Propaganda
“and babies” is one of the most famous examples of propaganda art from the Vietnam War era. This photo depicts the now infamous scene from the My Lai Massacre taken by U.S. Soldier Ronald L. Haeberle in March of 1968. This picture shows almost a dozen dead and partly naked South Vietnamese women and children who were killed by U.S. Soldiers. The origin of the pictures title comes from an interview with Paul Meadlo who was a part of the massacre.
Q. So you fired something like sixty-seven shots?
A. Right.
Q. And you killed how many? At that time?
A. Well, I fired them automatic, so you can’t- You just spray the area on them and so you can’t know how many you killed ‘cause they were going fast. So I might have killed ten or fifteen of them.
Q. Men, women, and children?
A. Men, women, and children.
Q. And babies?
A. And babies
A. Right.
Q. And you killed how many? At that time?
A. Well, I fired them automatic, so you can’t- You just spray the area on them and so you can’t know how many you killed ‘cause they were going fast. So I might have killed ten or fifteen of them.
Q. Men, women, and children?
A. Men, women, and children.
Q. And babies?
A. And babies
Haeberle’s photo was not released until two years later when he sold the photo to Time magazine. He never surrendered this roll of film to the military because he thought it was a very minute scene in the war. Haeberle accounts for seeing things like the “and babies” photo he took regularly, along with other gruesome torture and forms of murder delivered by the U.S. soldiers he accompanied.
