Chieu Hoi Means a New Life
A Chieu Hoi sheet (code SP-1813) shows 49 identification-style portraits, each with a name, rank or job and home village, of people who it says returned to the government in Long An province during the 'Spring Reunion' campaign. The text says they were welcomed and helped and now live peacefully with their families, and asks readers to call on friends still in the Viet Cong to return. The tell is the sheer number of named faces used as proof that others have already made the choice.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1965
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- Joint U.S. Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO) printing section, for the South Vietnamese government
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Johnson Administration
- Leader
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- Audience
- Mixed
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Theme
- War and the military
- Event
- Vietnam War
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 306, Psychological Warfare Posters, Vietnam War (NAID 561393), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- NARA Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
Joint U.S. Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO) printing section, for the South Vietnamese government. National Archives and Records Administration, 306-VP-3-1813.
Text on the object
CHIÊU HỒI CÓ NGHĨA LÀ MỘT CUỘC SỐNG MỚI Những người này đã trở về với Chính Phủ Việt-Nam Cộng-Hoà tại tỉnh Long-An trong chiến dịch Xuân Đoàn Tụ. Họ đã được Chính Quyền và nhân dân tiếp đón nồng hậu. Họ đã được giúp đỡ mọi đều cần thiết và hiện đang sống yên vui với gia đình. Nếu đồng bào còn có những bà con bạn hữu trong hàng ngũ Việt-Cộng hãy mau kêu gọi họ trở về với Chính Nghĩa vì cuộc sống mới tốt đẹp đang chờ đón họ. SP-1813 [Forty-nine captions beneath the portraits give a name, a role and a village, for example: Phan-V-Viên, Tiểu Đội Trưởng Du kích xã Long-Hiệp; Huỳnh-V-Thành, Tiểu Đội Pho Du kích xã Long-Hiệp; Ngô-thị-Ánh, Trưởng Ban chấp hành Phụ nữ xã Quế Mỹ-Thạnh; Nguyễn-V-Lợi, Tiểu Đội Phó C2 Biệt lập tỉnh Long-An; Ngô-thị-Xiếm, Nữ cán bộ VC xã Bình-Phong-Thạnh. The remaining captions follow the same pattern and are not individually transcribed here.]
CHIEU HOI MEANS A NEW LIFE These people have returned to the Government of the Republic of Viet-Nam in Long-An province during the Spring Reunion campaign. They were warmly welcomed by the authorities and the people. They have been helped with everything they need and are now living peacefully and happily with their families. If compatriots still have relatives and friends in the Viet Cong ranks, quickly call on them to return to the Just Cause, because a good new life is waiting for them. SP-1813 [Captions: for example 'Phan-V-Vien, guerrilla squad leader, Long-Hiep village'; 'Huynh-V-Thanh, deputy squad leader, guerrilla, Long-Hiep village'; 'Ngo-thi-Anh, chair of the women's executive committee, Que My-Thanh village'; 'Nguyen-V-Loi, deputy platoon leader, C2 independent unit, Long-An province'; 'Ngo-thi-Xiem, female V.C. cadre, Binh-Phong-Thanh village'. The rest follow the same pattern.]
The 49 individual captions are only partly transcribed (five examples), because the portrait captions are small and repetitive; the main text and headline are complete.
