An American Atrocity
The My Lai Massacre Concretized in a Victim's Face
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10018930 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Claude Cookman (Indiana University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 94 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 154-162 |
| Publication date | 2007-06-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of American History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-8723 • E-ISSN: 1945-2314 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/25094784 |
| OpenAlex | W2324813687 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
Some people think that the Japanese committed atrocities, that the Germans committed atrocities, that the Russians committed atrocities, but that the Americans don't commit atrocities. Well, this just isn't so. American troops are as capable as any other of committing atrocities.1 —Robert Rheault, 1970, former commander of U.S. Special Forces, Vietnam Few military operations have been documented as thoroughly as the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War. Documents from army investigations and congressional hearings, court-martial transcripts, articles, books, and documentaries—all based on interviews with the soldiers who perpetrated it and the villagers who survived it—detail how American soldiers murdered more than 500 unarmed women, children, and old men on March 16, 1968.2 It might have been the most forgotten operation. The officers of Charlie Company and their superiors in the Americal Division covered up the massacre, and it would have remained buried, except for Spec. Ron Ridenhour, who learned of the event from friends who participated. After his discharge from the army, Ridenhour reported the killings in a letter to President Richard M. Nixon, several senators and representatives, and Pentagon officials in March 1969. He quoted one sergeant who said, “They were slaughtering the villagers like so many sheep.”3
Commit · Criminology · Face (sociological concept · Pentagon · Political science · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Vietnam War · History · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
| Citations per year | 0.57 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2019 - 2025 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |