A navy school and a new constitution on one Saigon sheet, 1957

A Vietnamese-language photo poster, monthly bulletin No. 4, filed with U.S. Information Agency posters, catalog date 16 January 1957. The upper half shows naval training at Nha Trang; the lower half, headed 26-10-1956, shows the promulgation of the Constitution, President Ngo Dinh Diem's oath, a review of troops and a parade (NAID 6949120).

Two halves, one state

This sheet puts a navy school and a constitution on the same page. The top half, under the headline "ĐÂY QUÂN ĐỘI VIỆT-NAM CỘNG-HÒA" and the word "HẢI-QUÂN," shows cadets at the Nha Trang naval training center with binoculars, in a radio class, with signal flags and aboard a ship. The bottom half is headed with a date, 26-10-1956, and the words "BAN-HÀNH HIẾN-PHÁP," the promulgation of the Constitution.

THÔNG-TIN HÀNG THÁNG

SỐ 4

[...]

NGÀY LỊCH-SỬ 26-10-1956

BAN-HÀNH HIẾN-PHÁP

TRÊN KHÁN-ĐÀI DANH-DỰ, ĐẠI-DIỆN CỦA 50 NƯỚC TRÊN THẾ-GIỚI ĐẾN DỰ LỄ QUỐC-KHÁNH.

TỔNG-THỐNG NGÔ-ĐÌNH-DIỆM ĐỨNG NGHIÊM LÀM LỄ TUYÊN-THỆ.

TỔNG-THỐNG DUYỆT QUA LỰC-LƯỢNG QUÂN-ĐỘI VÀ CHÀO MỪNG NHÂN-DÂN.

HÀNG TRIỆU NHÂN-DÂN CÁC TỈNH VỀ THỦ-ĐÔ THAM-DỰ LỄ QUỐC-KHÁNH.

[...]

OANH-TẠC PHẢN-LỰC CỦA NƯỚC BẠN ĐƯỢC GỬI TỚI THAM-DỰ NGÀY LỄ QUỐC-KHÁNH.

The archive's machine translation, which no fluent reader has verified, gives these captions as representatives of 50 countries at the National Day ceremony, President Ngo Dinh Diem standing at attention to take the oath, the President reviewing the armed forces, "Millions of people from the provinces come to the capital," and "Jet bombers of a friendly country were sent to attend the National Day ceremony." The archive warns that the diacritics may contain small errors.

The catalog record

The maker line names the U.S. Information Agency and its State Department predecessor, in the National Archives series Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. The catalog date is 16 January 1957, a little under three months after the ceremony it shows. FRAME classes the source as blurred. Purpose is "Persuade or win support," and the themes are war and the military, and elections and party politics.

A constitution shown as a parade

FRAME tags transfer and glittering generalities: the pride of ceremony and military professionalism is attached to the new state and its president.

The layout carries the argument. The constitution half of the sheet, as the captions give it, is a ceremony: foreign guests, an oath, a review of troops, a military academy leading the parade, and jet bombers sent by a friendly country. None of the captions in the transcription says what the constitution provides, whom it protects, or how its officers are chosen. A founding document appears here as an occasion for the army, on a monthly sheet whose headline is the army's. The claim of millions in the capital is printed without a source.

A 1957 verse poster distributed in Saigon, Meaning of Compulsory Service, presents the South's draft. The 1954 Operation Freedom sheet shows the move south. The Vietnam War messaging hub includes other agency sheets from Saigon.