Winner of the Fall 2018 StMU History Media Award for
Article with the Best Use of Images
Article with the Best Introduction
The year was 1968. The month of January was almost over and “Tet,” the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, was about to begin. By now, Vietnam had been embroiled for years in a civil war. North Vietnam was under the leadership of a Communist government and South Vietnam was under the leadership of a government that was backed by West. The start of Tet in 1968 was used to launch a huge offensive by the Vietcong in which coordinated attacks took place all over South Vietnam to destabilize the region and push the United States to withdraw.1
The United States‘ intervention in Vietnam began in 1965, a year after the unwarranted attacks by North Vietnam on United States‘ Destroyer ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. By 1967, the number of American troops on the ground surged.2 Despite being involved in this conflict halfway across the globe, the war did not seem so distant with the steady stream of footage and photographs from the front-lines directly to living rooms all over America. In this regard, Vietnam was unique for being one of the first wars to be filmed and photographed extensively.3 The work done by journalists in Vietnam allowed the world to see what was happening in Vietnam firsthand. Among those in Vietnam documenting the war was Eddie Adams.
Eddie Adams had been involved with photography since an early age. He had been a photographer for his high school newspaper and had done some photography work for weddings. Upon graduating high school, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corp. As a Marine, Adams served as a combat photographer in Korea for almost 3 years. In 1965, in what he describes as an “alcoholic haze,” Adams and a close friend decided they would go to Vietnam to document the war.4 During his time in Vietnam is when Adams took the photograph of the Saigon execution.
The day Adams shot the picture featured above was February 1st. He recalls himself and NBC journalists heading toward Cholon, a section of the city of Saigon, because they heard of a battle taking place there. Adams came upon South Vietnamese Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Vietcong soldier, in cold blood, in broad day light, in the middle of the street. Adams recalls himself and the other journalist gathering around Loan as he grabbed the soldier. Adams assumed Loan was only going to threaten the man. In the instant Adams raised his camera to snap a photo, Loan raised his pistol and executed the soldier. Loan explained after, that the Vietcong soldier had killed many Americans and allied Vietnamese soldiers.5
The photograph showed up on all major news evening broadcasts and on the front cover of newspapers all over the world the next morning.6 The execution was also recorded, but the specific angle Adams got in his photograph showed the war in an indescribable way. Peter Braestrup, one of the most versed individuals on the Tet offensive, described the picture as a “kind of ultimate horror story that you captured in living color. But in terms of information it told you almost nothing.”7 His quote could not do more justice. What the world saw was a man who was wincing before certain death. They did not know the man was a part of the Vietcong. In the photograph, he seems to be wearing civilian clothes which misleads one. The man had also recently killed allied soldiers and was found armed during martial law- an offense that justifies the use of force.8 Eddie Adams believed he had done an injustice to Loan. He explained, “General Loan was our guy. We were supporting him… believe me, the Americans did just as bad things. I just happened to see this and shoot it…”9
Despite the Johnson Administration’s attempt to win public support of the war, the images of the war painted a very different picture. Public opinion felt that the war was no longer winnable, rather it was now a matter of how America could save face. Walter Cronkite, a well-respected news-anchor and a strong supporter for the war, was among those whose opinion shifted. It was reported that President Johnson believed “if I lost Cronkite, I’ve lost America.”10 The irony of it all was that the Tet Offensive was largely a failure for the Vietcong in terms of land gained and damage inflicted, but in the end its psychological impact on how Americans believed the war to be going, led to its success.11
While this photo was taken out of context, it did provide small truths of the war. Although the war was going well, horrendous acts were being committed. Eddie Adams and many others were able to expose the world to the atrocious acts being committed during the war. Nick Ut’s photo of a napalm strike on a village, is another photo that came to define the war. Ut’s photograph captured the moment children run away in horror from napalm strikes on their village.12 The shattered innocence and utter despair on the childrens’ faces while soldiers seem calm provides a stark incomprehensible contrast that pulls at the heart. These photographs captured only instances of the war. But in the frozen state of a photograph, one is able to examine and reexamine a photograph and truly take in all its details. There was no propaganda campaign that could ever keep a just people supporting a war when they saw photographs like these.
As journalist, Adams and the others were simply doing their jobs. Horst Faas explained about documenting the war, “I don’t think we influenced the war… [he believed simply that the job of journalist was to] record the suffering, the emotions and the sacrifices of both the Americans and the Vietnamese…”13 Their work allowed for the false reality America was living to fall apart. As Americans lived, worked, and played, the very basic rights all humans are entitled to were violated by both sides. As such, Americans responded. In 1973, with public support overwhelmingly against the war in Vietnam, the United States signed the Paris Agreement that led to the withdrawal of all American troops.14 The involvement of the United States in Vietnam continues to be synonymous with some of the most appalling violations of human rights, not only violations against Vietnamese civilians burned alive with napalm or killed slowly through cancer with massive exposure to Agent Orange, but also of the atrocities committed or witnessed by US forces. In addition, all US Soldiers exposed to Agent Orange in indirect ways as when combat medics who worked at Clark Air Force Base (Philippines Islands) received the US soldiers injured in Vietnam who had been evacuated by air. These combat medics received soldiers injured in the field in Vietnam covered in Agent Orange with no protocol for decontamination for the injured nor for themselves as medical personnel. Fifty years on and they continue to die from cancers caused by exposure to Agent Orange. While the US left in 1973, the human suffering due to human rights violations done then, continues today. These images changed the public opinion and changed the course of history even when they may have not saved all those involved at the time, they avoided even greater damages and loss of life, for that we are grateful to these powerful images.
