GREATEST TRIALS OF ALL TIME, THE: LIEUTENANT WILLIAM CALLEY (TV)
Summary
One in this series of documentary programs that profile landmark court trials and their impact on the law. Host James Naughton opens this installment with some background on the case in question, involving Lieutenant William Calley and his involvement with the My Lai massacre on March 16, 1968. Over a hundred Vietnamese civilians were killed by American troops, leading to the longest military trial in American history. Naughton provides a brief history of the Vietnam War, explaining that leader Ho Chi Minh desired freedom from the French and that after the country was split into two regions, the US tentatively controlled the south against the Communist north. Veteran and author Stanley Karnow explains America's misconceptions about the North Vietnamese Communists, drawing comparisons to the fear surrounding the Soviet Union. Presidents Kennedy and Johnson placed American troops in the country to aid South Vietnam, and in 1966, 23-year-old Calley entered the army, having dropped out of Palm Beach Junior College. Because he had some secondary education, he was sent to Fort Benning for six months of training to become an officer, and was appointed a second lieutenant despite his questionable field abilities. He joined Charlie Company under Captain Ernest Medina and soon shipped out for Vietnam.
Life was "barely tolerable" in the jungle for the American troops, due to the lack of clear front lines and their inability to see and track down their fearsome, "nationalistic" enemy. Calley's men were told that there were Viet Cong members, or V.C., hiding in villages, disguised as civilians. Charlie Company soon suffered significant losses, particularly due to mines, and radio operator Fred Widmer recalls that they felt "demoralized." They were then given an assignment codenamed Task Force Barker, in which they were to launch a strike on My Lai, nicknamed "Pinkville," and unlike in other wars, where soldiers' success was determined by enemy territory acquired, the men were ordered to rack up a significant "body count." They encountered no resistance in My Lai on March 16 and 128 were killed, and though the attack was at first thought to be "well-planned," journalist Ron Ridenhour later heard from a Charlie Company friend that it had been a slaughter of innocents. Shocked, Ridenhour wrote to President Nixon and others in government, and though only Calley was accused at first, once Seymour Hersh's article and Ronald Haeberle's grisly color photos of the scene were printed in Life magazine, the inquiry was increased.
In his investigation, Army General William R. Peers deduced that poorly-trained soldiers under faulty command had contributed to both the slaughter and the cover-up, and a total of thirty people were accused of participation. Calley was placed in the spotlight, however, and his trial began in November 1970, where he was accused of the murder of "102 Oriental human beings." George Latimer served as Calley's defense attorney, and 28-year-old draftee Captain Aubrey Daniel served as lead prosecutor. Calley pled not guilty, and Judge Reid Kennedy describes the long series of witnesses, including Calley's platoon members, including Paul Meadlo, who had previously given an interview to Mike Wallace detailing the murders. Latimer then mounted a defense arguing that Calley had been following orders from his superiors and was not only insufficiently trained but in command of a decimated, traumatized platoon of soldiers. He noted the lack of clear language in Calley's briefing on Task Force Barker, which failed to specify whether the soldiers were to kill only enemy forces or "every living creature" in the village, though several soldiers, including Hugh Thompson, were said to have spoken out against the killings at the time. Finally, Calley himself took the stand and explained his stressful state of mind and his belief in his orders. Medina was called as a witness of the court, due to his own impending trial, and stated that he had given no illegal commands. After two months and forty witnesses, the trial concluded and Calley was sentenced to life imprisonment and hard labor. Many Americans spoke out against the verdict, and war correspondent John Sack points out that the objection, in part, came not from the penalty but from the fact that Calley was being punished by the very military that had given the orders, and that Calley was not alone in his actions. Eventually, he served four and a half months in prison and then entered house arrest, causing Daniel to write to Nixon in outrage. He was paroled after three and a half years, and now runs a jewelry store in Georgia, unwilling to discuss the massacre and the trial in public. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: Court TV
- DATE: March 31, 1998 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:45:53
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:65954
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Public affairs/Documentaries; Trials
- SERIES RUN: Court TV - TV series, 1998
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Eric Ober … Executive Producer
- Erik Sorenson … Executive Producer
- Lynne Kirby … Senior Producer
- Scott Galloway … Supervising Producer
- C. Dorian Walker … Producer, Writer
- Cecil Stokes … Associate Producer
- Joshua Sitron … Theme Music by
- James Naughton … Host
- William Calley
- Aubrey Daniel
- Ronald Haeberle
- Seymour Hersh
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- Stanley Karnow
- John F. Kennedy
- George Latimer
- Paul Meadlo
- Ernest Medina
- Ho Chi Minh
- Richard Nixon
- William R. Peers
- Ron Ridenhour
- John Sack
- Hugh Thompson
- Fred Widmer
- Mike Wallace