Pulitzer Prize Recipient Photographer. He received world-wide acclaim as an Associated Press photojournalist covering the Vietnam War. He was awarded the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for his graphic photograph entitled “Saigon Execution,” showing the execution of a Viet Cong prisoner, Nguyen Van Lem, by Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc Loan. The photograph was one of a series of photographs of the public execution, which was held on a Saigon street on February 1, 1968. After the war, General Loan later escaped to the United States, but could never escape the image of this photograph meeting hardships for him for years. “Two people died in that photograph,” Adams wrote following General Loan's death from cancer in 1998. “The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera.” His fifty-year career covered thirteen wars, international politics, fashion and the entertainment business. His assignments included United States Presidents Richard Nixon through George W. Bush and world figures such as Pope John Paul II, Deng Xiao Ping, Anwar Sadat, Fidel Castro, Mikhail Gorbachev, Indira Gandhi and the Shah of Iran. Besides the 1969 Pulitzer Prize photograph, he received more than 500 honors bestowed on him including a 1978 Robert Capa Award and three George Polk Memorial Awards for war coverage. Adams began his career as a Marine Corps photographer during the Korean War. His cause of death was complications resulting from Lou Gehrig's disease.
Pulitzer Prize Recipient Photographer. He received world-wide acclaim as an Associated Press photojournalist covering the Vietnam War. He was awarded the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for his graphic photograph entitled “Saigon Execution,” showing the execution of a Viet Cong prisoner, Nguyen Van Lem, by Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc Loan. The photograph was one of a series of photographs of the public execution, which was held on a Saigon street on February 1, 1968. After the war, General Loan later escaped to the United States, but could never escape the image of this photograph meeting hardships for him for years. “Two people died in that photograph,” Adams wrote following General Loan's death from cancer in 1998. “The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera.” His fifty-year career covered thirteen wars, international politics, fashion and the entertainment business. His assignments included United States Presidents Richard Nixon through George W. Bush and world figures such as Pope John Paul II, Deng Xiao Ping, Anwar Sadat, Fidel Castro, Mikhail Gorbachev, Indira Gandhi and the Shah of Iran. Besides the 1969 Pulitzer Prize photograph, he received more than 500 honors bestowed on him including a 1978 Robert Capa Award and three George Polk Memorial Awards for war coverage. Adams began his career as a Marine Corps photographer during the Korean War. His cause of death was complications resulting from Lou Gehrig's disease.
Bio by: Fred Beisser
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