LearnHub

Join LearnHub

Community

Politics

Seymour Hersh and the My Lai massacre

Author: lucyinthesky

Seymour Hersh and the My Lai massacre

The Vietnam War
"This is what you've been waiting for - search and destroy - and you've got it," said the officers.

On March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War, the men of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americal Division entered the village of My Lai. My Lai was a village in South Vietnam where the Vietcong were entrenched. Many troops in the Charlie Company had been killed or wounded in this area. These troops were bitter and agitated. Under the command of Lieutenant William Calley, they entered.

The massacre
This "search and destroy" mission initially sought to seek their enemies. But it soon turn into a massacre of 300 to 500 civilians including women, children and the elderly. Villagers were shot, abused, beaten, tortured and raped. Calley allegedly rounded up a group of villagers, ordered them into a ditch, and shot them all down with his machine gun.

The cover-up
First reports claimed that "128 Vietcong and 22 civilians" were killed in the village during a "fierce fire fight". But the truth was that this was an illegal operation deliberately planned out.

"Some of the people were trying to get up and run. They couldn't and fell down. This one woman, I remember, she stood up and tried to make it - tried to run - with a small child in her arms. But she didn't make it." - Army photographer Ronald Haeberle

"I would say that most people in our company didn't consider the Vietnamese human." - Dennis Bunning

The massacre is exposed to the American public
On November 12, 1969, journalist Seymour Hersh first published the story about the My Lai massacre, describing his conversations with a Vietnam veteran named Ron Ridenhour. Ridenhour had learned of the massacre from members of Charlie Company. Ridenhour had appealed to the U.S. Congress, the White House, and the Pentagon to investigate the matter. Lieutenant Calley was eventually charged with murder in September 1969 - two months before Hersh even released this story to the public. Hersh wrote about the massacre and its coverup in My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and Its Aftermath and Cover-up: The Army's Secret Investigation of the Massacre at My Lai 4.

The story's effects on the American people
The My Lai massacre fueled outrage and further reduced support for the Vietnam War. Thousands of citizens became more aware of the events occurring around the world, disgusted and appalled by what they had seen.

The exposure of this cover-up further fueled the American peace movement. This event and the extensive journalistic coverage of the Vietnam War had forever changed the history of American politics and their views and attitudes towards war.