I dont know what else to do. For 70 years, American Heritage has been the leading magazine of U.S. history, politics, and culture. And by the way, did our government lie to us during Vietnam? Sending Out Veterans' Benefits, The Executive Branchs Response to the Flood of 1927, The Case For Calling the Language "American", America Fought Its Own Battle Over Books Before it Fought the Nazis. [1] Cited on November 24, 2004. I know what its supposed to be now. Many of our veterans still call her Hanoi Jane thanks to her radio broadcasts: True, but she doesnt just have the nickname because of the radio broadcasts. SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY NEWSLETTER, FIRST TAKE, Megyn Kelly Trashed by Rosie O'Donnell as 'Spineless Wanna Be Barbie' for Jane Fonda Spat, 'Jane Fonda in Five Acts' Film Review: Doc Explores the Many Lives of the Actress-Activist, How Jane Fonda Explains 'Hanoi Jane': 'Regret to My Dying Day', said she was among those at Fox News sexually harassed by Ailes. Fifty years later, he bears witness again. Congress held hearings. During the photo sessions during her visit to Vietnam, she strongly believed were setups and a grave mistake on her part. In Hanoi, Fonda also met with seven American POWs and later said they asked her to tell their friends and family to support presidential candidate George McGovern; they feared theyd never be freed during a Richard Nixon administration. In 1972, actress Jane Fonda traveled to North Vietnam on an anti-war mission. We're going to take them out. In July of 1972, she made two trips to By denying their mistreatment or not investigating their treatment,in an effort to sway public opinion to her own perceived vision of the national interest, she did harm to her countrymen in captivity. Nobody remembers, nobody cares. JANE FONDA: It was a terrible mistake. I want you to go home and say, "I'm sorry I got caught doing the wrong thing.". Troop B, 2nd squadron, 17th Cavalry, RVN, 1969-70 MacArthur asked Truman to permit Chiang Kai-Shek's troops to fight with Americans against the Red Chinese. Which goes to reinforce the old adage that no one is truly a waste of skin. But because of the nature of Vietnam, McNamara said to me, if wed known what we know now it would have we should not have gone out. The great General Douglas MacArthur drove the North Koreans, led by Red Chinese I mean, he realized that. [5] One man who was supposed to have encountered Jane Fonda, one Colonel Larry Carrigan, has denied any claim that he ever met her. Christopher Andersen, Citizen Jane (New York: Henry Holt and Company. "KOREA: Shortly thereafter Truman, with Congress averting its eyes, committed U.S. troops to Korea. During an interview with Barbara Walters 35 years ago, Oscar-winning actress Jane Fonda apologized for being used as propaganda for North Vietnam when we were still fighting North Vietnam. Deprived of American assistance, his army bereft of supplies, Chiang Kai-Shek retreated to the island sanctuary of Formosa and dug in. Mao Tse-Tung, of "Little Red Book" fame, and darling of the New York-Hollywood "elite", then proceeded to murder 65 million of his countrymen in what David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski call "a glorious revolution." quote: Fonda was a political activist in the counterculture era during the Vietnam War. Legal Statement. Fonda shakes the last hand, then turns to the officer and gives him the fistful of messages. NORTH: The real story about Vietnam. I mean, the reality is, there were 24,000 American troops on the ground in South Vietnam. I would like to hear more about this. On this weeks edition of HBO Max and CNNs Whos Talking to Chris Wallace, the host covered much of that territory, including that 1972 visit. Heres how we saw the article we ran: It is a survey of the singular career of a woman who both drove and was driven by many of the largest social concerns of her era, and who came to embody some of them. And you know, maybe I was set up but I was an adult, its Im gonna take responsibility for it. NORTH: In fact refused to apologize for the POW meeting, which was tantamount to, basically torture. Dave . But Jane Fonda: Cancel my subscription!, In replying, I discovered that the Good Book notwithstanding, a soft answer turneth away wrath no more than zo percent of the time. It's not just handing out, you know, blankets. The U.S. government secretly abets communism around the globe, then sends in the American military to "contain the communist menace". You know, we can we can scare her, and boy did they try? Switch to the light mode that's kinder on your eyes at day time. 