"I killed the general with my camera"

On February 1, 1968, Eddie Adams, a photographer for the Associated Press, captured a photo that instantly become famous as a symbol of the inhumanity of the Vietnam War, as well as war in general

The photo, taken on a Saigon street, shows the Chief of National Police of South Vietnam, Nguyen Ngoc Loan, executing a captured Vietcong prisoner named Nguyen Van Lem. When the photo and its accompanying video were first broadcast in America, the American response was tremendous. Americans support for the war declined greatly after the photo’s publication and the horrors of the war were made apparent to many Americans who were ignorant of the consequences it.

The photo not only had an effect on the war and its reception by the world, but also on the life of Nguyen Ngoc Loan. Loan, as a soldier of war, was not only allowed to, but expected to show no mercy to enemies of the country. Doing as he was expected to do in times of war, he executed the Vietcong member. The photo, which was meant to show the cost of war on humanity, also had a negative effect on Loan. He was demonized by many of those who viewed the photograph. Even Adams was aware of the power that photographs held:

“The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera. 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 the photograph didn't say was, 'What would you do if you were the general at that time and place on that hot day, and you caught the so-called bad guy after he blew away one, two or three American people?"

In conclusion, this photograph is a symbol of two things: the inhumanity of war and the power of the photograph.