Big Eagle, Little Dragon

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 Vietnam. 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.