Propaganda at home<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAlongside supporting the South Vietnamese and US propaganda effort, the IRD also went to considerable lengths to promote its material to the British public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the mid-1960s, it was noted with disappointment that \u201cthe Americans and South Vietnamese seemed to be getting a worse press in Britain than in most other Western countries\u201d. The Americans were \u201closing sympathy\u201d in Britain, one official added, and \u201csome of the odium is rubbing off on HMG [the UK government]\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To this end, a British embassy official in Saigon wrote that \u201ca greater information effort at home in support of the Vietnamese\/American war effort\u201d would be appreciated. Proposals were invited for \u201cpossible ways of improving IRD output for home\u2026 consumption\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By early 1966, the IRD had \u201cincreased its output and distribution on Vietnam\u2026 particularly in this country [Britain]\u201d. Material devoted exclusively to Vietnam was being sent to over 250 contacts in Britain, including 61 MPs, 56 journalists and commentators, 13 members of the BBC, and 22 academics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n“Material devoted exclusively to Vietnam was being sent to over 250 contacts in Britain”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Those newspapers most \u201creceptive\u201d to the material included the Daily Telegraph<\/em>, Sunday Telegraph<\/em>, Sunday Times<\/em>, the Times<\/em>, the Economist<\/em>, and the Spectator<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThis material was clearly aimed at shoring up the British public\u2019s sympathy for the war effort, and shifting blame for the massive civilian casualties away from the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During this period, the IRD also sought to send delegations of British politicians and journalists to Vietnam, hoping that \u201cthe visitors would come back more convinced of the possibilities of victory, or at least of the need to contain communism, and therefore more inclined to support the US cause\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IRD material sent to Western Europe was also \u201cregularly and effectively used\u201d, while distribution in Latin America was described as \u201chigh because of the insatiable demand for anti-Communist material\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
British propaganda support during the war was considerable, but clearly not as effective as was desired \u2013 much of the British public remained bitterly opposed to the conflict, and the US was eventually forced to make an embarrassing withdrawal from Vietnam in 1973.<\/p>\n\n\n\n