Saigon Execution

Saigon Execution[a] is a 1968 photograph by Associated Press photojournalist Eddie Adams, taken during the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War.

Nguyễn Văn Lém was a captain in the Viet Cong (VC) and was known by the code name Bảy Lốp.

[1] He and his wife Nguyễn Thị Lốp lived as undercover arms traffickers in Saigon, trading tires as a front business.

Having worked previously as a US Marine,[8] he had a reputation for being fearless, taking pictures close to danger, and for being often "in the right place at the right time".

[6] The NBC and AP crews arrived at the Ấn Quang Pagoda the same morning, and having seen nothing of interest by noon, were preparing to leave.

"[13] As part of the Tet Offensive, the Viet Cong conducted the targeted killings of prominent people opposed to the VC.

"It turns out that the Viet Cong lieutenant who was killed in the picture had murdered a police major--one of General Loan's best friends--his whole family, wife, kids, the same guy.

[26] The event received extensive attention in the US during the coming days; the photo was published on most American newspapers the next morning, and 20 million people saw the NBC's film of it on The Huntley–Brinkley Report that evening.

[28] The photograph is commonly characterized as having created a massive shift in American public opinion against the war.

"[30] Ben Wright, associate director for communications at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, said of the photo: "There's something in the nature of a still image that deeply affects the viewer and stays with them.

[33] They attempted to deport him, but President Jimmy Carter personally intervened to stop the proceedings, stating that "such historical revisionism was folly".

Carter's staff explained that the president was concerned about how Loan would be treated back in Vietnam.

This movie details the influence it had on the lives of Adams and Loan, and on public opinion of the Vietnam War.