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Listen closely. Email us. But the action that still enrages veterans most was that photograph of her with North Vietnamese troops onan antiaircraft gunthat would have been used to shoot down American planes. A photograph caught her looking through the scope of an anti-aircraft gun, surrounded by revolutionaries. It was treason, nothing more and nothing less. CHRIS WALLACE: Your most famous protest was 50 years ago when you went to North Vietnam at the height of the war there. She said: I have very few regrets. Heres how we saw the article we ran: It is a survey of the singular career of a woman who both drove and was driven by many of the largest social concerns of her era, and who came to embody some of them. He was Americas most famous pediatrician. My question is, when will people like Fonda and Kerry (unlike Joan Baez) take responsibility for what they have wrought -- the totalitarian system that gave us re-education camps and the boat people? Jane Fonda was more than just an actress born to a wealthy and prominent Hollywood family. I'm sorry I hurt you, Alan, and I hope you can forgive me." . WebFind many great new & used options and get the best deals for Jane Fonda: Prime Time - Walk Out (DVD, 2010) at the best online prices at eBay! "There's no disputing that Jane Fonda toured North Vietnam, propagandized on behalf of the communists, and participated in an orchestrated "press conference" with American POWs in 1972. The people who are speaking out against the war are the patriots. She said the radio addresses were the only way to get access to American soldiers, because she was barred from meeting them at their bases in South Vietnam. I have had my say. How Jane Fondas 1972 trip to North Vietnam earned her the She continued openly to question the accounts of the U.S. government and American POWs, who told devastating stories of the torture they endured at the hands of the North Vietnamese. quote: Coffee houses. window._taboola = window._taboola || []; . She said in a 1973 interview elaborating on the hypocrites and liars statement that it would be understandable for the North Vietnamese to torture POWs who tried to escape. 5:15 After numerous apologies over four decades, its time to let Hanoi Jane Fonda off the hook for Vietnam. I agree with TheWrap's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and provide my consent to receive marketing communications from them. Remember when Jane Fonda revolutionized exercise in She apologized for being on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun site. We have no right to attack that country. These horrendous claims went around the nation on the Internet, resulting in a great deal of anger and consternation among veterans. If a prisoner tried to escape, it is quite understandable that he would probably be beaten and tortured., Also Read: How Jane Fonda Explains 'Hanoi Jane': 'Regret to My Dying Day', Even she had to apologize years later for that gun picture True. NORTH (voice-over): Thirty-five hundred Marines came ashore. Status: TRUE" For a great many people, its not enough that Jane Fonda went to North Vietnam, offered encouragement to an army that was daily killing her countrymen, climbed up on that anti-aircraft gun, insisted that all American prisoners were well treated, and so on. But when you know why you did something, and youre willing to admit the mistakes that you made, but stand up for the things that you did that that mattered? Her book just may not make the bestseller Read more >>, The magazine was forced to suspend print publication in 2013, but a group of volunteers saved the archives and relaunched it in digital form in 2017. JANE FONDA: It was a terrible mistake. Shewas active in the Black Panthers and marched for the rights of American Indians, soldiers and working mothers. It was my mistake and I have paid and continue to pay a heavy price for it.. COLMES: She did say that she was sorry. Nobody remembers, nobody cares. Its something very like the worst sort of lovers betrayal, the deep wound that time itself often is powerless to heal. 's and eMediaMillWorks, Inc.'s copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. . Whether Fonda wanted to shame troops is subjective. But "Hanoi Run" from USSR to Viet Nam, was produced in Russian plants that had been built by American companies and financed by the Federal Reserve System. There is no doubt these treasonous no-win US wars were meant to disillusion the American nation into accepting loss of sovereignty and one world government." Imagine its the Battle of the Bulge and Betty Grable is up on top of a German tank saying the Yanks are fighting an evil war. Its not a preposterous analogynot as far as the soldiers involved are concerned. If I was used, I allowed it to happen. During her two-week stay, Fonda concluded that America was unjustly bombing farmland and areas far flung from military targets. There's no denying that she defamed POWs by whitewashing the Viet Cong's treatment of them and later calling them liars when they spoke out." When Jane Fonda Rocked the U.S. Army A newly exhumed documentary delves into the actresss anti-Vietnam vaudeville tour of American military bases in 1972. HANNITY: All right. One presumably claimed to have been struck by her, while another claimed to have had his confidence betrayed to his Communist captors. She called our POWs hypocrites and liars and referred to their torture as understandable. They landed two months