Bio
Dr. Justin Simundson is an Assistant Professor of History and the U.S. Air Force Academy. He earned his PhD in History from Texas Tech University in 2017. His academic work focuses on the politics and propaganda of counterinsurgency in the Vietnam War. He is the editor of Crooked Bamboo: A Memoir from Inside the Diem Regime by Nguyen Thai, which highlights Mr. Thai’s experiences as a high-level South Vietnamese propaganda official and as a personal aide to President Ngo Dinh Diem. Dr. Simundson’s current project examines the creation and failure of the combined South Vietnamese and American propaganda effort in South Vietnam from its beginning in the 1950s to its virtual collapse before the beginning of America’s Vietnam War.
Dr. Justin Simundson is a native of South Dakota and attended the U.S. Naval Academy for three years. After a medical separation from the Navy, Dr. Simundson completed his undergraduate work at Augustana University and his MA at the University of South Dakota. He spent two years teaching and researching in Vietnam as part of his graduate work. He enjoys pickleball, hiking, lifting weights, woodworking, and historical European martial arts (fencing in 14th century style with a longsword).
Education
PhD, History, Texas Tech University (2017)
Dissertation: Propaganda Images and Manufacturing Consent in “Free” Vietnam, 1950-1963
MA, History, The University of South Dakota (2009)
BS, History with Departmental Distinction, Augustana University (2008)
Professional Experience
Assistant Professor of History, U.S. Air Force Academy (2020-present)
Senior Counselor, International Sponsored Student Programs, Texas Tech University (2017-2020)
Adjunct Professor / Graduate Part-Time Instructor, Texas Tech University (2013-2020)
Honors & Awards
Staff Excellence Award nominee, Texas Tech (2018)
Strive for Honor Award nominee, Texas Tech (2018)
Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Texas Tech (2016-2017)
AT&T Chancellor’s Fellowship, Texas Tech (2009-2013)
Research and Scholarly Interests
Military and Diplomatic History
Vietnam War
Cold War
Propaganda / Public diplomacy
Insurgency and Unconventional Warfare
Publications
Simundson, Justin. 2025. “The Ebb and Flow of Ideas in Nation-Building: The Tumultuous Run of ‘The Times of Vietnam’”. World History Connected 22 (1). https://doi.org/10.13021/whc.v22i1.4513.
Editor with Introduction, Crooked Bamboo: A Memoir from Inside the Diem Regime, by Nguyen Thai. Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech University Press, 2019. https://www.ttupress.org/9781682830413/crooked-bamboo/
Review of Benjamin Armstrong, Small Boats and Daring Men: Maritime Raiding, Irregular Warfare, and the Early American Navy, International Journal of Naval History. Dec. 2022.
Review of Christopher Goscha, The Road to Dien Bien Phu: A History of the First War for Vietnam and Shawn McHale, The First Vietnam War: Violence, Sovereignty, and the Fracture of the South, 1945– 1956, Journal of Military History (October 2022): 1042-1044.
Review of Robert J. Thompson III, Clear, Hold, and Destroy: Pacification in Phú Yên and the American War in Vietnam, Journal of Military History (July 2022): 764-765.
Review of Heather Marie Stur, Saigon at War: South Vietnam and the Global Sixties, Journal of Military History (April 2021): 559-560.
Review of Max Boot, The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam, Passport 49, no. 2 (September 2018): 66-67.