![]() Twenty-six soldiers were charged in military courts but none were convicted. He was released three and a half years later. was initially given a life sentence but, at the order of President Nixon, was put under house arrest instead. The platoon commander Lieutenant William Calley Jr. Ultimately, however, the perpetrators were never held accountable. When the public learned about the massacre in November 1969, with harrowing photographs of dead villagers on major American television networks and in newsweeklies including TIME, it created a firestorm of controversy. ![]() Army soldiers in Charlie Company killed as many as 567 South Vietnamese civilians, including women and children, in what became known as the My Lai Massacre. Haeberle-The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images With that in mind, TIME asked 21 historians to weigh in with their picks for “worst moments” that hold a lesson-and what they think those experiences can teach us. ![]() And if we listen to those lessons, perhaps a better future will be possible. But a look back at that past does reveal that, at the very least, even the worst moments contain lessons that can still apply today. It is hardly consolation to be reminded that this is not the first low point in American history. June polling revealed that Americans are unhappier now than they have been in decades, and a majority believe the U.S. In fact, for a great number, this very moment may fall into that latter category, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rock the nation and a growing number of people confront the inescapable facts of past and present racism. As many Americans prepare to toast their country’s past on the Fourth of July, there’s no escaping that not every facet of that history has been worth celebrating.
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