Seymour Hersh: The journalist who exposed My Lai
Find out more about the My Lai Massacre and how freelance journalist Seymour Hersh discovered and exposed the truth.
Image: A statue in honour of the victims of the My Lai Massacre | mundosemfim / Shutterstock.com
In March 1968, during the Vietnam War, a shocking surprise attack unfolded in the small village of My Lai in South Vietnam. Members of the U.S. Army’s Charlie Company entered the small town and killed hundreds of unarmed civilians, most of them women, children and elderly men.
For years the truth lay buried under a fog of military silence and official denial. It took the determined work of a freelance journalist, Seymour Hersh, to bring the massacre to light. Hersh’s reporting not only exposed the tragic events but also highlighted the power of investigative journalism.
In this article, Sky HISTORY explores the My Lai Massacre and how journalist Seymour Hersh uncovered the truth and overcame resistance to publish the story.
What happened at My Lai?
The My Lai Massacre took place during one of the most controversial phases of the Vietnam War. American soldiers entered the village in the Quang Ngai province with orders to root out Viet Cong fighters. Instead, what happened was a brutal slaughter of innocent civilians. Estimates vary, but between hundreds of innocent civilians were killed in a massacre that shocked the world.
For months, news of the killings remained hidden. The Army issued vague statements about a 'successful operation' with enemy fighters killed and weapons seized. No mention was made of civilians, and the story faded from public view. Meanwhile, survivors in Vietnam were left to grapple with the horror of what had happened to their home, families and community.
How Seymour Hersh found the story
Seymour Hersh was then a relatively unknown journalist originally from Chicago. Freelance and tenacious, Hersh had developed a reputation for digging deeper than most reporters. In late 1969, he heard that something serious had occurred in Vietnam.
Seymour Hersh’s investigation gained real momentum after he connected with Ronald Ridenhour, a Vietnam veteran who had spent months quietly interviewing soldiers who knew what had happened at My Lai. The freelance journalist travelled to California to meet him, and Ridenhour shared names, contacts and what he had already uncovered.
From there, Hersh crisscrossed the country, tracking down soldiers and listening to their stories firsthand. What emerged was deeply disturbing. Several eyewitnesses said they had been warned not to speak to anyone, and many confirmed that the number of civilians killed was not a handful, but likely in the hundreds.
On 20th November 1969, Dispatch News Service released Hersh’s second article, which was quickly picked up by outlets around the world. That same day, the Cleveland Plain Dealer published graphic photographs taken by Army photographer Ronald L. Haeberle.
After that, the story had become impossible to contain. Major newspapers including The New York Times and The Washington Post were following the case closely, and the revelations were leading the national evening news on both CBS and NBC.
The nation’s reaction
The nation reacted with shock. For many Americans, the reality of what was happening in Vietnam had been distant or abstract. Newspapers around the country picked up the story and television news broadcasts featured interviews and commentary. The response was intense and polarising. Some viewed Hersh as a truth teller holding power to account, while others accused him of undermining morale or misrepresenting events.
But as more evidence emerged and the Army itself conducted internal investigations, the core facts of the massacre were verified. The Army ultimately charged several soldiers, and in 1971 Lieutenant William Calley was convicted in relation to the killings.
The aftermath
Hersh’s reporting did more than just expose one single atrocity. It shifted the framing of the Vietnam War into the public’s consciousness. For many, The My Lai story raised fundamental questions about how the war was being fought and whether the U.S. government was being transparent with its own citizens.
Anti-war sentiment was already growing in the late 1960s, and it gained fresh momentum from the My Lai revelations. Ordinary Americans, struggling with draft calls and news of casualties, now had proof that atrocities were part of the war’s darkest chapters.
Trust in official statements from military and political leaders was further eroded and the massacre became shorthand for a war many increasingly believed was unjust and unwinnable.
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