By Eddie Adams Monday, Jul. 27, 1998, Time Magazine
I won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for a photograph of one man shooting another. Two
people died in that photograph: the recipient of the bullet and GENERAL NGUYEN
NGOC LOAN. The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera.
Still photographs are the most powerful weapons in the world. People believe them,
but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. They are only half-truths. What
the photograph didn't say was, "What would you do if you were the general at that
time and place on that hot day, and you caught the so-called bad guy after he blew
away one, two or three American soldiers?" General Loan was what you would call a
real warrior, admired by his troops. I'm not saying what he did was right, but you
have to put yourself in his position. The photograph also doesn't say that the general
devoted much of his time trying to get hospitals built in Vietnam for war casualties.
This picture really messed up his life. He never blamed me. He told me if I hadn't
taken the picture, someone else would have, but I've felt bad for him and his family
for a long time. I had kept in contact with him; the last time we spoke was about six
months ago, when he was very ill. I sent flowers when I heard that he had died and
wrote, "I'm sorry. There are tears in my eyes."
--Eddie Adams
