Vietnam Research Exercise: The use of psychological warfare and propaganda in Vietnam by Cameron Mirka

Over the course of the Vietnam war, there were many implications of psychological warfare and propaganda throughout the war. The Vietcong used guerilla warfare that left unimaginable psychological effects on American soldiers both during and after the war. The Americans on the other used their own propaganda and psychological warfare on the Vietcong. This subject helps Americans understand the issues and the ways Americans tried to outsmart the Viet Cong.

Americans throughout the war used psychological warfare to try and gain the upper hand on the guerrilla warfare the Vietcong sought to hide behind. One tactic that the Americans used was Operation Wandering Soul. This operation included helicopters with loudspeakers and an eerie playlist that sounded like ghosts or troubled spirits. The Americans were able to exploit a belief the Vietnamese believed in which was the dead must be buried in their homeland or else their soul will wander suffering in pain. In many cases, throughout the war, the dead were left behind or were improperly buried thus creating a strong superstition of the spirits wandering the landscape. The Americans would fly overhead with the helicopters and loudspeakers playing these eerie noises and hoping to induce turmoil within the Vietcong armies. Although panic was the goal of these operations the Viet Cong often just shot at the helicopters trying to destroy the source of the panic. The Americans not only used psychological warfare but they also used propaganda to help influence the war.

Psychological warfare Helicopter with Loud Speakers

The U.S used propaganda at home to try and gain support for the war but they also helped other countries with their propaganda. For the South Vietnamese, the Americans helped with the Chieu Hoi Program. This program aimed at trying to get the defects of the Viet Cong to come back and help the South Vietnamese. The way this program worked was by flying over parts of Vietcong controlled areas and dropped leaflets that acted as a ticket to return back to the South Vietnamese. People who returned were given many things including amnesty and medical treatment. It was estimated that 150,000 Viet Cong came back to the South Vietnamese government saving Americans hundreds of thousands of dollars. For a single person returning it cost $125 which was far less than the estimated cost of killing one Viet Cong which was estimated to cost $400,000.

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Best Link: https://thevietnamwar.info/u-s-propaganda-vietnam-war/

Works Cited:
“U.S. Propaganda in the Vietnam War.” The Vietnam War, thevietnamwar.info/u-s-propaganda-
          vietnam-war/.
“Operation Wandering Soul (Vietnam War).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 June 2018,
         en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wandering_Soul_(Vietnam_War).