later on 7 May with the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines. It has simply been repeated over and over again, without proof, and duplicated on a number of websites. She and actor Donald Sutherland started an anti-USO troupe to counter Bob Hopes famous shows for the troops. Someone (I dont remember who) leads me toward the gun, and I sit down, still laughing, still applauding. "Flashpoint Vietnam," the real story about the road to the war. And that we probably couldnt win it not because they werent a fabulous soldiers. Outspoken host Elisabeth Hasselbeck left "The View" to join "Fox & Friends" in 2013, which she exited at the end of 2015. It was to these traditional Americans, alienated by the Sixties, that the email was targeted, playing on their hopes that finally, at long last, Jane Fonda would have to answer for her choices. In it, she apologizes once again for insulting the men and women who fought in Vietnam. GRUMMETT: Don't worry about it, you know? And I refused to have them scare me away from being actively against the Vietnam War. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. In another she was looking into the Politicians make mistakes that affect the body politic and statesmen sometimes direct a foreign policy that disregards individuals in the national interest. She said that she regretted it. The chance to remake oneself is a universally acknowledged strength of this Republic, and the Republic itself has done it often enough. But literally working hand-in-hand with the enemy to promote their cause to a worldwide audience was not protected by the First Amendment then just as it is not protected now. Kellysaid she was among those at Fox News sexually harassed by Ailes. But she was advised by other activists to focus her political energies, deciding to go all-in as an impassioned voice for the antiwar movement. You're a great American. Once U.S. forces were committed in large numbers the U.S. federal government, as in Korea, prohibited them from attacking specified enemy sanctuaries (staging areas) into which the communists retreated, regrouped, re-armed and launched renewed attacks. One showed her applauding North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gunners. Fonda hasapologized for the liars and hypocrites statement, which she said she made out of anger that the Nixon Administration was lying about the extent of the POW torture for propaganda purposes. In 2015, about 50 veterans stood outside theWeinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick, Md., to protest Fondas appearance there. The war was being fought by the air during during the Nixon administration. Yeah, said my stepdaughter, Jill, when I told her about this. 1972: 'Hanoi' Jane--Text from CNN.com, "Vietnam: Echoes of War, Cultural Timeline" Jane Fonda -- actress, political activist and partner of anti-war But the reality of it is, Alan, this is a woman,who I quite frankly feel sorry for. I mean, the reality is, there were 24,000 American troops on the ground in South Vietnam. Many Americans disapproved of Fondas comments Megyn Kelly Fact-Check: The Truth About Jane Fonda and Vietnam But newly discovered tapes tell a very, very different story. And number three: you've got the propaganda broadcasts themselves, where she substitutes for Hanoi Hannah, who broadcasts to the American troops all the time. Jane Fonda was always an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War. FONDA: I'm charging the government with genocide, with genocide. In no sense am I a Fonda apologist. I hardly even think about where I am sitting. I was not the kind of mother that I wished I had been to my children. Chris Appy, a historian who has written about Vietnam, told HNN he once asked POW Porter Halyburton about the claims made against Fonda. Jane Fonda remains unforgiven. Libertarian commentator Jedediah Bila appeared on Fox's "Outnumbered" and later turned up on ABC's "The View.". Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. However, since the majority of the stories cited in the e-mail have no proof behind them, I had to either give the e-mail "thumbs down" or "thumbs up" on the basis of the overall validity. COLMES: She didn't say the words she wanted her to say. I remember one retired lieutenant colonel describing a conversation he had with an angry trooper about the treasonous behavior of Jane Fonda in the midst of the 1968 Tet Offensive. I did not know then. Youre gonna come through it, okay. I believe Jane Fonda has talked to at least two historians. MacArthur was denied his request to attack enemy forces massing across the Yalu border in preparation for attack. Halyburton told him that the POW's had tried to debunk them even though they regarded Fonda as an unsympathetic figure. In 1972, Fonda toured North Vietnam, where she spoke against U.S. military policy in the country. Jane Fonda Over the years, as Fonda reinvented herself as a fitness maven and again a movie star, she apologized many times for the antiaircraft gunphoto. Even so, I'm going to keep an eye open to purchase