Vietcong Execution

Adam's Vietcong Execution, 1968

                The Vietnam War marked a period of communist and democratic hegemony over Indochina. Problems regarding Indochina’s territory, and the respective government, commenced with the Geneva Conference in 1954, where the land was split into two opposing regions: a communist North Vietnam and the non-communist southern Vietnam (Duiker 732-33). Despite the attempts to stabilize the area, war broke out in the early 1960s (Duiker 738). Southern Vietnam was particularly weak after defending itself from communist factions like the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF) and the Viet Cong, who fought American and anti-communist troops famously employing guerilla warfare tactics (Duiker 739). Despite the best efforts of anti-communist forces, the capital city of Saigon was captured on April 30, 1975 by North Vietnamese troops, marking the end of the war.  North and South Vietnam became the communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam on July 2, 1976. 

                Eddie Adams, a famous photo-journalist with an extensive background in covering wars, photographed Nguyen Ngoc Loan execute Nguyen Van Lem in Saigon, southern Vietnam’s capital, on February 1, 1968. Ngoc Loan led the southern Vietnamese police force who captured the Vietcong-affiliated Van Lem. Despite the intimate connection with the Vietnam War, the raw power of this photograph stunned the international audience by its ability to transcend its relationship with Vietnam and its ability to capture human nature by displaying the paradoxical positions that people occupy. First, Nguyen Ngoc Loan fulfills the role of the triumphant hunter who eyes his prey with unwavering purpose. The extension of his arm displays the tension of the scene, as his muscles and tendons are taut. In contrast, the prisoner anticipates his inevitable death through his refusal to open his eyes and the grimace that displays his fear of the shiny, powerful gun. However, the two witnesses (not including Adams) participate in this photograph by their non-action. The bystanders had the ability to change the outcome—Nguyen Van Lem’s death—instead, they looked in the other direction and become passersby.  

                Adam’s Vietcong Execution is remarkable not only for its accurate representation of the daily struggle in Vietnam, but also for its starking portrayal of human nature. Death is an inevitable part of life, and the terse moments before Nguyen Van Lem’s execution symbolize not just the millions of lives lost in the Vietnam War, but nearly all deaths completed in the same unjust fashion. Adam’s uncensored photo shows the brutality of war—and death—through the calculated and detached way Nguyen Ngoc Loan regards Nguyen Van Lem. Instead of acknowledging Van Lem as a human, Ngoc Loan treats him like an animal, which is a travesty. Thus, the dehumanized Nguyen Van Lem dies in an unjustifiable manner, symbolizing the perverse nature of death.  

Works Cited

Duikier William J. and Jackson J. Spielvogel, eds. World History. 5th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomas Wadsworth, 2007.

“Eddie Adams (photographer).” Wikipedia. 19 Apr 2011. Wikimedia Foundation. 2 May 2011.

Halstead, Dirck. The Digital Journalist: Tribute to Eddie Adams—Vietcong Execution. Hewlett Packard, Nikon, 2004. Web. 18 Apr 2011.

“Vietnam War.” Wikipedia. 2 May 2, 2011. Wikimedia Foundation. 2 May 2011.