Ronald Lee Ridenhour (April 6, 1946 – May 10, 1998) was an American known for having played a central role in spurring the federal investigation of the 1968

Mỹ Lai massacre The Mỹ Lai massacre (; vi, Thảm sát Mỹ Lai ) was the mass murder of unarmed South Vietnamese civilians by United States troops in Sơn Tịnh District, South Vietnam, on 16 March 1968 during the Vietnam War. Between 347 and 504 unarme ...

in Vietnam. When he first learned of events there, he was serving in the United States 11th Infantry Brigade in Vietnam. He gathered evidence and interviewed people before the end of his tour. After returning to the US in 1969, he wrote to President Nixon, members of his cabinet and two dozen Congressmen recounting what he had learned. A full-scale Department of Defense investigation eventually took place. Ridenhour became an award-winning investigative journalist, working on a range of topics.

The Ridenhour Prizes The Ridenhour Prizes are awards in four categories given annually in recognition of those "who persevere in acts of truth-telling that protect the public interest, promote social justice or illuminate a more just vision of society". History The aw ...

were established in his honor.

Life

Ridenhour was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, and was raised in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

. He entered the US Army during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, serving as a helicopter gunner. While serving in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, Ridenhour heard of the

from friends in the service. While still on active duty, he gathered eyewitness and participant accounts from other soldiers. After his return to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1969, he wrote a letter detailing the evidence, which he sent to President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

, five senior officials at the State Department and the Pentagon, and 24 members of Congress. The Department of Defense conducted a lengthy probe. Some twenty-six soldiers were charged with criminal offenses. Former Lieutenant

William Calley William Laws Calley Jr. (born June 8, 1943) is a former American army officer and war criminal convicted by court-martial for the premeditated killings of 200 to 400 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the Mỹ Lai massacre on March 16, 1968, d ...

, Jr. was the only one convicted, for killing 22 villagers.

Postwar life

Ridenhour went to college after his service and graduated in 1972 from Claremont Men's College. He became an investigative journalist, reporting on a range of government scandals and other issues. Years later, Ridenhour published an account of learning about the My Lai massacre in his article, "Jesus Was a Gook," published in ''Nobody Gets Off the Bus: The Viet Nam Generation Big Book'' (1994). He died at age 52 of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

in 1998 in

Metairie, Louisiana Metairie ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States, and is part of the New Orleans metropolitan area. With a population of 143,507 in 2020, Metairie is the largest community in Jefferson Parish and was (a ...

. He had been playing handball.

Honors

* In 1987 he won a

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the award ...

for his expose of a tax scandal in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, based on a year-long investigation. * In 1988 he earned the

Gerald Loeb Award The Gerald Loeb Award, also referred to as the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, is a recognition of excellence in journalism, especially in the fields of business, finance and the economy. The award was estab ...

for Commentary. *

were established in his honor. They "recognize those who persevere in acts of truth-telling that protect the public interest, promote social justice or illuminate a more just vision of society".Description from official website o
The Ridenhour Prizes
Retrieved on September 3, 2020. (Note: According to

Jonathan Glover Jonathan Glover (; born 1941) is a British philosopher known for his books and studies on ethics. He currently teaches ethics at King's College London. Glover is a fellow of the Hastings Center, an independent bioethics research institution in ...

's book, ''Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century'' (2001), Ridenhour took part in the

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

version of the

Milgram experiment The Milgram experiment(s) on obedience to authority figures were a series of social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram. They measured the willingness of study participants, 40 men in the age range ...

. This claim was investigated and it was found that the Ron Ridenhour who took part in the Milgram experiment was a different person than Ronald Lee Ridenhour.)

References

External links

*
A first-person account
of Ridenhour's investigation and exposure of the My Lai Massacre, transcribed from a talk he gave at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

in 1994
Ronald Ridenhour essay, "Jesus Was a Gook"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridenhour, Ronald United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War Mỹ Lai massacre Writers from Oakland, California Military personnel from Phoenix, Arizona Military personnel from California 1946 births 1998 deaths American whistleblowers United States Army soldiers Claremont McKenna College alumni American investigative journalists George Polk Award recipients 20th-century American writers Gerald Loeb Award winners for Columns, Commentary, and Editorials