Content note: A photograph of a wrecked bus and photographs of a wounded boy and injured patient being treated, as issued. This object is shown as it was published. Why

"Liberation Activities" of the South Liberation Front, 1965 US poster: A portrait sheet (code SP-838) pairs a photograph

"Liberation Activities" of the South Liberation Front (Hành động "Giải Phóng" của Mặt Trận Giải Phóng Miền Nam)

A portrait sheet (code SP-838) pairs a photograph of a wrecked passenger vehicle with photographs of a wounded boy being tended and a patient being treated by two men in white. The text says a Thanh Van bus carrying passengers was hit by a Viet Cong mine on 17 September 1965, killing 11 including three women and two children, and asks whether this is not a policy of destruction, killing and wounding the innocent to bring mourning and ruin to innocent people. A casualty photograph and a rhetorical question carry the charge against the NLF.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Fear appeal Name-calling

Date: 1965
Period: Cold War
Made by: Joint U.S. Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO), Saigon, for the South Vietnamese government (anti-National Liberation Front sheet)
Region: North America
Country: United States
Medium: Poster
Issuer type: State
Regime: Johnson Administration
Leader: Lyndon B. Johnson
Audience: Enemy civilians
Purpose: Demonize
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), Saigon, for the South Vietnamese government (anti-National Liberation Front sheet). National Archives and Records Administration, 306-VP-5-838.

Text on the object

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

hành động "Giải Phóng"
CỦA MẶT TRẬN GIẢI PHÓNG MIỀN NAM

KHOẢNG 1 GIỜ TRƯA NGÀY 17-9-65, XE ĐÒ THANH-VÂN CHỞ ĐẦY HÀNH KHÁCH TỪ XÃ TÍN-ĐẠO VỀ RẠCH-GIÁ BỊ VIỆT-CỘNG GIỰT MÌN LÀM BỊ THƯƠNG VÀ CHẾT 11 NGƯỜI TRONG SỐ CÓ 3 ĐÀN BÀ VÀ 2 TRẺ EM.

Hành động này nói lên gì ?
Há không phải là chủ trương phá hoại,

...giết chóc và đả thương một cách vô nhân đạo để gây tang tóc điêu linh...

...cho người dân vô tội ?

SP-838

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

the "Liberation" actions
OF THE SOUTH LIBERATION FRONT

At about 1 o'clock in the afternoon of 17-9-65, a Thanh-Van passenger bus packed with passengers travelling from Tin-Dao village to Rach-Gia was hit by a mine set off by the Viet Cong, wounding and killing 11 people, including 3 women and 2 children.

What does this action say?
Is it not a policy of destruction,

...of killing and wounding inhumanely to cause mourning and ruin...

...for innocent people?

SP-838

Translation is FRAME's own literal rendering. The printed 'Tín-Đạo' and 'Rạch-Giá' are as on the sheet; the printed text says 'gây tang tóc điêu linh' (cause mourning and desolation), rendered here as 'mourning and ruin'.