one of the urinal mats with her photograph depicted upon it. Rudi Bakhtiar jumped from CNN to Fox News in 2006. Thats what made me laugh. This thread gives me a great chance to ask veterans a question that has always bothered me. The cover called her Ms. He hadnt liked the story but at least was willing to discuss it. Due to actions and images some people consider unpatriotic or treasonous, she earned Here is my best, honest recollection of what took place. What most Viet-Nam veterans think about Jane Fonda is expressed in a number of products sold by D & G Enterprises, She posed on an anti-aircraft gun used to shoot down our American pilots. You will not be surprised to hear that I have bowdlerised the above considerably, removing racial designators and course expressions of various sorts. One of the times it did, Im happy to say, was with Keith Nolan, the author of several books on the war, most recently Ripcord , a superb account of the 101st Airborne in the conflicts last great battle. No article of ours gets hundreds of letters, but this one did, very few of them friendly. You have "War Stories" coming up. I never asked pilots to desert. President Lyndon Johnson, Democrat, in a special address to the American public, reported an attack upon a U.S. naval vessel in the Tonkin Gulf by a North Vietnamese torpedo boat. So I ask, should she have been put on trial for treason? Unforgiven | AMERICAN HERITAGE Andrea Tantaros, former co-host of "The Five," filed a lawsuit saying that Fox News operated like a "sex-fueled, Playboy-Mansion-like cult.". She visited Russia in the early Sixties, and was personally impressed by the deference she received. But also admits to consulting with psychics. They called it FTA, which they said stood for Free the Army, but it was also a not-so-subtle nod to the expression f the Army.. The POWs are beaten. The POWs who were there have denied that this ever occurred. Jane Fonda And four months later, the bombing stopped of the dikes. Radio broadcasts, which attempted to shame American troops: Fonda did record messages that the North Vietnamese played for Americans to weaken their resolve. It is possible that the Vietnamese had it all planned. Jane Fonda is a star of stage and screen whose career began in 1960. That is not my place. Its more than being a traitor; millions of Americans felt treasonous during that war. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. If it wasn't I must be missing something. Her attackers renewed an old strike against the image of an actress who grew up as the daughter of the All-American Henry Fonda, yet became synonymous with the various rebellions of the Sixties. CHRIS WALLACE: So when you say it was a terrible mistake. https://twitter.com/MegynTODAY/status/955454505067470848. I mean, you know, of all manner of slings and arrows were thrown my way. ET!. She also spoke about her infamous protests. Laurie Dhue was a familiar presence on Fox in the early 2000s but left the network in 2008. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. However, you may note that the Left still presumes to lecture the rest of us often concerning foreign policy on a regular basis. After Fonda returned from hertrip, the State Department spoke out against her. The Veterans of Foreign Wars passed a resolution calling for her to be prosecuted as a traitor. 1991) Pages 225-229. She has said that she regrets doing this. CNN anchorChris Wallace grilled Hollywood legend and activist Jane Fonda over her controversial visit to North Vietnam that caused millions to dub her Hanoi Jane, and got a full spectrum response on the subject. But because of the nature of Vietnam, McNamara said to me, if wed known what we know now it would have we should not have gone out. Article 3, section three of the Constitution defines treason as "levying war against the United States or adhering to their enemies or giving them aid and comfort.". Heres the picture that was used to shut shut down American plants, critics, and there were millions of them, called you a Hanoi Jane and said you were a traitor. North Vietnam, 1972,: Jane Fonda is in the midst of her visit when an N.V.A. And you know, maybe I was set up but I was an adult, its Im gonna take responsibility for it. She was reportedly also an aspirant for a role on "Fox & Friends," the network's morning show. William Burkhead, a Democrat from Anne Arundel, said, I wouldnt want to kill her, but I wouldnt mind if you cut her tongue off, according to a Post story. And you were photographed sitting on an anti aircraft gun. It never happened. Kelly responded with a cannon by bringing up the time Fonda posed on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun. Jane Fonda CHRIS This article was published more than4 years ago. Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949. Free shipping for many products! There's no statute of limitations on it. quote: Fonda was a political activist in the counterculture era during the And the more they tried, the more. The Roger Ailes and Bill OReilly scandals have cast even some old departures in a new light. Here's what she's got. I make it a habit not to intervene as an intern. All of the facts, in retrospect, lead to the conclusion that the U.S. government's purpose in dragging America into Korea was not to defeat communism but to kill as many Americans as possible in an ignoble defeat, get rid of the hero MacArthur as a possible presidential nominee, and lure a disillusioned America into acceptance of one world government. And exocide (ph) and biocide. OLIVER NORTH, HOST, "WAR STORIES": Actually, she's not really apologizing. As in Korea, communist spies within the U.S. government released vital information to the enemy. Jane Fondas first impression of Americas involvement in Vietnam was that it was a just cause. Its something very like the worst sort of lovers betrayal, the deep wound that time itself often is powerless to heal. Colonel, Michelle Malkin (search) actually discovered other quotes that she had said. NORTH: And mine too, brother, even after 37 years. Truman refused. To license content, please contact licenses [at] americanheritage.com. Talking Points, WATCH: Greg Gutfeld and Bill Maher Riff About Incest Porn Because They Are Hilarious Comedians And Hell Exists, Cocaine Bear, Hold My Beer: Production Company Behind Sharknado Releasing Meth Gator Movie This Summer. And it was a terrible mistake because of the image that it showed, which was not at all what the reality was. And heres Cat Ballou, the beautiful daughter of Young Abe Lincoln, of Mister Roberts, beaming down from a machine designed to kill them. Jane Fonda was on 3 times this week talking about her new book. If a prisoner tried to escape, it is quite understandable that he would probably be beaten and tortured.. So setting aside the issue of whether plastic surgery has anything to do with Vietnam, is Kelly right about Fondas record? Jane Fonda Runs Through Stunning Array of Responses to I think that there is a lot of selectivity going on. Almost all the messages said we had no business writing about Fonda because she was a traitor. We once published an admiring profile of Benedict Arnoldwhose actions did the nation real damage in a way Fondas fulminations never couldand nobody made a peep. She went to tour the countrys dike system, which was rumored to have been intentionally bombed by American forces something the U.S. government to this day forcefully denies. Look it, there were clandestine operations conducted in every war. The war was being fought by the air during during the Nixon administration. Just before that experience, she said the words that continued to play through her head were: All men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. T. Jefferson. officer gets an idea. She claimed she was sexually harassed by correspondent Brian Wilson and later spoke out against Fox News' culture after the Ailes scandal broke. In her book, she says she's a Christian. I dont think they know, Fonda said in a news conference when she returned home. Jane Fonda came clean in an interview with Chris Wallace about her Hanoi Jane days and her failure as a mother. North Vietnamese press reported and Fonda later confirmed that she made several radio announcements over the Voice of Vietnam radio to implore U.S. pilots to stop the bombings. Thats all the ground troops were Hows this for a story? But when you know why you did something, and youre willing to admit the mistakes that you made, but stand up for the things that you did that that mattered? Or to keep it anonymous, click here. According to the email she visited Hanoi in 1968. No one with half a brain took Jane Fonda seriously then, or for that matter, now. I got the main point across. Id been getting pretty sour about the incensed patriots who would curse me and my family and confidently speak on behalf of all veterans living and dead, and the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress, to declare I was a disgrace to America for running that storythen conclude by smugly assuring me they would never read it. I find that intolerable.. Among the products sold expressing veterans' disdain for Fonda are a variety of bumper stickers, envelope stickers, sew-on patches, but evidently D&G no longer carries my favorite Fonda item, a urinal pad depicting Jane Fonda's photograph. She has reportedly been shopping a tell-all book this year. Others were hoping to catch a glimpse of a famous Hollywood actress. Imagine its the Battle of the Bulge and Betty Grable is up on top of a German tank saying the Yanks are fighting an evil war. Its not a preposterous analogynot as far as the soldiers involved are concerned. What followed was a long-lasting wave of criticism and international outrage that earned Fonda the nickname " From Urban Legends: Perhaps most dramatically, in March 1973, the Maryland state legislature held a hearing to have Fonda and her films barred from the state. If you must know, my original draft did make reference to the one true story that you mentioned. Chiang refused to be extorted, citing his revulsion of the international banking cartel.