During the Rhodesian Bush War, informational and political warfare was mounted by each of the involved factions: on one side, the Rhodesian government (led by Prime Minister Ian Smith of the Rhodesian Front); on another, the British government and the Commonwealth of Nations; on a third, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and its associated guerrilla army, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA); and, on a fourth, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and its armed wing, the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA).
Beginning in 1965, the Rhodesian government implemented a coordinated strategic information and public diplomacy campaign, which included propaganda, censorship, and psychological operations, aiming to maintain the support of the country's black majority in the face of infiltration and indoctrination of ZANLA and ZIPRA, as well as to appeal to the common British populace, which the Rhodesians hoped would begin to question British government policy regarding Rhodesia.
Information operations Rhodesian propaganda efforts in the West The Rhodesian government initiated white propaganda efforts—that is, propaganda which truthfully states its origin—in October 1965, with the publishing and dissemination of a pamphlet titled Rhodesia's Case for Independence, which was distributed within Rhodesia and exported to Britain. Rhodesia's Case for Independence was intended to counter the Whitehall claim that Rhodesia's government lacked legitimacy for independence under Britain's recently adopted no independence before majority rule policy. British readers were asked to "support Rhodesians in their hour of need."SGM Herbert A. Friedman, PSYOP 1965–1980 Paragraph 8 When Rhodesia issued its Unilateral Declaration of Independence a month later, the very timing of the declaration was intended as propaganda: not only was the document signed on 11 November (Armistice Day), but the official telegram to London was wired at precisely 13:00 Salisbury time – 11:00 in London, the exact moment on Armistice Day when Britain begins the traditional two minutes' silence to honour the dead of the First and Second World Wars.
Specially printed air-letters were distributed to households in areas with high European-connected populations throughout Rhodesia, which they could post to friends and contacts abroad. The air-letters would include a pre-printed message in support of the Rhodesian government with space for the sender to include a personal note.British National Archives: Dominions Office ref: 207/220. "Rhodesia: The Regime's Propaganda Machine and its Operations." Rhodesia Political Department, Commonwealth Relations Office; 16 March 1966. Leaflets were prepared alleging that the British Government and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) were involved in subversive broadcasts to Rhodesia through Zambian radio waves. A number of patriotic organisations including the Rhodesian Front party and the Candour League were encouraged to write to friends overseas and explain Rhodesia's position.SGM Herbert A. Friedman, PSYOP 1965–1980 Paragraph 9
In February 1966, the Rhodesian government expanded its efforts to the United States. They opened the Rhodesian Information Office in Washington and began disseminating bumper stickers displaying the slogan "Support Rhodesia."SGM Herbert A. Friedman, PSYOP 1965–1980 Paragraph 8 When both the United Nations and the US government placed sanctions on Rhodesia, the Rhodesian Information Office continued to operate with support from front groups including "The Friends of Rhodesia" (a US-based lobby closely linked to the Rhodesian Information Office) and the "American Rhodesian Association" (a US-based pro-internal settlement force supported by the political right).Holly Sklar "Trilateralism: the Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management" pp.393–394
The RF also engaged in black propaganda efforts. Pamphlets purported to come from the "Tudor Rose Society for the Protection of the British Way of Life" (which was later found non-existent) but in fact prepared by the Rhodesians, were posted in England to electors. Some Royal Air Force personnel in Zambia received copies of a circular letter purporting to come from an organisation called "the British Forces Friends of Rhodesia Association" and headed by a secret group of senior British officers. The letter warned against orders to go into action against "kith and kin in Rhodesia."SGM Herbert A. Friedman, PSYOP 1965–1980 Paragraph 111
