1968: The Global Revolutions

At the height of the Tet Offensive, on February 1, 1968, AP photographer Eddie Adams was in the streets of Saigon photographing scenes of the unfolding battle. Noting a group of men – including Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, head of the national police – holding a Viet Cong prisoner, Adams raised his camera hoping to capture some photos of an interrogation. Even when Loan pulled his revolver, Adams still did not expect what followed. The General pulled the trigger, killing ­Nguyen Van Lem the instant Adams snapped the image. Adams’ photographs would earn him a Pulitzer Prize, and become iconic symbols of the brutality of the Vietnam War.