Hanoi Hannah

Trịnh Thị Ngọ (1931 - 30 September 2016) also known as Hanoi Hannah, was a Vietnamese radio personality best known for her work during the Vietnam War, when she made English-language broadcasts for North Vietnam directed at United States troops.

Hanoi Hannah in 1966

Quotes

During Vietnam War

• How are you G.I. Joe? It seems to me that most of you are poorly informed about the going of the war, to say nothing about a correct explanation of your presence over here. Nothing is more confused than to be ordered into a war to die or to be maimed for life without the faintest idea of what’s going on.
  • In June 1967, at a broadcast directed to U.S. troops, as quoted in "The Mystery of Hanoi Hannah" in The New York Times (8 February 2018)

• Defect, G.I. It is a very good idea to leave a sinking ship. You know you cannot win this war.
  • At a broadcast directed to U.S. troops, as quoted in "'Hanoi Hannah,' Whose Broadcasts Taunted And Entertained American GIs, Dies" in NPR (6 October 2016)

• Isn't it clear that the war makers are gambling with your lives, while pocketing huge profits?
  • At a 1967 broadcast directed to U.S. troops, as quoted in "'Hanoi Hannah,' Whose Broadcasts Taunted And Entertained American GIs, Dies" in NPR (6 October 2016)

• G.I., your government has abandoned you. They have ordered you to die. Don’t trust them. They lied to you, G.I.s, you know you cannot win this war.
  • One of her broadcasts directed to U.S. troops, as quoted in "Hanoi Hannah, Vietnam war propaganda radio presenter, dies aged 87" in The Guardian (4 October 2016)

• American G.I.s don't fight this unjust immoral and illegal war of Johnson's. Get out of Vietnam now and alive. This is the voice of Vietnam Broadcasting from Hanoi, capitol of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Our program for American G.I.s can be heard at 16:30 hours. Now here's Connie Francis singing "I Almost Lost My Mind".
  • In a August 1967 broadcast directed to U.S. troops, as quoted in "Viet Nam Generation Journal & Newsletter" (November 1991)

• Now for our talk. A Vietnam black G.I. who refuses to be a victim of racism is Billy Smith. It seems on the morning of March 15th a fragmentation grenade went off in an officer’s barracks in Bien Hoa killing two gung-ho lieutenants. Smith was illegally searched, arrested and put in Long Binh jail and brought home for trial. The evidence that showed him guilty was this: being black, poor and against the war and refusing to be a victim of racism.
  • In a March 1968 broadcast directed to U.S. troops, as quoted in "Viet Nam Generation Journal & Newsletter" (November 1991)

Post war

• Our program served for a cause, so we believed in that cause. So we continued to broadcast.
  • As quoted in a 1992 interview with C-SPAN in "'Hanoi Hannah,' Whose Broadcasts Taunted And Entertained American GIs, Dies" in NPR (6 October 2016)

• I thought it was time for me to do something to contribute to the revolution.
  • As quoted in her memoirs in " "Bí ẩn của Hanoi Hannah": Giọng đọc huyền thoại ám ảnh lính Mỹ" in Sputnik News Vietnam (20 February 2018)

• My goal was to tell G.I.s they shouldn’t participate in a war that wasn’t theirs. I tried to be friendly and convincing. I didn’t want to be shrill or aggressive. For instance, I referred to the Americans as the adversary. I never called them the enemy.
  • As quoted in "‘Hanoi Hannah’ Fondly Remembers Her Role" in Los Angeles Times (4 April 1998)

• San Francisco has always been a dream. And the Golden Gate Bridge and Hollywood, I’d love to see them too.
  • As quoted in "‘Hanoi Hannah’ Fondly Remembers Her Role" in Los Angeles Times (4 April 1998)

1978

"Viet Nam Generation Journal & Newsletter" (November 1991)
"The Mystery of Hanoi Hannah" in The New York Times (8 February 2018)

• We mentioned that G.I.s should go AWOL and suggested some frigging, or that is fragging. We advised them to do what they think proper against the war.

• We bought the music from progressive Americans who came to visit Hanoi. We also have our own music, but I think that the G.I.s like to listen to American music, it's more suitable to their ears.

• When the bombs came on Hanoi, I did feel angry. To the Vietnamese, Hanoi is a sacred ground. But even then, when I spoke to the G.I.s I tried always to be calm. I never felt aggression toward Americans as a people. I never called them the enemy, only adversaries.

• Let’s let bygones be bygones. Let’s move on and be friends. There will be many benefits if we can be friends together. There is no reason to be enemies

1994

"Ho Chi Minh City Journal; Hanoi Hannah Looks Back, With Few Regrets" in The New York Times (26 November 1994)

• I always preferred American movies to French films. The French talked too much. There was more action in American movies.

• My work was to make the G.I.s understand that it was not right for them to take part in this war. I talk to them about the traditions of the Vietnamese, to resist aggression. I want them to know the truth about this war and to do a little bit to demoralize them so that they will refuse to fight.

• I wanted to join the Voice of Vietnam because it was a good opportunity to help my country. I was not political. I was patriotic

• We were trying to make the Americans understand that it was not right for them to be in Vietnam, that they were an aggressor, that this was a problem for the Vietnamese to sort out.

About Hanoi Hannah

• I heard her every day. She’s a marvelous entertainer. I’m surprised she didn’t get to Hollywood.
  • John McCain, U.S. Senator and Vietnam prisoner of war, during a visit to Hanoi in April 2000, as quoted in "Trinh Thi Ngo, Broadcaster Called ‘Hanoi Hannah’ in Vietnam War, Dies" in The New York Times (4 October 2016)

• Hannah comes on and she knows what guard unit was called in and what kind of weapons were used. That’s when it starts to hit home. We knew what kind of fire power and devastation that kind of weapon can do to people, and now those same weapons were turning on us, you know, our own military is killing our own people. We might as well have been Viet Cong. But Hannah picked up on it and talked about it.
  • Mike Roberts, U.S. Army soldier, as quoted in "The Mystery of Hanoi Hannah" in The New York Times (8 February 2018)

• Hannah often stirred up arguments among the P.O.W.s. There were nearly fist fights over the programs. Some guys wanted to hear them, while others tried to ignore them. Personally, I listened because I usually gleaned information, reading between the lines.
  • Lt. Cmdr. Ray Voden, U.S. Navy pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war, as quoted in "The Mystery of Hanoi Hannah" in The New York Times (8 February 2018)

• The signal was pretty good around Da Nang and we would tune in once or twice a week to hear her talk about the war, Hannah didn’t necessarily make sense; she used American English, but really didn’t speak our language in spite of hip expressions and hit tunes, even tunes banned on U.S. Army radio. The best thing going for her was that she was female and had a nice soft voice.
  • Ken Watkins, U.S. Marine Corps corpsman, as quoted in "The Mystery of Hanoi Hannah" in The New York Times (8 February 2018)

• She struck me mainly as an intellectual. Certainly didn't remind me of a strident propagandist at all.
  • Don North, journalist, as quoted in "'Hanoi Hannah,' Whose Broadcasts Taunted And Entertained American GIs, Dies" in NPR (6 October 2016)

• Hanoi Hannah was clearly one of the most prominent broadcasters we had in the history of the Voice of Vietnam and the country in general. She will be remembered for her legendary voice in broadcasts targeting American servicemen. Her influence on Vietnam’s success against the US was huge.
  • Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, a former journalist at Voice of Vietnam’s English service, as quoted in "Hanoi Hannah, Vietnam war propaganda radio presenter, dies aged 87" in The Guardian (4 October 2016)