American Scandal: The Massacre at My Lai | Hunting Down Calley | 3

Release Date: August 26, 2025
Host: Lindsey Graham

Episode Overview

This episode of American Scandal explores the relentless pursuit of truth behind the My Lai massacre, focusing on the efforts to expose the U.S. Army cover-up, bring those responsible to justice, and the complex journey reporter Seymour Hersh takes to break the story. The episode vividly dramatizes harrowing testimonies, the slow grind of military investigations, and the battle over public perception and accountability for one of America's darkest moments in war.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Initial Confession: Breaking the Silence

• The episode opens in April 1968, just over a month after the My Lai massacre, at a U.S. military base in South Vietnam.

• Private Charles "Butch" Groover confides in Ron Ridenhauer about the horrific events at My Lai, describing in detail how civilians—including women and children—were systematically executed, not casualties of crossfire (00:55).

  • Notable Quote:
    Groover: “I'm talking about lined up in ditches and then executed point blank. Jesus. I saw this one boy. God, he was tiny. Three, four years old...and the captain's radio guy opened up on him, full burst. Blew him away.” (01:47)

• Groover reveals that orders to shoot civilians came from Lieutenant Calley and that command is covering it up, calling it a “successful operation.” (02:51)

2. Ridenhauer’s Relentless Investigations

• Disturbed by Groover’s account, Ridenhauer discreetly gathers testimony from other soldiers, including Private Michael Bernhardt, who witnessed the violence firsthand and feared for his own safety if he spoke out. (05:33)

  • Bernhardt clearly implicates Lieutenant Calley and Captain Medina as responsible (06:15).

• After returning to the U.S., Ridenhauer methodically compiles these stories into a five-page letter detailing the massacre, sending it to top American officials, including President Nixon and members of Congress (07:18).

• Initially, his letter is largely ignored, but eventually a congressman forwards it to Army Chief of Staff General Westmoreland, sparking an Army Inspector General’s investigation. (08:40)

3. Investigations and the Search for Accountability

• Colonel William Wilson leads the Army inquiry, interviewing those who spoke to Ridenhauer. He encounters a web of denials and missing documentation, signaling a cover-up at multiple levels. (09:27)

• Senior officers, especially Colonel Orrin Henderson and Captain Medina, attempt to dismiss allegations and discredit firsthand accounts, but their stories contain contradictions and lack corroborating records. (10:17)

  • Notable Quote:
    Henderson (on helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson): “Thompson is young and emotional. Likely he was simply overwhelmed by the chaos and confused by what he thought he saw.” (10:38)

• Ultimately, the investigation centers on Lieutenant Calley, with testimony and evidence pointing to his direct role in the killings. Calley is flown back to the U.S., identified by witnesses, and formally charged. (12:02)

4. Seymour Hersh and the Power of Reporting

• Freelance reporter Seymour Hersh receives a tip about Calley's secret detention and launches his own investigation, navigating official stonewalling and obfuscation. (13:34)

• Hersh confirms the scope of the massacre and identifies Calley as the suspect through a Pentagon contact:

  • Notable Quote:
    Army general to Hersh: “That guy, Callie, he didn’t shoot anyone higher than this. He just shot little kids. He deserves everything he gets.” (17:07)

• Hersh skillfully befriends Calley’s attorney, George Latimer, obtaining explicit details of the charges. Latimer admits Calley is a scapegoat for higher-ups’ failings. (19:21)

  • Notable Quote:
    Latimer: “You have to understand, He's a lieutenant, just 24 years old...But we can't let the full weight of it fall on one young officer. Not when everyone up the ladder knew what was happening.” (20:20)

• Hersh hunts Calley down on Fort Benning, eventually persuading him to give a lengthy on-the-record interview in which Calley's defensive denial eventually unravels—exposing the fragility behind the perpetrator. (21:55)

5. Breaking the Story & Public Reaction

• Hersh struggles to place his explosive exposé, facing rejection or demands for anti-war editorializing from major outlets. He ultimately publishes through Dispatch News Service, igniting national controversy. (30:33)

• The public and press respond with skepticism and outrage. Only when Paul Meadlo, a low-ranking soldier, admits on CBS News to shooting women and children at My Lai does the full horror become undeniable. (32:31)

  • Notable Quote:
    Meadlo to Hersh, on surviving the massacre and losing his leg:
    “I thought it was a sign when the mine went off. A sign of what?…Maybe it was God punishing us for what we did.” (31:20)

• Congressional hearings follow, where Secretary of the Army Stanley Resor admits before the Senate that American soldiers committed mass murder and the military failed to investigate properly, triggering a formal, independent inquiry by Lieutenant General William R. Peers. (34:57)

  • Notable Quote:
    Resor, before the Senate:
    “American soldiers committed mass murder in My Lai. The army failed to stop it and then they failed to investigate it properly. But that all changes now.” (35:20)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Groover’s chilling account:
  “I'm talking about lined up in ditches and then executed point blank.” (01:47)

• Ridenhauer’s sense of duty:
  “He hasn't taken his story to the press or leaked it anywhere else. He wants to believe...there will be proper accountability at last.” (08:19)

• The bureaucratic web:
  “If there ever was a paper trail, it's been scrubbed. But Wilson isn't deterred.” (11:12)

• Calley’s realization of abandonment:
  “His commanding officers are not going to back him up, and he's going to be the one left holding the bag...” (28:10)

• Meadlo’s harrowing confession:
  “I just remember thinking maybe it was God punishing us for what we did.” (31:30)

• Army’s public admission:
  “The army failed to stop it and then they failed to investigate it properly. But that all changes now.” (35:20)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Groover shares what happened at My Lai: 00:55 – 03:56
• Ridenhauer’s investigation and letter: 05:33 – 08:40
• Colonel Wilson uncovers the cover-up: 09:27 – 12:39
• Seymour Hersh’s search for the truth: 13:34 – 21:55
• Hersh’s interview with Calley and Medina’s betrayal: 21:55 – 28:10
• Hersh publishes the story, public fallout: 30:33 – 34:57
• Army Secretary Resor’s Senate admission: 34:57 – 36:39

Overall Episode Flow and Tone

The narrative blends firsthand testimony, procedural drama, and investigative journalism, capturing the chilling banality of evil, the personal cost to witnesses and whistleblowers, and the heavy institutional resistance to accountability. The tone remains somber, urgent, and reflective, with an emphasis on moral complexity and the necessity—and cost—of pursuing justice.

Conclusion

This episode illustrates not just how the grisly facts of My Lai came to light, but also the stubborn resistance of institutions to self-examination. Through the stubborn persistence of individuals like Ron Ridenhauer and Seymour Hersh, the truth emerged—forcing a nation and its army to reckon, however fitfully, with crimes committed in its name. As the episode closes, it sets the stage for the courtroom battle to come, as America debates where responsibility truly lies: with one man, or with many.

For further information:
Books recommended at episode’s end include Vietnam, 1968 and the Descent into Darkness by Howard Jones, Cover-Up by Seymour Hersh, and The Forgotten Hero of the Hugh Thompson Story by Trent Anders.