{{Short description|American anti-Vietnam war activist (1947–1970)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = George Winne Jr. | image = George Winne Jr.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1947|04|02}}<ref name=":0" /> | birth_place = Detroit, Michigan, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1970|05|11|1947|04|02}} | death_place = La Jolla, California, U.S. | death_cause = Burns from self-immolation | resting_place = | monuments = | other_names = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | website = <!-- {{URL|www.example.com}} --> }}

'''George Winne Jr.''' (April 2, 1947 – May 11, 1970) was an American student who, in protest of the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War, set himself on fire in an act of self-immolation at Revelle Plaza on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. The incident took place less than a month after the American invasion of Cambodia and one week after the Kent State Massacre.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last=Clark |first=Christine |date=2014-02-06 |title=New Campus Memorial Honors Protesters for Peace |url=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/feature/new_campus_memorial_honors_protesters_for_peace |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201011200/https://today.ucsd.edu/story/new_campus_memorial_honors_protesters_for_peace |archive-date=2022-12-01 |accessdate=2014-02-06 |website=UC San Diego Today}}</ref> Winne's act was inspired by the self-immolation of Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức in 1963 in response to the persecution of Buddhists by the regime of minority Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024|reason=extraordinary claims require extraordinatry sources}}

== Background == thumb|Plaque in honor of Winne at the "Memorial Grove" at UCSD The son of a Navy Captain, George Winne Jr. was raised in San Diego. He was rejected from the US Naval Academy due to poor eyesight, but was an ROTC candidate at Colorado School of Mines before transferring to UCSD. He was a history major at Muir College. In December 1969, he became very withdrawn.<ref name=":1" />

==Death== Slightly after 4{{nbsp}}pm on Sunday, May 10, George Winne lit gasoline soaked rags on his body in Revelle Plaza on the UCSD campus and began running, carrying a sign reading "In God's name, End this war." Graduate student Keith Stowe knocked him down and then attempted to smother the flames: "but it didn't help."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Yee |first=Curtis |date=2017-05-10 |title=The Death of George Winne Jr. and the Fight for a More Peaceful World |url=https://triton.news/2017/05/death-george-winne-jr-fight-peaceful-world/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170514183957/https://triton.news/2017/05/death-george-winne-jr-fight-peaceful-world/ |archive-date=2017-05-14 |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=The Triton |language=en-US}}</ref> Winne suffered third and fourth degree burns over 95 percent of his body, and he died at Scripps Hospital at 2{{nbsp}}am on the 11th of May, 1970.

At noon on May 11, a memorial service was held in Revelle Plaza. Speakers included history professor and chair of the faculty senate Gabriel Jackson and philosophy professor Herbert Marcuse.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gormlie |first=Frank |date=2020-05-11 |title=UCSD Student George Winne Burned Himself to Death in Protest of the War – May 10, 1970 |url=https://may1970project.wordpress.com/2020/05/11/ucsd-student-george-winne-burned-himself-to-death-in-protest-of-the-war-may-10-1970/ |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=the student strike of may 1970 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Joyner |first=Owen |date=1970-05-12 |title=Student Sets Self Afire; Dies to Protest War |url=https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb14004249/_1.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710062652/https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb14004249/_1.pdf |archive-date=2017-07-10 |work=Triton Times |pages=1 |volume=10 |issue=11}}</ref>thumb|"Thirty Blocks" (1976) sculpture in "George Winne Memorial Grove"

==Memorials== For decades, faculty and students held vigils in remembrance of Winne in Revelle Plaza.<ref name=":0" />

In 1976, sculptor Virginia Maksymowicz installed a project called "Thirty Blocks" in what has become known according to campus folklore as the "George Winne Memorial Grove" to the east of Geisel Library and north of Price Center. While the clay was damp, the sculptor lay down on the bricks leaving an impression of her body and objects from her purse, which were then fired in a kiln to leave an "archaeological record" of her.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hampton |first=Dave |date=2013-05-09 |title=Fanfare For Maksymowicz: A Campus Legend in the Shadow of 'Fallen Star' |url=https://www.kpbs.org/news/midday-edition/2013/05/09/fanfare-maksymowicz-campus-legend-shadow-fallen-st |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=KPBS Public Media |language=en}}</ref> There is also a small plaque was also installed{{When|date=May 2024|reason=The only sources refer to the May 1970 Peace Memorial, installed in 2013. The photo seems pretty old.}} in this grove, which reads:thumb|May 1970 Peace Memorial (2013) in Revelle Plaza{{Blockquote|text=IN HONOR OF GEORGE WINNE JR.

WHO IMMOLATED HIMSELF IN

REVELLE PLAZA IN PROTEST OF

THE VIETNAM WAR IN 1970.

HE HELD A SIGN THAT READ

'IN THE NAME OF GOD,

END THE WAR'}}

In 2013, a group of students studying the history of progressive activism at UC San Diego, proposed a "memory site" near the location of Winne's act.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024|reason=not in source}} In the winter of 2014, a "May 1970 Peace Memorial", was installed in Revelle Plaza.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Twohig |first=Niall |date=2014-05-17 |title=Memory Against Forgetting: The May 1970 Peace Memorial at UCSD |url=https://sandiegofreepress.org/2014/05/memory-against-forgetting-the-may-1970-peace-memorial-at-ucsd/ |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=San Diego Free Press |language=en-US}}</ref> An inscription reads:<ref name=":0" />

{{Blockquote|text=For George Winne, Jr., the student activists of May 1970, and all those who continue the struggle for a peaceful world.}}

== See also == {{Portal|Biography|California}} * Self-immolations in protest to the Vietnam War * List of political self-immolations

== References == {{Reflist}}

== Further reading == * Keen, H. "San Diego student who set self afire in war protest dies", ''Los Angeles Times'', May 12, 1970 * Buchbinder, David (May 7, 1974). [https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb4642768m/_1.pdf In God's Name, End the War]. ''Triton Times'', p2. * Boychuk, Ben (May 15, 2000). [https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb4711030p/_1.pdf 30-Year-Old Tragedy Still Haunts UCSD]. ''The UCSD Guardian,'' p5. * Dille, Catherine (May 14, 1990). [https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb3618874h/_1.pdf Students Hold Memorial on 20th Anniversary of War Protester's Death]. ''The UCSD Guardian,'' p1. * Schmitt, Walter (May 10, 1990). [https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb6383402s/_1.pdf Remembering George Wynne(sic), Jr.]. ''The UCSD Guardian,'' p5.

== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20071217031952/http://www.propagandaposters.us/imagesofwar/index.php/2007/10/27/vietnam-war-protestor/ Images Of War] - Bricks from the site of Winne's immolation * [http://socialarchitectures.pbworks.com/George+Winne+Jr+Memorial/ Social Architectures] – Memorial to George Winne Jr.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Winne Jr., George}} Category:1947 births Category:1970 suicides Category:1970 deaths Category:Activists from Detroit Category:American anti–Vietnam War activists Category:Deaths by person in California Category:May 1970 in the United States Category:Self-immolations in protest of the Vietnam War Category:Suicides by self-immolation in the United States Category:Suicides in California Category:University of California, San Diego people