with Earl Toops
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When a government falls, how does its successor establish authority—and get everyday life moving again?
Postage stamps are symbols of state sovereignty and imply legitimacy and proof of governance and territorial control. For the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF) and its follow-on governing structure the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG), stamp issues were an important part of dau tranh [“struggle”] and
served as propaganda to raise political consciousness [political dau tranh].
Between 1963 and 1969, the NLF issued 22 stamps; between 1970 and 1976, the PRG issued an additional 48 stamps. With the fall of the Saigon government on 30 April 1975, PRG issues were quickly pressed into service in order to restore postal service in the defeated South. Thus, PRG stamp issues, heretofore considered as merely propaganda labels, were legitimized as stamps of a successful revolution as well as serving as the “missing philatelic and political link” between the demise of the Republic of Vietnam on 30 April 1975 and creation of the unified Socia list Republic of Vietnam on 2 July 1976.
As the NLF and PRG are slowly written out of the national narrative of Vietnam, these stamps and associated postal history may remain as one of the few legacies of a quasi-independent “Republic of South Vietnam” [Cong Hoa Mien Nam Viet Nam].
Our post-program discussion welcomes comments and insights from different perspectives, personal experiences, and insights from different backgrounds and cadres.
Join the British Empire Study Group on Thursday, November 12th, at 6 p.m. Eastern for Earl Toops presentation of Regime Change in Vietnam: Issues of the Provisional Revolutionary Government and Restoration of Postal Services in the Defeated South
Thursday, November 12th
6 PM (ET – NY) (11pm BT)
followed by a spirited open Social –
By registering you will receive a Zoom link and you can add the program to your calendar. –
If you can not attend – that is fine – you will receive information about the recording.
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All of our programs offer optional computer-aided close captioning for those who prefer to watch programs with captioning.
Captioning Language Translation Available we provide closed captions in many languages. The presenter will speak in English and your closed captions will translate his talk to (Chinese (simple), Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian or Ukrainian)
Our post-program discussion welcomes comments and insights from different perspectives, personal experiences, and insights from different backgrounds and cadres.
About Earl Toops
R Earl is a retired USAF Security Police officer (1970-90) and served in Vietnam with the 377th Security Police Squadron at Tan Son Nhut Airbase from November 1972 to March 1973. He left Vietnam on 28 March 1973, one day before all US troops had to be out of Vietnam under the terms of the Paris Peace Accords signed on 27 anuary 1973.
He completed his Southeast Asia tour with the 8th Security Police Squadron at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base. In addition to Vietnam and Thailand, other overseas assignments included Japan, Iran, Turkey, Germany and Iceland.
After retirement, Earl lived in Bahrain, Germany and the UK (1992-2013), for a total of 33 years living overseas. In the mid/late ’70’s, he developed an interest in the NLF/PRG issues and began competitively exhibiting this material in local stamp shows in Germany in 1983-84.
His exhibit was thrown out of a local Midwest show in 1983 for having “illegal material.” His presentation entitled “Regime Change in Vietnam: Issues of the Provisional Revolutionary Government and Restoration of Postal Services in the Defeated South” has been presented at the 2022 Winton M. Blount Postal History Symposium held at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington DC and at the 3rd International Postal History Congress at Prato, Italy in 2024.
British Empire Study Group