Hanoi Hannah

Trịnh Thị Ngọ (born in 1931), also known as Hanoi Hannah, is a Vietnamese radio personality best known for her work during the Vietnam War, when she made English-language propaganda broadcasts for North Vietnam directed at US troops.

Early life

Ngọ was born in Hanoi in 1931 in a rich factory owner's family. She recalls that she grew eager to learn English because of her desire to watch her favorite films such as Gone with the Wind without subtitles. Her family provided her with private lessons in English. When she was 25 years old she began reading the English language newscast for Vietnam’s national radio station that was aimed at listeners in Asia’s English-speaking countries.

Radio Hanoi

During the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s she became famous among US soldiers for her propaganda broadcasts on radio Hanoi (in fact, there were several "Hanoi Hannahs", but she was the senior and most frequently heard one). At that time, she made three broadcasts a day, reading the list of the newly killed or imprisoned Americans, attempting to persuade US GI that the US involvement in the Vietnam War was unjust and immoral and played popular US anti-war songs in an attempt to incite feelings of nostalgia and homesickness amongst US troops. Although she used the...
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