It was while covering the Vietnam War for the Associated Press that he took his best-known photograph – the picture of police chief executing a Vietcong, on a Saigon street, during the opening stages of the Tet Offensive 1968.

Eddie Adams



Eddie Adams covered 13 wars, beginning with a stint as a Marine Corp combat photographer in Korea in the early 1950s and ending in Kuwait in 1991.

Eddie Adams

He did three tours of Vietnam with the Associated Press and won the Pulitzer Prize for photography for his shot of a Viet Cong lieutenant being executed at close range on a Saigon street by a South Vietnamese general.

Eddie Adams

In his more than five decades as a working photographer, Adams received more than 500 awards honoring his work, including World Press, New York Press, National Headliners and Sigma Delta Chi Awards.

Eddie Adams


He said he likes getting them; that they're nice. But he didn't display them.

Eddie Adams


He didn't display that famous photo from Vietnam, either.


Eddie Adams

If he'd had his way, that photo would never be released for publication again.