Seymour Hersh

     Born in Chicago on April 8th, 1937, Seymour Hersh is a well-renowned investigative journalist known best for his "stubborn questioning of authority and dogged pursuit of scandal" as Donald A. Ritchie so aptly captures Hersh in his American Journalists. His persistence and dedication to unveiling the truth led Seymour Hersh to his famous exposés of the Nixon administration's secret bombing of Cambodia, incidents connected with the Watergate scandal, the Central Intelligence Agency's role in overthrowing the Chilean government, and most notably, the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, an incident in which between 200 and 500 Vietnamese civilians were murdered by U.S. soldiers. 
      Hersh began his career as a reporter when he moved from Chicago to Washington, D.C. in 1965 to work for the Associated Press. He covered the Pentagon during the Vietnam War, steering clear from more traditional ways of uncovering information like formal press briefings on the status of the war effort. Instead, he sought out the lower-level bureaucrats when forming a story because they would reveal that which the top officials so diligently tried to hide. It was as a freelance writer that Hersh uncovered the My Lai massacre story, a defining moment in his career. Said exposé earned him a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting and also landed him a job with the New York Times. Hersh also has published many books, two on the My Lai massacre-- My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and Its Aftermath and Cover-up: the Army's Secret Investigation of the Massacre at My Lai-- and others on a variety of topics like John F. Kennedy's life and relationships and 9/11 and the War on Terror. 
      Today in history, on November 12, 1969, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh broke the story that would change his life and career, as he revealed the gruesome details of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam that took place more than a year and a half before. We as journalists do not remember Hersh solely today for his ground-breaking story---his legacy will forever be his tenacious will to publish the truth. He is a shining example for investigative journalists everywhere. 

Sources: 

-David A. Richtie American Journalists 

-http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/seymour-hersh-breaks-my-lai-story

- http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKhershS.htm#