Psywar in Vietnam

Abstract

Abstract This chapter traces the evolution of psychological warfare’s theory and practice in the US military, with an emphasis on the counterinsurgency turn during the Vietnam War. It considers the significance of the United States Information Agency and its provision of technical and advisory support to friendly governments around the world. It focuses especially on the USIA’s Joint United States Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO), which in 1965 became the nerve centre of US information and psychological war programs in Vietnam. It details US efforts to ‘win the hearts and minds’ of the Vietnamese people, including the construction of Vietnam’s first national television broadcast system. It concludes that, despite their social scientific credentials, US psychological warriors found themselves unable to understand – let alone win – the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people they sought to govern.