Army Lt. William Calley and his small squad murdered over 500 unarmed civilians during the Vietnam War in an event known as the My Lai Massacre. After intense national support, he only served three days of house arrest. With the war being unpopular at the time, why did he receie so much support?

On March 16, 1968, Calley led around 100 soldiers of Charlie company into the village of My Lai. Although they faced no resistance, they entered the village shooting. They murdered hundreds of civilians consisting mostly of South Vietnamese elderly men, women, children, and infants using automatic weapons, grenades and bayonets. Infants and children were killed with bayonets, and females were raped and shot.

After being covered up by the military for over a year, news of the massacre broke, and Calley was put on military trial. He was found guilty of of murder and sentenced to life in prison with hard labor. But the many in the nation felt the punishment was too harsh, and others felt he was a scapgoat. Multiple state governors pleaded his case in public, while the White House received over 5,000 telegrams demanding that President Nixon release Calley. Nixon himself was reported as stating "The American people don't give a shit if he killed anyone."

With the Vietnam War being so unpopular and so many atrocities being reported, why did so many Americans support Calley's actions?

https://www.npr.org/2024/07/30/g-s1-14339/william-calley-lai-massacre-vietnam-death-obituary

https://casebook.icrc.org/case-study/united-states-united-states-v-william-l-calley-jr