True, but the VC bit was definitely Lucas’s handiwork. Just look at these 1973 development notes if you don’t believe me:
https://otnesse.tumblr.com/post/162081709399/this-is-from-george-lucas-1973-notes-for-star
And BTW, Lucas trying to push a pro-Vietcong/anti-Vietnam War narrative in the franchise from the start, manipulating countless Americans in his commie goals, is PRECISELY the reason why I made an exception and am rooting for the bad guys in Star Wars now (and even there, only the Empire. The Trade Federation at least was closer to crony capitalism than true capitalism, so I can still root against them, and the First Order, unlike the Empire was directly based on the Nazis, or at least ODESSA.).
Ironic that by the time they were finished, they had gone deep into American mythology: Luke was a midwestern farm boy in every way.
And of course, the Vietnam war was long since over.
And who would ever see America as a brutal dictatorship more than Vietnam? Star Wars was like Rocky if Rocky won! It (apparently unintentionally and ironically) inspired Red Dawn, Battlestar Galactica, etc. Oh, how Lucas must’ve hated that his movie helped propel Reagan into the White House! (BG’s dominant message was a rejection of Eastpolitick in favor of recognizing that you can never broker peace with an enemy sworn to your destruction!)