Nguyen Van Be Still Alive (Nguyễn-Văn-Bé vẫn còn sống!)
A landscape poster (code SP-1983) shows a young man holding up a Hanoi newspaper, Tiền Phong, that carries his photograph and the title 'martyr'. The text says the Lao Dong Party and the National Liberation Front promoted Nguyễn Văn Bé as a dead hero and made others study his example, while he is alive, and asks 'What do you think?' The tell is the named living witness set against the opposing side's account, closing on a direct question to the reader.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1965
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- Joint U.S. Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO) printing section, Saigon, for the South Vietnamese government
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Johnson Administration
- Leader
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- Audience
- Enemy civilians
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, Media and information
- 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, Saigon. National Archives and Records Administration, 306-VP-5-1983.
Text on the object
NGUYỄN-VĂN-BÉ VẪN CÒN SỐNG ! NGƯỜI MÀ ĐẢNG LAO-ĐỘNG CŨNG NHƯ MẶT TRẬN GIẢI PHÓNG MIỀN NAM PHONG CHO LÀ "LIỆT-SĨ" NGUYỄN VĂN BÉ, HIỆN VẪN CÒN SỐNG. THẾ MÀ MẶT TRẬN GIẢI PHÓNG MIỀN NAM LẠI CỨ BẢO LÀ ĐÃ CHẾT RỒI VÀ BẮT NHỮNG NGƯỜI KHÁC HỌC TẬP NOI GƯƠNG. ĐÂY, ANH NGUYỄN VĂN BÉ ĐANG CẦM MỘT TỜ BÁO XUẤT BẢN TẠI HÀ-NỘI CÓ ĐĂNG HÌNH ẢNH CỦA ANH VÀ CẢ TƯỚC HIỆU "LIỆT SĨ" MÀ NGƯỜI TA PHONG CHO ANH NỮA !! ĐẢNG LAO ĐỘNG VIỆT-NAM VÀ MẶT TRẬN GIẢI PHÓNG MIỀN NAM BỊA ĐẶT RA CÂU TRUYỆN NHƯ VẬY ĐỂ LÀM GÌ ? CÁC BẠN NGHĨ SAO ? SP-1983 [In the newspaper:] Tiền phong ... BAN PHƯƠNG HƯỚNG, BIỆN PHÁP CỦA ĐOÀN ... VŨ ĐỘNG — XUÂN VÀ NỘI DUNG PHONG TRÀO ... DŨNG SĨ 5 TÂN THẮNG MỸ ... NGUYỄN VĂN BÉ
NGUYEN-VAN-BE IS STILL ALIVE! The man whom the Lao Dong [Workers'] Party and the South Vietnam National Liberation Front have honoured as a 'martyr', Nguyen Van Be, is still alive. Yet the National Liberation Front keeps saying he is already dead and makes other people study and follow his example. Here, Mr. Nguyen Van Be is holding a newspaper published in Hanoi which carries his picture and even the title of 'martyr' that was conferred on him!! Why did the Vietnam Lao Dong Party and the South Vietnam National Liberation Front invent such a story? WHAT DO YOU THINK? SP-1983 [In the newspaper:] Tien phong [Vanguard] ... [headline partly legible, mentioning a 'hero' and the name Nguyen Van Be]
The newspaper text is small and only partly legible; the bracketed fragment is a best reading and is marked incomplete. The poster's own printed text is complete.
