Rights Breached, Responsibilities Neglected: How the My Lai Massacre Exposed the Ethical Issues of the Vietnam War
“Anti-Vietnam War Protest following My Lai Hearings, 1971” Arthur Gatti
Public Response
The revelation of what happened in My Lai sparked national outrage.
"The story was met with a combination of horror and disbelief."
-Investigative Journalist Seymour Hersh
TIME, Dec. 5, 1969, Vol. 94, No. 23, Pg 23
"Printed mask with cut out eyeholes of United States Army solider William Calley, used by antiwar protesters to criticize the United States' involvement in the war, 1970. Stuart Lutz/Gado/Getty Images
It significantly influenced public opinion against the war.
“An officer training candidate looks at pictures made by Ronald L. Haeberle, a former Army photographer, that appeared in the appeared in Nov. 20, 1969, issue of the Plain Dealer in Cleveland.” Bettmann Archive / Getty Images
“A group of anti-Vietnam War protestors carry a poster showing the 'My Lai Massacre' during the 'Home With Honor' parade to mark the homecoming of American troops from Vietnam, New York City, 1973.” Getty Images / Jill Freedman
“I remember it well, because the antiwar movement in America grew because of it. But in Vietnam there was not only one My Lai—there were many.”
-Nguyen Thi Binh, head of the National Liberation Front delegation at the Paris Peace talks
"There was just disbelief... People said, 'No, no, no. This cannot have happened.'"
-Army Photographer Ronald Haeberle
"The incident ranks as the most serious atrocity yet attributed to American troops in a war that is already well known for its particular savagery."
-TIME Magazine, 1969