ABSTRACT
American psychological operations began in the summer of 1954, during the transition from French rule, when covert anti-Communist rumor campaigns were conducted in both parts of the country. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam's (MACV) Psychological Operations Directorate also coordinated Air Force aircraft supporting the effort, assigned advisors to each of the South Vietnamese political warfare battalions, and monitored civic action endeavors by the American armed forces. Joint US Public Affairs Office and MACV also turned over much of their communications equipment as "Vietnamization" or de-Americanization of the war went into full-swing in late 1970. American efforts to create a viable anti-Communist nationalism among the South Vietnamese and generate popular support for the Saigon government were consolidated under MACV's Civil Operations and Rural Development Support Agency in 1967. In spite of some lower-level coordination, the Americans and South Vietnamese conducted their own private communications programs with only minimal and superficial integration and cooperation.
