Description
Still photographs are the most powerful weapon in the world.” -Eddie Adams
Examine the photo below, which American photojournalist Eddie Adams took during the Tet Offensive of 1968, when the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong – the communist guerrilla force in South Vietnam – attacked anti-communists in South Vietnam during a holiday truce, killing thousands of South Vietnamese civilians and soldiers. In his photo, Adams captured the very moment when a South Vietnamese general and police chief fired a bullet into the leader of a Viet Cong squad. Before Adams took the photo, South Vietnamese soldiers found the Viet Cong combatant standing over the bodies of several South Vietnamese police officers and their families, whom the Viet Cong and his squad had just killed. The distraught general shot the Viet Cong soldier on the spot.
Adams sent the footage to his employer, the Associated Press. Thereafter, media outlets published and broadcasted the photo throughout the U.S., shocking American citizens. They saw a South Vietnamese officer murdering a civilian in cold blood. In 1969, Adams won a Pulitzer Prize for his notorious – and notoriously misunderstood – photo, which played a role, among many other images, events, and leaked information, in turning American public opinion against the Vietnam War.
Discussion Question Set:
1. During an interview with Time Magazine, Adams said, “Still photographs are the most powerful weapon in the world. People believe them, but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. They are only half-truths.” What does this mean?
2. Do you think Adams’s photograph lied? Why or why not?
3. Who – think groups of people – suffered after public opinion turned against the Vietnam War in the U.S., and why?
