In Scandals in Past and Contemporary Politics, edited by political scientist James Newell and historian John Garrard, the two define a political scandal as “a departure or lapse from the normative standards that guide behavior in public office.” They also make a distinction between substantive and procedural scandals. A substantive scandal involves a single, initial scandal, while a procedural scandal involves a cover up which becomes more controversial than the original scandal (Newell and Garrard 78). The My Lai Massacre was most certainly a departure from normative standards, and involved elements of both substantive and procedural scandals. The massacre, which involved the ruthless slaughter of hundreds of Vietnamese civilians, lowered …show more content…
William L. Calley Jr., Ron Ridenour, and the hundreds of villagers in My Lai. The Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry was the set of approximately 100 armed American troops ordered to investigate My Lai. The group was led by Captain Ernest Medina ("My Lai murders" 70). Lt. William L. Calley Jr. was in charge of these troops at the time of the massacre, who later was convicted of premeditated murder of at least 20 people in My Lai (Wilberding 31). Ron Ridenhour was a discharged combat infantryman who had heard the stories about My Lai, and he wrote letters detailing these stories to President Nixon, congressmen, the State Department, and the Pentagon. This helped present the public with the atrocities over a year after they happened. It also led to the courts-martial cases (Wilberding 30). From 347 to 504 Vietnamese unarmed civilians inhabited My Lai and were murdered by the American soldiers at My Lai. Very few, if any, were able to escape (Morelock …show more content…
The want to believe and trust in the individual officers may have lessened focus on My Lai, and instead on the higher level officers. Many claimed the incident a result of miscommunication between higher officers and their soldiers, making it a single accident, not a repeatable offense. People have generally forgotten the incident with time, as it has faded into the background of the Vietnam war. Many characterize the Vietnam war as a tactical lapse of judgement, not a humanitarian disaster as shown in the My Lai Massacre. This change in recognition has led to a lack of resulting legislation or political action from these events (Gray, Truda, and Martin 104). Surprisingly, the tragic killings of around 400 unarmed vietnamese civilians have gone somewhat unnoticed overtime in the political landscape due to changes in the political agenda and excuses which diminish the importance of the
The aftermath — No More Vietnams — is well-covered in Appy’s work. The No More Vietnam mantra is usually presented as avoiding quagmires, focusing on quick, sharp wins. Instead, Appy shows politicians have manipulated No More Vietnams into meaning greater secrecy (think Central America in the 1980’s), more over-the-top justifications (“You don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud”) and an emphasis on keeping American deaths inside the acceptable limits of the day to tamp down any public anti-war sentiment.
...f the innocent is what captured my attention the most. Hundreds and thousands of innocent civilians were killed for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Caputo mourns not only for the dead, but also for the men that are now emotionally and psychologically scarred for life. The images and sounds of death will forever be carved into their minds. Throughout this history class, I have been able to learn and understand new vocabulary and apply it to my reading. I would not have been able to understand the book, as well as I do, without becoming familiar with the terminology. A Rumor of War changed by view on the Vietnam War. Before reading this narrative, I did not realize the number of lives lost or the poor environments soldiers were subjected to. Philip Caputo was extremely detailed in his descriptions and painted a brilliant picture of the war.
Another atrocity that occurred during this war was the My Lai Massacre. This was the mass murder of unarmed civilians in South Vietnam during March 16, 1968. Around November 1969, the world saw this and was outraged with the killings of innocent civilians prompting and giving the public more reasons to stop the war. Although the war was very unpopular, men and women were still fighting and dying for America. Heroes such as Captain John W, Ripley of Dong Ha, Medal of Honor recipients, and overall troops that gave the ultimate sacrifice were forgotten for a brief period.
Kelman, Herbert C., Hamilton, V. Lee. “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience”. Writing & Reading for ACP Composition. Ed. Thomas E. Leahey and Christine R. Farris. New York: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. 266-277. Print.
The United States government initially celebrated the Battle at Wounded Knee as the final conflict between Native Americans and the United States military - after which the western frontier was considered safe for the incoming settlers. Over 20 medals were awarded to the soldiers for their valor on the battlefield. However, the understanding has changed regarding what actually took place at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890. The Hollywood version of the Battle of Wounded Knee accurately presents the case that the Battle at Wounded Knee was actually a massacre of the Sioux - the culminating act of betrayal and aggression carried out by the United States military,
the guards began mistreating the prisoners, not physically, but emotionally and psychologically, taking advantage of the power and authority appointed to them by the experimenter (Zimbardo 109). Crimes of obedience and mistreatment to other human beings are not only found in Milgrim’s and Zimbardo’s experiments. In 1968, U.S. troops massacred over 500 villagers in My Lai. The incident is described by social psychologist Herbert C. Kelman and sociologist V. Lee Hamilton in the article “The My Lai Massacre: a Crime of Obedience.” Lt. William Calley, charged with 102 killings, claims to have followed orders from his superiors, only accomplishing his duty, which is also a theme throughout the movie, A Few Good Men. After presented with a request from William Santiago, a marine on his base, to be transferred, Jessup refuses. The film depicts, through Colonel Jessup 's authority, the refusal to obey a reasonable request as well as the pride one possesses when fulfilling his duty
Seung-Hui Cho was a 23 year old senior that studied English at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. On April 16, 2007 Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and injured 17 others in two separate attacks before taking his own life. This event is known as one of the deadliest shootings by a single gunman in the United States and worldwide.
