---
title: 'Ho Chi Minh and the Snake (Vietnamese poster distributed in Vietnam; NARA title: Viet Poster #2)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/viet-poster-2-ho-chi-minh-snake-cao-dai-1950-1955/
description: A Vietnamese cartoon poster. A grinning, goateed man labelled Hồ-chí-Minh claps while one foot rests on a green snake.
section: Collection
---

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3. Ho Chi Minh and the Snake

[![Ho Chi Minh and the Snake, 1950 US poster: A Vietnamese cartoon poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/viet-poster-2-ho-chi-minh-snake-cao-dai-1950-1955.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/viet-poster-2-ho-chi-minh-snake-cao-dai-1950-1955.jpg)

# Ho Chi Minh and the Snake (Vietnamese poster distributed in Vietnam; NARA title: Viet Poster #2)

A Vietnamese cartoon poster. A grinning, goateed man labelled Hồ-chí-Minh claps while one foot rests on a green snake, as a plucked rooster falls head-down across a yellow map of Vietnam and the letters of 'VIỆT-NAM' drip red. A second snake tail curls up the right side. The text says he welcomes Chinese Communists into Vietnam and carries the snake home to bite the home chicken. The tell is name-calling by animal caricature aimed at a named person, with the idiom of inviting in an outside enemy.

## 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

```
RƯỚC TRUNG CỘNG SANG VIỆT-NAM,
VIỆT-NAM
Hồ-chí-Minh
CÕNG RẮN VỀ CẮN GÀ NHÀ !

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

[artist signature illegible]
[typed archival label: Viet Poster No. 2]
```

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

```
WELCOMING THE CHINESE COMMUNISTS TO VIETNAM,
VIETNAM
Ho Chi Minh
CARRIES THE SNAKE HOME TO BITE THE HOME CHICKEN!

CENTRAL INFORMATION OFFICE
CAO DAI ARMY
```

Machine translation, not verified by a fluent reader. Letters of 'VIỆT-NAM' are split and dripping across the map, and the headline and name overprint other lettering; reading order is approximate. Some overprinted white lettering behind the name is [illegible].

[← Bloody Hand and Skull (Vietnamese poster distributed in Vietnam; NARA title: Viet Poster #1)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/viet-poster-1-bloody-hand-cao-dai-1950-1955/) ["We Are No Longer Human Beings!" (English poster distributed in the Philippines) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/we-are-no-longer-human-beings-english-1950/)

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- [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.
- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (Electoral Saxony · 1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers.
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- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The North Briton, No. XLV, 23 April 1763 (John Wilkes), opening page](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/north-briton-no-45-wilkes-1763/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Apr 23, 1763 · Name-calling)
- [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.
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)