Big Eagle, Little Dragon: Propaganda and The Coercive Use of Airpower Against North Vietnam
Abstract
In 1959, Alexander George reconstructed a methodology the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) used to analyze Nazi propaganda during World War II. This same methodology, with adjustments for differences in culture and ideology, might have been used to analyze North Vietnamese propaganda to help evaluate the effectiveness of America's coercive air campaign against North Vietnamese. Throughout the war, North Vietnamese leaders used political propaganda to manipulate the opinions of the people it controlled and others they wished to influence. The analysis of this propaganda during Operation Rolling Thunder suggests the North's decision calculus remained insensitive to the effects of bombing, which helps explain why Rolling Thunder was unsuccessful in compelling Hanoi to stop supporting the insurgency against South Vietnam. However, the analysis of propaganda in 1972 indicates that President Richard Nixon's Linebacker operations played a key role in coercing North Vietnamese leaders to negotiate and sign an agreement to end the war. The implications of such a propaganda analysis are significant. In the emerging political landscape of the twenty-first century, airpower may be applied more often to compel changes of behavior among international actors than to defeat them. The successful application of airpower may well depend on whether its coercive effectiveness can be measured rapidly and accurately. Propaganda analysis can be a useful tool for gathering information about an adversary's perceptions and attitudes, and it is particularly well suited for measuring changes in his strategies, intentions, and expectations. In essence, propaganda analysis should be considered one leg of a broadly based, interdependent, intelligence collection effort.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1994
- Accession Number
- ADA425585
Entities
People
- Forrest E. Morgan
Organizations
- Air University