Existing comment:
William L. Calley, born 1943
My Lai is a hamlet in Vietnam and its name disturbs Americans to this day. On March 16, 1968, Lieutenant William Calley led a company of U. S. troops in a massacre of civilians numbering some 500 men, women, and children. Although Calley was court-martialed and convicted a year later of twenty counts of murder, his case became a cause célèbre and his guilt was disputed as Americans argued about whether his action was criminally atypical or part of the military's tolerance of terror against Vietnamese civilians.
On this Time magazine cover, Calley is shown wearing an opaque mask that seems to represent the lack of transparency and divisiveness during the Vietnam War. Calley, viewed by many as a scapegoat, was sentenced to life in prison; but his sentence was later reduced to ten years, and President Richard Nixon pardoned him in 1974.
Fred Burrell, 1969
Time cover, December 5, 1969 |