1971 Kerns Anti-Vietnam War Poster of Nixon Planning to Expand the War

This is a 1971 A. Kerns Design counterculture poster of President Richard Nixon in hell holding a map of Southeast Asia. In a truly unique use of materials, the top third of the poster is covered in velvet, with the tips of the flames brilliantly accentuated by this change in texture.

A Closer Look

Nixon looks out at the viewer over his shoulder, almost as if noticing someone watching him from behind. Ship, tank, and airplane icons appear on the map throughout Southeast Asia in Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand, not just in Vietnam, suggesting Nixon's planning to widen the war instead of end it. His excuse 'The Devil Made Me Do It!' rings hollow. A contemporary audience may have recognized it as the catchphrase of Flip Wilson, a popular Black comedian. He had used the phrase in his standup routines since the mid-1960s, with Wilson's character always blaming the bad things that happened to him on the Devil. Whenever they did something slightly nefarious, the character claimed that 'the Devil made me do it', hopefully exonerating themself of all blame.

The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War, known in Vietnam as the Resistance War Against America or simply the American War, raged between November 1, 1955, and April 30, 1975, when Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese. A complicated conflict with an even more complicated history and legacy, the Vietnam War pitted the North Vietnamese, led by Ho Chi Minh, against the South Vietnamese. The South Vietnamese were supported by the United States, while the Soviet Union and China supported the North Vietnamese. American anti-communist dogma and fear that 'if one country fell to Communism, then more would fall' drove participation in the far-off civil war. As the conflict grew, American involvement became increasingly overt. Finally, in 1964, American ground troops were sent into combat. In 1968, U.S. troop strength in Vietnam reached its maximum at 549,500 soldiers. The same year saw the Tet Offensive, the most successful North Vietnamese campaign against American forces, and a waning of American home front support. U.S. forces withdrew in January 1973, and Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese on April 30, 1975.

Publication History and Census

This poster was created by A. Kerns Design, copyrighted by HIPCO, and distributed by Hip Products in 1971. This piece is not cataloged in any institutional collections, and we note only a handful that have appeared on the private market in recent years.