# Aggression from the North, the USIA's 1965 map of infiltration

Aggression from the North is an English map-and-photograph poster that the U.S. Information Agency distributed in Manila, dated 13 April 1965. It argues that the war in South Vietnam is an invasion from the North, citing infiltration figures, four captured or defected soldiers, a sunken arms ship and attacks on civilians (NAID 6949268).

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      Aggression from the North poster (English, Manila)

      Aggression from the North, the USIA's 1965 map of infiltration
      An April 1965 USIA poster for Manila argued that South Vietnam faced invasion from the North, with a map, prisoner case histories and photos. NAID 6949268.

## Techniques named on the archive record

Card stackingFear appealTestimonial
      DateApril 13, 1965Made byU.S. Information Agency (predecessor: State Department International Information and Educational Exchange Program), Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East seriesMediumPosterCountryUnited StatesRegimeJohnson AdministrationNARANAID 6949268; Record Group 306SourceUnidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosureSourceU.S. National Archives (NARA), Record Group 306, Posters in Asia, Latin America, Middle East , retrieved October 4, 2026SourcePublic domain (U.S. government work; NARA RG 306) U.S. Information Agency / Department of State, April 13, 1965. National Archives, Record Group 306 (NAID 6949268, 306-PPB-343).
      Object, image, and catalog record from the FRAME archive. Text on this page is CC BY 4.0. Image rights are as the archive records.

      Full record at propagandaarchive.org

  Aggression from the North is an English map-and-photograph poster that the U.S. Information Agency distributed in Manila, dated 13 April 1965. It argues that the war in South Vietnam is an invasion from the North, citing infiltration figures, four captured or defected soldiers, a sunken arms ship and attacks on civilians (NAID 6949268).

## The case it makes

The archive describes a map with infiltration arrows running from Hanoi through Laos into the South, four portrait captions of North Vietnamese soldiers who were captured or defected, photographs of a sunken cargo ship at Cape Varella, and photographs of a burned hospital, a destroyed bus and a derailed train. The main text sets out the argument and, in one sentence, records the other side's denial.

AGGRESSION FROM THE NORTH

The conflict in South Viet-Nam is a war of aggression, carefully planned and fiercely fought by invading forces from North Viet-Nam. [...] Meanwhile, the Hanoi regime has denied it is controlling the Viet Cong. Now, an overwhelming weight of evidence reveals North Viet-Nam's aggression. Here is just a part of that proof: [...]

[...]

Fourteen civilian passengers were killed and 15 injured when a Viet Cong land mine destroyed this bus near Moc Hoa on May 3, 1964. More than 1,300 civilians died in similar terrorist incidents in 1964 alone.

Excerpts from the FRAME transcription, read from the image and not independently checked. Imprint 5-599 (24). Full record at propagandaarchive.org. NAID 6949268, item 306-PPB-343, Record Group 306.

The archive notes that the text matches a printing numbered 65-291, with a different imprint code, and that one word in Captain Nguyen Van Do's caption reads as either "defected" or "detected" at the available resolution.

## Issuer and audience

The record names the U.S. Information Agency, in the National Archives series of posters distributed in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. The audience is a foreign public, the purpose persuading or winning support, and the source category "Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure."

## How to read it

FRAME tags it card stacking, fear appeal and testimonial. The method is a prosecutor's brief: named prisoners with units and dates, a ship with a cargo weight, and casualty totals. Specifics are persuasive because they can in principle be checked. They are also chosen, and the sheet says so itself when it calls its evidence "just a part" of the proof. The figures for infiltrated soldiers and civilian deaths come with no source on the face of the sheet.

The case histories come from men who were captured, surrendered or defected, which a careful reader should weigh. Such men may tell the truth, and they may tell their captors what helps them; the poster gives no way to tell which.

The catalog dates USIA's The United States Position on Viet-Nam for Manila ten days later, and in October the U.S. Embassy in London issued the Why Viet Nam pamphlet. Johnson's 1964 Gulf of Tonkin address spoke to Americans directly. All are gathered on the Vietnam War messaging hub.

## Sources

- FRAME object record, Aggression from the North poster (English, Manila), 13 April 1965. U.S. Information Agency, Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East series.

- U.S. National Archives, Record Group 306, NAID 6949268 (306-PPB-343), retrieved by the archive 4 October 2026. Rights as recorded: public domain (U.S. government work).

Canonical: https://americanpropaganda.org/collection/aggression-from-the-north-poster-manila-english-1965/