Vietnam War Bibliography:

Propaganda and Psychological Warfare

Ernest F. Bairdain and Edith M. Bairdain, Psychological Operations Studies--Vietnam. McLean, Virginia: Human Sciences Research, 25 May 1971. Sponsored by ARPA. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, in 14 parts. The study was originally paginated, but almost all the page numbers appear to have been stripped out of the copy that was scanned and placed online. Volume I. HSR-RR-71/7-Wn. xxv, 263 pp. front matter and pp. 1-29, pp. 31-83, pp. 84-137, pp. 138-185, pp. 186-207, (some pages missing here?), pp. 211-263. Volume II. HSR-RR-71/7-Wn. xxiii, 377 pp. front matter and pp. 1-30 (first part of section 1 "Obstacles to Defection"), pp. 31-81 (remainder of section 1 and first part of 2 "Study of Enemy Vulnerabilities"), pp. 83-132 (remainder of section 2, beginning of 3 "Psychological Factors of the Enemy Soldier"), pp. 133-182 (remainder of 3; 4 "Factors Affecting Support for GVN"; beginning of 5 "JUSPAO Publications Evaluation"), pp. 183-232 (remainder of 5; section 6 "Film Evaluation Process") (note that section 6 is omitted from the main table of contents in the front matter), pp. 235-285 (section 7 "Effect of Cambodian Incursion on the Enemy Soldier", beginning of Appendix 1), pp. 286-333 (Appendix 1 continued), pp. 336-377 (remainder of Appendix 1, appendices 2 and 3.

Raymond J. Barrett, "PSYOP: What Is It?" Military Review, March 1972 (vol. LII, no. 3), pp. 57-72.

Susan A. Brewer, Why America Fights: Patriotism and War Propaganda from the Philippines to Iraq. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. x, 342 pp. The Vietnam War is pp. 179-229.

Major Monte R. Bullard, USA, "Political Warfare in Vietnam" Military Review, October 1969, pp. 54-59.

Major Monte R. Bullard, USA, "Political Warfare--Qualified Application" Military Review, June 1971, pp. 18-23. The ROC political warfare system, and its influence on the RVN.

Robert W. Chandler, War of Ideas: The U.S. Propaganda Campaign in Vietnam. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1981. The full text is available online to paid subscribers of Questia.

Robert W. Chandler, "United States Psychological Operations in Vietnam, 1965-72." Ph.D. dissertation, George Washington University, Political Science, 1974. 636 pp. DA 74-17396.

Ernest Cuneo [former president, North American Newspaper Alliance], "National Suicide?" Ordnance, no. 306 (May-June 1971), pp. 536-538.

Thomas W. Hoffer, "Broadcasting in an Insurgency Environment: USIA in Vietnam, 1965-1970." Ph.D. dissertation, Mass Communications, University of Wisconsin, 1972. 931 pp. 73-9200.

Colonel William F. Johnston, USA, "Neglected Deterrent: Psychological Operations in 'Liberation Wars'" Military Review, May 1968 (vol. XLVIII, no. 5), pp. 81-90. This is more about Vietnam in particular than "liberation wars" in general.

JUSPAO (the Joint U.S. Public Affairs Office) handled a lot of the U.S. Government's public opinion, propaganda, and psychological warfare activities in Vietnam.

F. M. Kail, What Washington Said: Administration Rhetoric and the Vietnam War, 1949-1969. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.

David Kaiser, "How Presidents Explained Vietnam, 1954-75," in Andrew J. Dew, Marc A. Genest, and S. C. M. Paine, eds., From Quills to Tweets: How America Communicates about War and Revolution. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2019.

Harry D. Latimer, U.S. Psychological Operations in Vietnam. Providence, Rhode Island: Brown University, 1973. viii, 130 pp.

Gary Murtha, The Paper War: Propaganda of the Allied forces in South Vietnam. 93 pp. Gary Murtha, 8813 McElroy, Kansas City, MO 64134.

Reuben S. Nathan, "Psychological Warfare: Key to Success in Vietnam." Military Review, April 1968 (vol. XLVIII, no. 4), pp. 19-28. Condensed from an article published in Orbis, Spring 1967. Dr. Nathan, a retired USAR Colonel, had been for a while director of the planning staff of JUSPAO in Saigon.

Nguyen To Thi, "A Content Analysis of Voice of America News Broadcasts to Vietnam." Ph.D. dissertation, Mass Communications, Ohio State, 1977. 332 pp. DA 77-24678. Focussed on May 8-17, 1972, with some comparison of VOA with BBC broadcasts.

Caroline Page, U.S. Official Propaganda during the Vietnam War, 1965-1973: The Limits of Persuasion. London: Leicester University Press, 1996. 325 pp. The focus is mainly on the Johnson Administration's effort to win support in Europe.

Mervyn Edwin Roberts III, The Psychological War for Vietnam, 1960–1968. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2018. xiii, 411 pp.

Laura Roselle, Media and the Politics of Failure: Great Powers, Communication Strategies, and Military Defeats. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. 200 pp. A comparison of the way the U.S. and Soviet governments handled their respective failures in Vietnam and Afghanistan, in their public communications strategies. Might be very interesting, but I don't know much about the book yet.

Target Analysis Section, 15th Psyop Group (Strat), 7th Psyop Group, "Report on Psychological Operations Intelligence in Vietnam." 20 July 1967. 13 pp. plus six separately paginated appendices. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, in four parts: Front matter, main text, Appendices A, B; Appendices C-E; Appendix E, continued; Appendix E, continued, and Appendix F.

Douglas Byron Tucker, "Preaching to the Choir: U.S. Government Propaganda Towards Its Own Citizens in Military Publications." Ph.D. dissertation, History, University of Southern California at Santa Cruz, 1983. 315 pp. AAT 8406994. Looks at pamphlets written by the military for soldiers.

James O. Whittaker, "Psychological Warfare in Vietnam," Political Psychology 18:1 (March 1997), pp. 165-79.

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