Malcolm Browne, photographer of the iconic ‘Burning Monk’ in Vietnam, dies at 81

Malcolm Browne, the reporter who took one of the Vietnam War's most iconic photos, has died at 81. 

The Associated Press photographer won a Pulitzer Prize in 1964 for his work in Vietnam, and his photo of an elderly monk named Thich Quang Duc self-immolating in Saigon June 11, 1963 was published around the world. 

It even reached President John F. Kennedy, prompting him to re-evaluate the United States' Vietnam policy, the Associated Press reported. 

"No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one," Kennedy later said of the photo, the New Statesman reported. 

The picture also became a pop culture icon in 1992, when Rage Against the Machine's used it for the cover of its debut album, "Killing in the Name," according to the New Statesman. 

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Browne also covered war zones for the New York Times for 30 years after leaving the AP, BBC News reported.

He died at his home in Vermont after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. 

"Malcolm Browne was a precise and determined journalist who helped set the standard for rigorous reporting in the early days of the Vietnam War," said Kathleen Carroll, AP executive editor and senior vice president. "He was also a genuinely decent and classy man."

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