A New Psywar Approach

Conditions have changed considerably in respect to psychological warfare in Vietnam since the ceasefire of two years ago. Not only has the American military machine been dismantled, but Congress is drastically reducing aid to Saigon. New conditions require new tactics and, although what I’m advocating is not new in the physical sense—leaflets have been dropped on North Vietnam before—it is new in the psychological sense.

Previously, we Americans bombarded the North Vietnamese with pictures of then reigning American Presidents—LBJ in ’65, RMN in ’72. An example: in 1965, LBJ made his famous “TVA speech,” in which, in effect, he advocated the turning of Southeast Asia into an Oriental Tennessee Valley. The TVA concept was regarded by some as a clever ploy to do duty as a pacifier for American liberals during the buildup of American forces in Vietnam. However, among those who also fell for the ploy were American psywar “experts” who proceeded to distribute the speech to the North Vietnamese.

JS

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John Swanson

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Conditions have changed considerably in respect to psychological warfare in Vietnam since the ceasefire of two years ago. Not only has the American military machine been dismantled, but Congress is drastically reducing aid to Saigon. New conditions require new tactics and, although what I’m advocating is not new in the physical sense—leaflets have been dropped on North Vietnam before—it is new in the psychological sense.

Previously, we Americans bombarded the North Vietnamese with pictures of then reigning American Presidents—LBJ in ’65, RMN in ’72. An example: in 1965, LBJ made his famous “TVA speech,” in which, in effect, he advocated the turning of Southeast Asia into an Oriental Tennessee Valley. The TVA concept was regarded by some as a clever ploy to do duty as a pacifier for American liberals during the buildup of American forces in Vietnam. However, among those who also fell for the ploy were American psywar “experts” who proceeded to distribute the speech to the North Vietnamese.