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| Roger Allen LaPorte |
1965 – The Catholic Worker Movement member Roger Allen LaPorte, protesting against the Vietnam War, sets himself on fire in front of the United Nations building.
Roger Allen LaPorte (July 16, 1943 – November 10, 1965) is best known as a protester of the Vietnam War who set himself on fire in front of the United Nations building in New York City on November 9, 1965, to protest the United States involvement in the war. A former seminarian, he was a 22 year-old member of the Catholic Worker Movement at the time of his death.
Born in Geneva, New York, he was active in public speaking and debate clubs winning awards. His parents divorced after Roger graduated from high school. Before joining the Catholic Workers, he had attended a seminary in Vermont and hoped to become a monk. He, however, withdrew from the seminary early and attended (and graduated) from Holy Ghost Academy, Tupper Lake, New York in 1961.
On November 9, 1965, in front of the Dag Hammarskjold Library at the United Nations in New York, La Porte composed himself in the position of the Buddhist monks who had immolated themselves in Vietnam earlier, doused himself with gasoline, and set himself aflame.
La Porte died the next day at Bellevue Hospital from second- and third-degree burns covering 95 percent of his body. Despite his burns, he remained conscious and able to speak. When asked why he had burned himself, La Porte calmly replied, "I'm a Catholic Worker. I'm against war, all wars. I did this as a religious action.
The Catholic Worker Movement is a collection of autonomous communities of Catholics and their associates founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurinin 1933. Its aim is to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ." One of its guiding principles is hospitality towards those on the margin of society, based on the principles of communitarianism and personalism.
To this end, the movement claims over 213 local Catholic Worker communities providing social services. Each house has a different mission, going about the work of social justice in its own way, suited to its local region. The movement campaigns for nonviolence and is active in opposing both war and the unequal global distribution of wealth.
La Porte died the next day at Bellevue Hospital from second- and third-degree burns covering 95 percent of his body. Despite his burns, he remained conscious and able to speak. When asked why he had burned himself, La Porte calmly replied, "I'm a Catholic Worker. I'm against war, all wars. I did this as a religious action.
The Catholic Worker Movement is a collection of autonomous communities of Catholics and their associates founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurinin 1933. Its aim is to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ." One of its guiding principles is hospitality towards those on the margin of society, based on the principles of communitarianism and personalism.
To this end, the movement claims over 213 local Catholic Worker communities providing social services. Each house has a different mission, going about the work of social justice in its own way, suited to its local region. The movement campaigns for nonviolence and is active in opposing both war and the unequal global distribution of wealth.
World Events
1857 – The Atlantic is founded in Boston, Massachusetts.
1861 – The first documented football match in Canada is played at University College, University of Toronto.
1906 – Theodore Roosevelt is the first sitting President of the United States to make an official trip outside the country. He did so to inspect progress on the Panama Canal.
1940 – Warsaw is awarded the Virtuti Militari.
1953 – Cambodia gains independence from France.
1960 – Robert McNamara is named president of Ford Motor Co., the first non-Ford to serve in that post. A month later, he resigned to join the administration of newly elected John F. Kennedy.
1963 – At Miike coal mine, Miike, Japan, an explosion kills 458, and hospitalises 839 with carbon monoxide poisoning.
1965 – Several U.S. states and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13 hours in the Northeast Blackout of 1965.
1965 – The Catholic Worker Movement member Roger Allen LaPorte, protesting against the Vietnam War, sets himself on fire in front of the United Nations building.
1967 – Apollo program: NASA launches the unmanned Apollo 4 test spacecraft atop the first Saturn V rocket from Cape Kennedy, Florida.
1967 – The first issue of Rolling Stone Magazine is published.
1970 – Vietnam War: The Supreme Court of the United States votes 6 to 3 against hearing a case to allow Massachusetts to enforce its law granting residents the right to refuse military service in an undeclared war.
1983 – Alfred Heineken, beer brewer from Amsterdam, is kidnapped and held for a ransom of more than $10 million.
1993 – Stari most, the "old bridge" in Bosnian Mostar built in 1566, collapses after several days of bombing.
1994 – The chemical element Darmstadtium is discovered.
1998 – A US federal judge orders 37 US brokerage houses to pay 1.03 billion USD to cheated NASDAQ investors to compensate for price-fixing. This is the largest civil settlement in United States history.
1998 – Capital punishment in the United Kingdom, already abolished for murder, is completely abolished for all remaining capital offences.
2005 – The Venus Express mission of the European Space Agency is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
2005 – Suicide bombers attacked three hotels in Amman, Jordan, killing at least 60 people.
2007 – The German Bundestag passes the controversial data retention bill mandating storage of citizens' telecommunications traffic data for six months without probable cause.
2012 – A train carrying liquid fuel crashes and bursts into flames in northern Burma, killing 27 people and injuring 80 others.
1861 – The first documented football match in Canada is played at University College, University of Toronto.
1906 – Theodore Roosevelt is the first sitting President of the United States to make an official trip outside the country. He did so to inspect progress on the Panama Canal.
1940 – Warsaw is awarded the Virtuti Militari.
1953 – Cambodia gains independence from France.
1960 – Robert McNamara is named president of Ford Motor Co., the first non-Ford to serve in that post. A month later, he resigned to join the administration of newly elected John F. Kennedy.
1963 – At Miike coal mine, Miike, Japan, an explosion kills 458, and hospitalises 839 with carbon monoxide poisoning.
1965 – Several U.S. states and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13 hours in the Northeast Blackout of 1965.
1965 – The Catholic Worker Movement member Roger Allen LaPorte, protesting against the Vietnam War, sets himself on fire in front of the United Nations building.
1967 – Apollo program: NASA launches the unmanned Apollo 4 test spacecraft atop the first Saturn V rocket from Cape Kennedy, Florida.
1967 – The first issue of Rolling Stone Magazine is published.
1970 – Vietnam War: The Supreme Court of the United States votes 6 to 3 against hearing a case to allow Massachusetts to enforce its law granting residents the right to refuse military service in an undeclared war.
1983 – Alfred Heineken, beer brewer from Amsterdam, is kidnapped and held for a ransom of more than $10 million.
1993 – Stari most, the "old bridge" in Bosnian Mostar built in 1566, collapses after several days of bombing.
1994 – The chemical element Darmstadtium is discovered.
1998 – A US federal judge orders 37 US brokerage houses to pay 1.03 billion USD to cheated NASDAQ investors to compensate for price-fixing. This is the largest civil settlement in United States history.
1998 – Capital punishment in the United Kingdom, already abolished for murder, is completely abolished for all remaining capital offences.
2005 – The Venus Express mission of the European Space Agency is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
2005 – Suicide bombers attacked three hotels in Amman, Jordan, killing at least 60 people.
2007 – The German Bundestag passes the controversial data retention bill mandating storage of citizens' telecommunications traffic data for six months without probable cause.
2012 – A train carrying liquid fuel crashes and bursts into flames in northern Burma, killing 27 people and injuring 80 others.
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