Throughout the week, visitors streamed into the U.S. embassy in Saigon to bid farewell. Late one afternoon five Buddhist monks, two in saffron-colored robes and three in black, paid their respects, presented a large, framed color photograph as a going-away gift. U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge smiled gratefully, held it up to look at it — and froze in shock. The picture was of a Buddhist burning himself to death.
Lodge quickly recovered his composure, thanked the monks, returned to his packing chores. He was leaving South Viet Nam after ten months as ambassador—ten...
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