When the U.S. military invited the press to cover the Vietnam War, some 600,000 professional photographers travelled to Southeast Asia. “American officials may have imagined that the images and stories that made their way out to the world through the media would be heroic, but, of course, the opposite was the case,” Louis Menand writes. Allowed into the war zone, photojournalists brought the horrific reality of Vietnam—the slaughter of civilians, the brutalization of prisoners, the burning of villages, the deaths of soldiers—into the homes of Americans, turning public opinion against the war.
The French photojournalist Catherine Leroy was 21 years old when she arrived in Saigon, in 1966. She was five feet tall, spoke little English, and had almost no money. But “Leroy was ambitious and she had guts,” Menand writes. She lived with American soldiers, ate what they ate, did everything they did. When they charged up a hill, she charged with them. She became one of the most celebrated and fearless photojournalists of the war. See more: [https://www.newyorker.com/humor/shouts-murmurs/klutz-activity-books-for-adults](https://www.newyorker.com/humor/shouts-murmurs/klutz-activity-books-for-adults)
1 Comment
When the U.S. military invited the press to cover the Vietnam War, some 600,000 professional photographers travelled to Southeast Asia. “American officials may have imagined that the images and stories that made their way out to the world through the media would be heroic, but, of course, the opposite was the case,” Louis Menand writes. Allowed into the war zone, photojournalists brought the horrific reality of Vietnam—the slaughter of civilians, the brutalization of prisoners, the burning of villages, the deaths of soldiers—into the homes of Americans, turning public opinion against the war.
The French photojournalist Catherine Leroy was 21 years old when she arrived in Saigon, in 1966. She was five feet tall, spoke little English, and had almost no money. But “Leroy was ambitious and she had guts,” Menand writes. She lived with American soldiers, ate what they ate, did everything they did. When they charged up a hill, she charged with them. She became one of the most celebrated and fearless photojournalists of the war. See more: [https://www.newyorker.com/humor/shouts-murmurs/klutz-activity-books-for-adults](https://www.newyorker.com/humor/shouts-murmurs/klutz-activity-books-for-adults)