians inairstrikes.[6] This decision had spurred fellow Quaker andpeace activistAlice Herz to set herself on fire in an open street inDetroit,Michigan on March 16 of the same year, in similar vein as Thích Quảng Đức had done in 1963.[7] At the time of his death, Morrison was married to Anne Welsh, also a Quaker, with whom he had two daughters and a son.[8]
Morrison took his daughter Emily, then one year of age, to the Pentagon, and either set her down or handed her off to someone in the crowd before setting himself ablaze. He died within two minutes of leaving in an ambulance forFort Myer.[9]
Morrison's reasons for taking Emily are not entirely known. However, Morrison's wife Anne later recalled, "Whether he thought of it that way or not, I think having Emily with him was a final and great comfort to Norman... [S]he was a powerful symbol of the children we were killing with our bombs and napalm – who didn't have parents to hold them in their arms."[10]
In a letter he mailed to Welsh, Morrison reassured her of the faith in his act. "Know that I love thee ... but I must go to help the children of the priest's village". McNamara described Morrison's death as "a tragedy not only for his family but also for me and the country. It was an outcry against the killing that was destroying the lives of so many Vietnamese and American youth." He was survived by Anne Welsh and three children, Ben (who died of cancer in 1976), Christina and Emily.[1][11]
Morrison was seen as devout and sincere in sacrificing himself for a cause greater than himself. In Vietnam, Morrison quickly became a folk hero to some, his name rendered asMo Ri Xon.[12] Five days after Morrison died, Vietnamese poetTố Hữu wrote a poem, "Emily, My Child", assuming the voice of Morrison addressing his daughter Emily and telling her the reasons for his sacrifice.[13]
One week after Morrison,Roger Allen LaPorte performed a similar act inNew York City, in front of theUnited Nations building. On May 9, 1967, as part of the start to the 1967 Pentagon camp-in, demonstrators held avigil for Morrison, before occupying the Pentagon for four days until being removed and arrested.[3]
Morrison's widow, Anne, and the couple's two daughters visited Vietnam in 1999, where they met with Tố Hữu, the poet who had written the popular poem "Emily, My Child".[1] Anne Morrison Welsh recounts the visit and her husband's tragedy in her monograph,Fire of the Heart: Norman Morrison's Legacy In Vietnam And At Home.[14]
On his visit to the United States in 2007,President of VietnamNguyễn Minh Triết visited a site on thePotomac near the place where Morrison immolated himself and read the poem by Tố Hữu to commemorate Morrison.[15]
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FilmmakerErrol Morris interviewed Secretary McNamara at length on camera in his documentary film,The Fog of War, in which McNamara says, "[Morrison] came to the Pentagon, doused himself with gasoline. Burned himself to death below my office ... his wife issued a very moving statement – 'human beings must stop killing other human beings' – and that's a belief that I shared, I shared it then, I believe it even more strongly today". McNamara then posits, "How much evil must we do in order to do good? We have certain ideals, certain responsibilities. Recognize that at times you will have to engage in evil, but minimize it."
Morrison's self-immolation at the Pentagon is depicted in the 2002 HBO dramaPath to War, with Morrison being played by Victor Slezak.[16]
In the omnibus French documentary,Far from Vietnam (1967), Morrison's widow Anne Welsh appears with her young children in a segment directed byWilliam Klein. Welsh describes the circumstances of her husband's death and expresses approval of his act. This footage is interspersed with an interview with a Vietnamese expatriate, Ann Uyen, living in Paris, who describes what Morrison's sacrifice meant to the Vietnamese people.
In the Vietnamese cities ofĐà Nẵng and Hồ Chí Minh City, a road is named after Morrison (albeit misspelt as 'Morison' in Ho Chi Minh City).[17]North Vietnam named aHanoi street after him, and issued a postage stamp in his honor.[18] Possession of the stamp was prohibited in the United States due to the U.S. embargo against North Vietnam.[19]
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