11/11/1967: Viet Cong Releases Prisoners For Racial Propaganda

On Veteran’s Day, 1967, the Viet Cong released three U.S. prisoners of war in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This was one of several occasions when the communist forces (Viet Cong and North Vietnam) released a handful of prisoners either for propaganda purposes or as part of an exchange. In this case, the Viet Cong was aware of the anti-war and civil-rights demonstrations in the U.S. They sought to gain the sympathy of the civil rights protesters by releasing two African American prisoners (SSgt. James Jackson, MSgt. Edward Johnson), as well as a white prisoner (medic MSgt. Daniel Pitzer), in support of the “courageous struggle” of blacks in the U.S.  U.S. officials in Saigon were keen to pre-empt any anti-U.S. statements the freed prisoners may make, and quickly circulated the news that the men had been “brainwashed” by the enemy. However, nobody in Saigon had spoken with the men, and the “brainwashing” charge was untrue and rescinded by the State Department. The August 1968 issue of Ebony Magazine has an article by SSgt. Jackson that describes his experience as a prisoner.  Psywar.org also has a number of examples of how the race and war issues were intermingled in propaganda.