Twelve Commandments of the Soldier (Lao poster distributed in Vientiane)
A twelve-panel comic-strip poster in Lao showing a beret-wearing soldier following twelve rules of conduct: shaking hands with villagers, paying for a purchase, helping an elderly woman carry goods, attending a medical clinic with a child, and carrying water to a burning village. A saluting soldier and an emblem head the sheet. The tell is glittering generalities and plain folks: virtue words and everyday scenes of a soldier among villagers present the army as disciplined and helpful.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- June 19, 1958
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- U.S. Information Agency (predecessor: State Department International Information and Educational Exchange Program), Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East series
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Eisenhower Administration
- Leader
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Theme
- War and the military
- Event
- Cold War
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), Record Group 306, Posters in Asia, Latin America, Middle East, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work; NARA RG 306)
U.S. Information Agency / Department of State, June 19, 1958. National Archives, Record Group 306 (NAID 6949113, 306-PPB-205).
Text on the object
[Lao title, read as: Twelve Commandments of the Soldier] ສິນ ໑໒ ຂໍ້ ຂອງທະຫານ Panels numbered ໑ to ໑໒, each with a Lao caption: [illegible] Bottom banner: ສິນ ໑໒ ຂໍ້ ຂອງທະຫານ ທີ່ຈະຕ້ອງປະຕິບັດຢ່າງເຄັ່ງຄັດ ໃນທຸກໆໂອກາດ
Title: The Twelve Commandments of the Soldier. Bottom banner: The twelve commandments of the soldier, which must be strictly observed on every occasion. Panel captions not translated (illegible in the scan).
Panel captions are too small to read reliably in the scan; title and banner transcribed in best reading of the Lao script and may contain spelling errors.
