---
title: 'Bloody Hand and Skull (Vietnamese poster distributed in Vietnam; NARA title: Viet Poster #1)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/viet-poster-1-bloody-hand-cao-dai-1950-1955/
description: A Vietnamese poster showing a large blood-smeared open hand coming through a torn red flag with a yellow star, above a skull and crossbones.
section: Collection
---

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3. Bloody Hand and Skull

[![Bloody Hand and Skull, 1950 US poster: A Vietnamese poster showing a large blood-smeared open hand coming through a torn red](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/viet-poster-1-bloody-hand-cao-dai-1950-1955.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/viet-poster-1-bloody-hand-cao-dai-1950-1955.jpg)

# Bloody Hand and Skull (Vietnamese poster distributed in Vietnam; NARA title: Viet Poster #1)

A Vietnamese poster showing a large blood-smeared open hand coming through a torn red flag with a yellow star, above a skull and crossbones. The headline says the hand bloody with compatriots' blood still loudly proclaims love of people and country. The tell is name-calling by symbol: the Viet Minh flag is paired with blood and a death's head, and the text charges a gap between claims and conduct without naming any specific act.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

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

## Text on the object

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

```
BÀN TAY ĐẪM MÁU ĐỒNG BÀO
MÀ CŨNG
LỚN TIẾNG HÔ HÀO THƯỞNG DÂN MÊN NƯỚC.

PHÒNG THÔNG-TIN TRUNG-ƯƠNG
QUÂN-ĐỘI CAO-ĐÀI

[typed archival label: Viet Poster No. 1]
```

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

```
THE HAND BLOODY WITH COMPATRIOTS' BLOOD
ALSO
LOUDLY PROCLAIMS [LOVE OF] THE PEOPLE AND LOVE OF THE COUNTRY.

CENTRAL INFORMATION OFFICE
CAO DAI ARMY
```

Machine translation, not verified by a fluent reader. 'THƯỞNG DÂN MÊN NƯỚC' is transcribed as printed; it may be a variant of 'thương dân mến nước' (love the people, cherish the country).

[← MacArthur's portrait: listen to the news at 9 every night on 950 kilocycles](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/unc-macarthur-radio-news-leaflet-1950/) [Ho Chi Minh and the Snake (Vietnamese poster distributed in Vietnam; NARA title: Viet Poster #2) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/viet-poster-2-ho-chi-minh-snake-cao-dai-1950-1955/)

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- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd.
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