14 Facts About Norman Morrison

Norman R Morrison was an American anti-war activist.

On November 2,1965, Morrison doused himself in kerosene and set himself on fire below the office of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara at the Pentagon to protest United States involvement in the Vietnam War, leading to his death.

Norman Morrison was born in Erie, Pennsylvania and was raised Presbyterian.

At 13, his family moved to Chautauqua, New York, where Norman Morrison joined the Boy Scouts of America and entered the God and Country Program, becoming the youngest BSA member in Chautauqua County to earn a God and Country award.

Norman Morrison had gained an interest in the Quakers and their ideals, but continued to attend Presbyterian seminars in Pittsburgh and at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Norman Morrison became a member of the Religious Society of Friends in 1959 and by 1965, he worked for Stony Run Friends Meeting in Baltimore as its Executive Secretary.

At the time of his death, Norman Morrison was married to Anne Welsh, a Quaker, with whom he had two daughters and a son.

Norman 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.

Norman Morrison died within two minutes of leaving in an ambulance for Fort Myer.

Norman Morrison was seen as devout and sincere in sacrificing himself for a cause greater than himself.

In Vietnam, Norman Morrison quickly became a folk hero to some, his name rendered as Mo Ri Xon.

Five days after Norman Morrison died, Vietnamese poet To Huu wrote a poem, "Emily, My Child", assuming the voice of Norman Morrison addressing his daughter Emily and telling her the reasons for his sacrifice.

On May 9,1967, as part of the start to the 1967 Pentagon camp-in, demonstrators held a vigil for Norman Morrison, before occupying the Pentagon for four days until being removed and arrested.

On his visit to the United States in 2007, President of Vietnam Nguyen Minh Triet visited a site on the Potomac near the place where Norman Morrison immolated himself and read the poem by To Huu to commemorate Norman Morrison.