All in all, every year since 1975, Vietnamese have been killed or injured and they are so disappointed. The war causes chaos and is a sign of bad omen to Vietnam. This never-ending horror could be remedied if enough Americans cared about saving Vietnamese lives, as the stars of this documentary claim they did. After all, what kind of people seed a foreign land with hundreds of thousands of tons of explosives and then allow succeeding generations to lose eyes and limbs and lives? Only a “violent and unforgiving”
They were brutal to the Vietnamese civilians. Some men raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, shot at random civilians, raided villages, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and ravaged the country side of south Vietnam. Some of this brutality was seen in the Village scene in Platoon. The platoon raided the village, gathered up all the Vietnamese civilians and interrogated them. Some were bashed, some were raped and some were tortured they shot a lot of them and burned down the village. This also reflects a very historical event in the Vietnam War; the My Lai massacre. The My Lai massacre was an event in the war where the U.S raided a My Lai village, raped their women, brutally murdered and tortured their civilians and burned down the village. The Sergeant tried to cover it up just like Barnes did, but it was witnessed by two helicopter pilots; who only just got rewarded a medal of heroism in
...d to the government officials, and was also one event that did not support the national government. This media exposure helped provide information that the Johnson and Nixon administrations helped cover up. By 1968, the My Lai Massacre was detriment to the government because of the negative attention the media was feeding to the American people.
...nd innocent villagers of My Lai, it was a time when American’s questioned their own as being “bad guys” or “good guys”. Were America’s tortuous and cruel acts to be considered patriotic or dishonorable? Some Americans, with bitter feelings for all the American lives lost in the Vietnam War, gave credit to Lieutenant Calley for leading troops in participating in such an atrocious event. History shows that there is still much debate on some facts of the massacre and many stories and opinions, although we will never know the facts exactly, what we do know is that America will never forget this tragic event, it will be talked about in American History for many years to come, and the Vietminh hearts will always fill with sadness when they think of the many lives that were lost on that tragic day in history, their minds will always have unspeakable memories of that day.
Going After Cacciato, by Tim O'Brien, is a book that presents many problems in understanding. Simply trying to figure out what is real and what is fantasy and where they combine can be quite a strain on the reader. Yet even more clouded and ambiguous are the larger moral questions raised in this book. There are many so-called "war crimes" or atrocities in this book, ranging from killing a water buffalo to fragging the commanding officer. Yet they are dealt with in an almost offhanded way. They seem to become simply the moral landscape upon which a greater drama is played-- i.e. the drama of running away from war, seeking peace in Paris. This journey after Cacciato turns into a morality play, the road Westward metaphor. As Dennis Vannatta explains, "The desire to flee may have begun as a reaction to fear, but by the time the squad has reached Paris, Paul has nurtured and cultivated it until it has become a political, moral, and philosophical statement" (245). But what about the atrocities going on all the time? How could they be ignored in the face of this larger drama? As Milton J. Bates puts it, although Going After Cacciato is "not atrocity-based in the manner of much Vietnam War autobiography and fiction, [it does] record incidents in which Vietnamese civilians are beaten or killed and have their livestock and homes destroyed" (270). This book has an almost offhanded-like way of dealing with these My Lai-like atrocities. Why? What's going on here?
Turse argues that what happened at My Lai was not a one occurring event but one event in a series of event that took place in Vietnam. In his monograph, he talks about the massacre at Trieu
The Rape of Nanking, also known as the Nanking Massacre was a six week period when mass numbers of Chinese men and woman were killed by the Japanese. Embarrassed by the lack of effort in the war with China in Shanghai, the Japanese looked for revenge and finally were able to win the battle. The Japanese moved toward the city of Nanjing also known as Nanking and invaded it for approximately six months. Even though the people of Nanjing outnumbered the 50,000 Japanese, they were not as masterful in warfare as their opponents. Chinese soldiers were forced to surrender to the Japanese and the massacre began in which around 300,000 people died and 20,000 women were raped. The Japanese leaders had different methods of killing that were instructed to the soldiers. However, the prisoners of this “City of Blood” soon found their liberation and their justice was served.
The paranoia and fear of death never left them. The My Lai Massacre occurred in 1968, when the village of My Lai was completely destroyed, although it did not contain a single enemy troop. Over a hundred villagers were slaughtered. It became clearer to Americans how soldiers were losing control, and how there was no easy way to win this war.