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
- Date
- 1950
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- Phòng Thông-Tin Trung-Ương, Quân-Đội Cao-Đài (Cao Dai Army Central Information Office), per printed imprint; held in the U.S. Information Agency Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia series
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Truman Administration
- Leader
- Harry S. Truman
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Demonize
- Themes
- War and the military, Empire and colonialism
- Event
- First Indochina War
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), Record Group 306, Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work; NARA RG 306)
U.S. Information Agency / Department of State, c. 1950-55. National Archives, Record Group 306 (NAID 5730135, 306-PPA-234).
Text on the object
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]
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].
