Norman Morrison (born December 29, 1933, Erie, Pennsylvania, died November 2, 1965) is best known as a protester of the Vietnam War who set himself on fire (self-immolation) in front of The Pentagon building on November 2, 1965, to protest the United States involvement in the war. At the time, he was a 32-year old devout Quaker, and father of three.

His widow, Anne Morrison Welsh, recalled in an interview the morning he committed protest said that he had taken their then one-year-old daughter Emily with him, either setting her down or handing her off to someone in the crowd, before dying:

"Whether he thought of it that way or not, I think having Emily with him was a final and great comfort to Norman,"..."And she 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." [1]

Morrison became a hero to the Vietnamese;[2] North Vietnam issued in his honour a postage stamp, possession of which was prohibited in the US.[3]

Seven days later, Roger Allen LaPorte performed a similar act in New York City, in front of the United Nations building.

In a letter mailed to his wife, Morrison reassured her of the faith in his act. "Know that I love thee," Morrison wrote, "but I must go to help the children of the priest's village."

See Susan Sontag's essay in Styles of Radical Will, p. 236.

See also

• Alice_Herz
• George Winne
• Florence Beaumont
• Roger Allen LaPorte

External links

• Profile of Morrison
• Sojourners, interview with Anne Morrison Welsh, Morrisson's widow