---
title: The Viet Cong Destroy, the GVN Builds
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/viet-cong-destroy-gvn-builds-1965-1969/
description: A landscape sheet in magenta contrasts a burned Buddhist pagoda in Phuoc Binh hamlet, Phu Yen, with soldiers and rural-construction cadres rebuilding its
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. The Viet Cong Destroy, the GVN Builds

[![The Viet Cong Destroy, the GVN Builds, 1965 US poster: A landscape sheet in magenta contrasts a burned Buddhist pagoda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/viet-cong-destroy-gvn-builds-1965-1969.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/viet-cong-destroy-gvn-builds-1965-1969.jpg)

# The Viet Cong Destroy, the GVN Builds

A landscape sheet in magenta contrasts a burned Buddhist pagoda in Phuoc Binh hamlet, Phu Yen, with soldiers and rural-construction cadres rebuilding its roof. Text says Viet Cong 'terrorists' burned 160 houses and the pagoda on the night of 7 July, leaving nearly 900 people homeless, and that the government forces helped repair it. The closing line asks why the Viet Cong destroy places of worship and answers that, being defeated, they attack innocents and a pagoda.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

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

```
VIỆT-CỘNG PHÁ HOẠI          CHÍNH PHỦ XÂY DỰNG

QUÂN KHỦNG BỐ VIỆT-CỘNG ĐÃ ĐỐT MỘT CHÙA PHẬT TẠI PHÚ-YÊN.
QUÂN ĐỘI VÀ CÁN BỘ XÂY DỰNG NÔNG THÔN ĐÃ GIÚP SỬA CHỮA LẠI.

ĐÊM 7-7 BỌN KHỦNG BỐ VIỆT-CỘNG ĐÃ ĐỘT NHẬP ẤP PHƯỚC-BÌNH, QUẬN HIẾU-XƯƠNG THUỘC TỈNH PHÚ-YÊN, THIÊU HỦY 160 NHÀ THƯỜNG DÂN, CẢ MỘT NGÔI CHÙA PHẬT TRONG ẤP. GẦN 900 NGƯỜI PHẢI CHỊU CẢNH MÀN TRỜI CHIẾU ĐẤT. DÂN CHÚNG OÁN HẬN HƠN HẾT LÀ VIỆT-CỘNG ĐÃ ĐỐT NGÔI CHÙA CỦA HỌ.
NHÀ CỬA DÂN CHÚNG SAU ĐÓ ĐÃ ĐƯỢC XÂY DỰNG LẠI. QUÂN ĐỘI VÀ CÁN BỘ XÂY DỰNG NÔNG THÔN ĐÃ GIÚP SỬA CHỮA LẠI NGÔI CHÙA.

Ngôi chùa bị Việt-Cộng đốt tại ấp Phước-Bình.

Quân đội Việt-Nam Cộng-Hoà và Cán Bộ Xây Dựng Nông Thôn giúp dân làng lợp lại mái chùa.

Dân ấp Phước-Bình đang xem xét tượng phật bị đốt.

Phía trong ngôi chùa bị đốt.

Dân làng đang xem công việc sửa chữa và họ sung sướng biết rằng chùa sẽ được sửa lại đẹp đẽ như trước.

TẠI SAO VIỆT-CỘNG LẠI PHÁ HỦY NHỮNG NƠI THỜ PHƯỢNG THIÊNG LIÊNG? TẠI CHÚNG ĐANG BỊ LỰC LƯỢNG VIỆT NAM CỘNG HOÀ VÀ ĐỒNG MINH ĐÁNH BẠI NÊN PHẢI TẤN CÔNG NHÂN DÂN VÔ TỘI VÀ CẢ CHÙA CHIỀN - TUY NHIÊN CHÚNG CHỈ GẶT THÊM THẢM BẠI.

SP-1394
```

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

```
VIET CONG DESTROY          THE GOVERNMENT BUILDS

VIET CONG TERRORIST TROOPS BURNED A BUDDHIST PAGODA IN PHU YEN.
THE ARMY AND RURAL CONSTRUCTION CADRES HELPED REPAIR IT.

On the night of 7-7 the Viet Cong terrorist band broke into Phuoc Binh hamlet, Hieu Xuong district, Phu Yen province, burning down 160 civilian houses and a Buddhist pagoda in the hamlet. Nearly 900 people had to live under open sky. What the people resent most is that the Viet Cong burned their pagoda.
The people's houses have since been rebuilt. The army and the Rural Construction cadres helped repair the pagoda.

The pagoda burned by the Viet Cong in Phuoc Binh hamlet.

Troops of the Republic of Vietnam and Rural Construction Cadres help villagers re-roof the pagoda.

The people of Phuoc Binh hamlet are examining a burned Buddha statue.

Inside the burned pagoda.

Villagers are watching the repair work and are happy to know that the pagoda will be repaired as beautifully as before.

WHY DO THE VIET CONG DESTROY SACRED PLACES OF WORSHIP? BECAUSE THEY ARE BEING DEFEATED BY THE FORCES OF THE REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM AND THE ALLIES, SO THEY MUST ATTACK INNOCENT PEOPLE AND EVEN PAGODAS AND TEMPLES - HOWEVER, THEY ONLY HARVEST MORE DEFEAT.

SP-1394
```

Captions transcribed in reading order; 'đêm 7-7' is given as printed with no year. Diacritics read at image resolution.

[← Chiến thắng tại Kim-Hải của quân dân tỉnh Phước-Tuy ngày 11-11-1965 (Victory by the GVN Forces and People at Kim Hai Province of Phuoc Tuy, November 11, 1965)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/victory-kim-hai-phuoc-tuy-1965/) [Viet Cong Destroyed Cao Dai Temple at Tan Thanh Hamlet (Vinh Long) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/viet-cong-destroyed-cao-dai-temple-tan-thanh-1965-1969/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dna-inscription-darius-i-naqsh-e-rustam-490bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Testimonial, Card stacking)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Persepolis, Apadana staircase relief: a figure with an animal from a procession of delegations, early fifth century BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/persepolis-apadana-delegate-relief-500bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Manufactured consensus)
- [Alabaster relief, Assyrian troops storming a citadel, from Nineveh (reign of Sennacherib)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/relief-sennacherib-storming-citadel-nineveh-704bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Card stacking). Content note: An Assyrian palace relief of troops storming a fortified city, with a file of figures below; Assyrian royal reliefs and texts record killing, mutilation and deportation, shown as carved, with the historical context and scholarly dispute on the regime page.
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Silver denarius of Vespasian, reverse IVDAEA with a trophy of arms and a seated mourning woman](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/denarius-vespasian-judaea-capta-0070/) (Roman Empire · 0070 · Card stacking). Content note: A Roman victory coin showing a mourning female figure as the personification of the conquered province of Judaea after the Roman suppression of the Jewish revolt; shown as struck, with the historical context on the regime page.