- Patrick Hagopian, America in the World, 1776 to the Present: A Supplement to the Dictionary of American History (Farmington Hills, MI: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2016), 752. ↵
- James H. Willbanks, Vietnam War: A Topical Exploration and Primary Source Collection (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2017), 133, 183. ↵
- James H. Willbanks, The Tet Offensive: A Concise History (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), 5-6. ↵
- Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd Edition, s.v. “Eddie Adams” (Detroit: Gale, 2005), 4. ↵
- Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd Edition, s.v. “Eddie Adams” (Detroit: Gale, 2005), 4. ↵
- David Culbert, Television’s Visual Impact on Decision-Making in the USA, 1968: The Tet Offensive and Chicago’s Democratic National Convention, Journal of Contemporary History Vol. 33 (1998): 421. ↵
- David Culbert, Television’s Visual Impact on Decision-Making in the USA, 1968: The Tet Offensive and Chicago’s Democratic National Convention, Journal of Contemporary History Vol. 33 (1998): 424. ↵
- David Culbert, Television’s Visual Impact on Decision-Making in the USA, 1968: The Tet Offensive and Chicago’s Democratic National Convention, Journal of Contemporary History Vol. 33 (1998): 423, 426-428 ↵
- Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd Edition, s.v. “Eddie Adams” (Detroit: Gale, 2005), 4-5. ↵
- James H. Willbanks, Vietnam War: A Topical Exploration and Primary Source Collection (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2017), 255. ↵
- James H. Willbanks, Vietnam War: A Topical Exploration and Primary Source Collection (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2017), 249 ↵
- Hal Buell, The Napalm Girl, Vietnam 25, no. 1 (June 2012), 36-39. ↵
- Deborah Stadler, Frontline Focus, Military History 33, no. 6 (March 2017), 56-61. ↵
- “12 Address to the Nation Announcing Conclusion of an Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam. January 23, 1973.” 2001. American Reference Library – Primary Source Documents, (January, 1.) ↵
188 comments
Samantha Luckey
Congratulations on being nominated for your article! This article was extremely interesting and moving, as well as educational. It was able to provide historical details about the Vietnam War. Overall the writing was well done, and this author was able to engage the reader to continue reading on, as well as, informing the reader of important details regarding the tragedy that was the Vietnam War. Great work!
John Berka
Congrats on your award! This article was so good! it’s crazy that this picture of a Vietcong soldier getting executed in cold blood, something so shocking to our society, was probably happening daily over there in that war torn country. The Vietnam War was a lot of Americans first real insight into the horrors war, and this photo started the real movement to get out of Vietnam for good.
Samire Adam
Though many wars were fought before the Vietnam War, it was the first war to be publicly televised. This article does well at explaining the never-ending impact of the Vietnam War not only for Vietnam, but the United States of America. Before, Americans were shielded from the brutality of war, but as they live their suburban lives, they are watching the horrors and the deaths of children.
Alexandra Lopez
Congratulations on your nomination. The pictures taken by Eddie Adams show the rest of the world what was going on during the Vietnam War. The flow of the reading was good and made me want to read more. The author picked out great pictures for this article so the audience can understand and realize the horror that any war can cause. Great read! (reposted)
Alexandra Lopez
Congratulations on your nomination. The pictures taken by Eddie Adams show the rest of the world what was going on during the Vietnam War. The flow of the reading was good and made me want to read more. The author picked out great pictures for this article so the audience can understand and realize the horror that any war can cause. Great read!
Daniel Reyes
Congrats on your nomination! You picked an excellent topic to write on, and I believe it is granted that you are also nominated for best use of images. Your featured image is hands down one of the most historic photos that changed the world. This paired with an excellent recanting of the powerful impact that this image mesh beautifully. The unique block transitions between two countries also worked in your advantage – it paints a dark time in our world’s history. It would have equally been to the benefit of this article if the journey that the photographer took and how he felt in comparison to how America felt.
Stephanie Nava
This article is very well written! Well deserved nomination. The author did an amazing job at describing everything. This picture is very powerful. It is sad that it took such a dramatic and devastating picture to impact the people of Vietnam. It is crazy to think that people were really out there getting murdered in broad daylight, in cold blood, with no remorse. I hope that Vietnam does not have to go through such a dramatic experience again.
Robert Ruiz
The featured image of the article is so engaging and makes me want to figure out how and why this became happened. Since it is a historical article and could be a bit hard to be entertaining to read, I feel you make the article flow very well and make it entertaining to continue reading, which I feel is extremely useful. Previous to reading this, I did not know much about the Vietnam war and after reading this article I have a way better insight to this subject matter. Overall, great article and is a well deserved nominated addition.
Rosa Castillo
Congratulations on your nomination. The photo is extremely powerful and was spread out for many people to see and understand the reality of the Vietnam war. You do an amazing job at depicting the realities of the war and its toll on the people of Vietnam and America’s soldiers who were stationed there. The Vietnam war was a tragedy and the pictures you say so much for the immense history behind it.
Gabriela Murillo Diaz
This article is very impressive and deserves to be nominated. The pictures that are placed alongside the article only make it more suspenseful. We learned from history that horrendous actions were occurring during the Vietnam War, but this article only emphasizes that. The images that are placed in the article provide a strong emotional response because of how violent they look. They cause fear and pain just by looking at them even if there was no context. The article alongside the images only makes it more impactful.