Daily Kos :: U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote (NYT 9/4/1967)
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3-- United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.

According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.

The size of the popular vote and the inability of the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of the nation election based on the incomplete returns reaching here.

A find from the sharp eyes at Kos. I guess the difference between then and now is the 24 hour media propaganda machine. Don't know, too young to remember, but I doubt that this 'cult of personalities' existed then. Did they have stories and video of happy Vietnamese families lining up to vote? Was Johnson jumping up and down and proclaiming victory?

Apparently the Tet Offensive started four months later. I guess the question now is, can the "insurgents" in Iraq organize into a unified fighting force? Time will tell.