Some conservatives in the United States rallied to the cause of Rhodesia. In 1961, the American Committee for Aid to Katanga Freedom Fighters (ACAKFF) was formed to lobby the United States to recognize Katanga.Horne, Gerald From the Barrel of a Gun: The United States and the War Against Zimbabwe, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001 p.102 The group was founded by Marvin Liebman and its president was Max Yergan.Brownell, Josiah "Diplomatic Lepers: The Katangan and Rhodesian Foreign Missions in the United States and the Politics of Nonrecognition" from The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 47, No. 2, Spring 2014 p.218. Its board of directors included some prominent conservatives such as Senator Everett Dirksen, William F. Buckley Jr., Senator James Eastland, George Schuyler, James Burnham, Taylor Caldwell, William A. Rusher, John Dos Passos and L. Brent Bozell Jr.Horne, Gerald From the Barrel of a Gun: The United States and the War Against Zimbabwe, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001 p.102 Typical of the group's propaganda was a column by Burnham where he declared that what African nationalists want is "to destroy the power and privileges of the white men; to take over their property, or most of it; and to permit white men to remain only as servants and handmaids", causing him to declare his support for the state of Katanga, which was ruled by Moïse Tshombe and covertly supported by Belgium.Brownell, Josiah "Diplomatic Lepers: The Katangan and Rhodesian Foreign Missions in the United States and the Politics of Nonrecognition" from The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 47, No. 2, Spring 2014 p.215. The battle-lines formed by the issue of whether the United States should recognize Katanga repeated themselves with regard to Rhodesia with the same people who championed Katanga championing Rhodesia while the people opposed to Katanga as a 'sham' were also vehemently opposed to Rhodesia.Brownell, Josiah "Diplomatic Lepers: The Katangan and Rhodesian Foreign Missions in the United States and the Politics of Nonrecognition" from The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 47, No. 2, Spring 2014 p.210.
In 1966, the ACAKFF was reborn as the American African Association (AAAA) with both groups having Yergan as president or co-president, virtually identical letterheads, the same board of directors, the same mailing lists, and same address in New York—79 Madison Avenue—which was also the headquarters of Marvin Liebman Associates.Brownell, Josiah "Diplomatic Lepers: The Katangan and Rhodesian Foreign Missions in the United States and the Politics of Nonrecognition" from The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 47, No. 2, Spring 2014 p.231. At the same time it was revealed that the public relations firm of Marvin Liebman Associates had been hired by the Information Office of the Rhodesian government to try to improve Rhodesia's image in America.Brownell, Josiah "Diplomatic Lepers: The Katangan and Rhodesian Foreign Missions in the United States and the Politics of Nonrecognition" from The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 47, No. 2, Spring 2014 pp.231–232. Even more extreme were groups such as the American Friends of Rhodesia founded by the far-right Liberty Lobby and John Birch Society which engaged in wildly racist propaganda that Kenneth Towsey, the head of the Information Office in New York thought did more harm than good.Brownell, Josiah "Diplomatic Lepers: The Katangan and Rhodesian Foreign Missions in the United States and the Politics of Nonrecognition" from The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 47, No. 2, Spring 2014 p.232. About groups such as the American Friends of Rhodesia, Towsey in a 1966 letter: "We have considered prudent to sup with them with a long spoon".Horne, Gerald From the Barrel of a Gun: The United States and the War Against Zimbabwe, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001 p.103
In June 1966, the Rhodesian Ministry of Information published a pamphlet Rhodesia in the Context of Africa saying: "The hopes and expectations of the [African] masses been dashed in tragedy after tragedy...One island of relative sanity remained in the richly endowed Katanga...But war was waged by the United Nations to destroy this secessionist or 'rebel' government....it is the fashion today to turn a blind eye on the Congo tragedy, and even to suggest that it is an exceptional case from which Europeans in Rhodesia should not draw unwarranted conclusions. Embarrassing though it may be, its lessons are there to be learned—by the world no less than Rhodesia".Brownell, Josiah "Diplomatic Lepers: The Katangan and Rhodesian Foreign Missions in the United States and the Politics of Nonrecognition" from The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 47, No. 2, Spring 2014 p.225. In Canada, the Friends of Rhodesia was founded by Gerald Hart and John Baldwin with a total membership of 200 people by 1966. Hart told Maclean's that he was not racist, but was for Rhodesia "because they are the same kind of people who helped build Canada. Why should they be driven out by a pack of savage aborigines just down from the trees? And no, I wouldn’t want my daughter to marry one. You’d bastardize both races."