The Common Struggle: New Zealand Propaganda Poster

Sheet no. 3 headed 'New Zealand' quotes Prime Minister Keith J. Holyoake that New Zealand's interests are 'bound up with the security, stability, and peaceful development of Southeast Asia'. Photographs show a smiling New Zealand officer before the national flag, a helicopter slinging a 105mm howitzer, and gunners at a firing position, with captions dating the airlift to Bien Hoa, September 1965, and claiming the guns fired four minutes after touching down. The tell: a named leader's quotation and a showcase of allied firepower present an allied contribution as shared, successful action.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Testimonial Bandwagon Card stacking

Date: 1965
Period: Cold War
Made by: New Zealand section of a U.S. Vietnam-era 'common struggle' allied-contributions poster series (sheet carries no issuing office); quotation attributed to New Zealand Prime Minister Keith J. Holyoake
Region: North America
Country: United States
Medium: Poster
Issuer type: State
Regime: Johnson Administration
Leader: Lyndon B. Johnson
Audience: Foreign public
Purpose: Persuade or win support
Theme: War and the military
Event: Vietnam War
Source: Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
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
New Zealand section of a U.S. Vietnam-era 'common struggle' allied-contributions poster series (sheet carries no issuing office). National Archives and Records Administration, 306-VP-011-20.

Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

3
NEW ZEALAND
"New Zealand's interests are now bound up with the security, stability, and peaceful development of Southeast Asia.... These issues of peace and freedom are now under test in Asia."
-Prime Minister Keith J. HOLYOAKE

New Zealanders move 105mm howitzers by helicopter for Vietnam action at Bien Hoa, September, 1965. This mobility permits swift and effective action against communist forces.

Four minutes after the howitzers touched the ground they were firing at Viet Cong positions.

3

Transcribed from the image; the soldier's shoulder flash in the portrait is partly cropped and not transcribed.