---
title: Viet Cong, surrender or die (sign photographed by the U.S. Marine Corps, 1968)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/usmc-viet-cong-surrender-or-die-sign-1968/
description: A sign reads "VIET CONG" and "SURRENDER OR DIE". One line names the opposing force. The other offers two outcomes, surrender or death.
section: Collection
---

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[![Viet Cong, surrender or die, 1968 US photograph: A sign reads "VIET CONG" and "SURRENDER OR DIE". One line names the opposing](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/usmc-viet-cong-surrender-or-die-sign-1968.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/usmc-viet-cong-surrender-or-die-sign-1968.jpg)

# Viet Cong, surrender or die (sign photographed by the U.S. Marine Corps, 1968)

A sign reads "VIET CONG" and "SURRENDER OR DIE". One line names the opposing force. The other offers two outcomes, surrender or death.

## Propaganda techniques used in this photograph

[Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/) [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)

## Text on the object

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

```
VIET CONG
SURRENDER OR DIE
```

Large lettering on the sign. No other line was read.

[← Trung-tướng Trần-Độ: sống tại miền Bắc, chết tại miền Nam (Lieutenant General Trần Độ, Alive in the North, Dead in the South), leaflet No. 2448](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/trung-tuong-tran-do-song-chet-leaflet-1968/) [Chúng tôi sẽ không thể thất bại. Chúng tôi sẽ không mệt mỏi. Chúng tôi sẽ không rút lui. (We Shall Not Fail. We Shall Not Tire. We Shall Not Withdraw.) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/we-will-not-fail-johnson-juspao-1968/)

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- [Tyrants Prostrate, Liberty Triumphant (pro-Polk cartoon on Dorr), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tyrants-prostrate-liberty-triumphant-polk-1844/) (United States · 1844 · Name-calling, Fear appeal). Content note: Speech balloons contain anti-Catholic and nativist wording ('the ruins of Popery') in the mouths of the Whig figures, written by a Democratic cartoonist and shown unaltered.
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