Its folklore, but folklore of a curiously evolved sort. Her suit was later settled for a reported $20 million. LBJ and Congress share responsibility for the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, with its dubious basis, and everything that followed. The financial elite then move into the vacuum, establish central banks, and issue debt-credit to the devastated populations. 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. It was my mistake and I have paid and continue to pay a heavy price for it.. MacArthur soon realized he was expected to win battles but lose the war. CHRIS If even one of them were true, it would change the entire focus of my article. [5]http://www.snopes.com/military/fonda.asp; http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa110399b.htm; http://www.truthminers.com/truth/hanoi_jane.htm; cited on November 24, 2004. It meant re-taking the same bloody ground over and over again. The one story that was true never touched the question of whether or not she directly participated in war crimes. How unfair! . The buck stops here. She said: I have very few regrets. And heres Cat Ballou, the beautiful daughter of Young Abe Lincoln, of Mister Roberts, beaming down from a machine designed to kill them. However, it was a bit too long, and Dr. Shenkman needed it shortened in the interest of time. 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. Fonda moves down the line, greeting each man with encouragements like Arent you ashamed you killed babies? as she shakes his hand. Quite the contrary. 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. 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." It was my mistake, and I have paid and continue to pay a heavy price for it. target_type: 'mix' Bates. 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? 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. ET! Megyn Kelly lit into Jane Fonda on Monday, highlighting the behavior that earned the actress the nickname Hanoi Jane while defending the time last fall when she questioned Fonda about plastic surgery. I dont know what else to do. They held signs that read Forgive? She went to tour the countrys Thats all the ground troops were going home. Again the secret policy of the financiers was: "containment of communism" while disallowing an American victory. . And four months later, the bombing stopped of the dikes. This is and now she's apologizing on a book tour. He was denied his request to gather intelligence by aerial reconnaissance over China. 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. 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. Congress held hearings. No one with half a brain took Jane Fonda seriously then, or for that matter, now. Please try again later. In July 1972, during the waning days of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam, actress Jane Fonda incurred the enmity of untold thousands of Vietnam veterans and their families (as well as service members for generations to come) when she arrived in Hanoi, North Vietnam, and began a two-week tour of the country. Yet, despite treason in high places American troops - outnumbered ten-to-one - were winning the war. Jane Fonda was always an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War. The chance to remake oneself is a universally acknowledged strength of this Republic, and the Republic itself has done it often enough. Fonda shakes the last hand, then turns to the officer and gives him the fistful of messages. Aristide was an ENEMY of Communism, hence his downfall. If I was used, I allowed it to happen. It has simply been repeated over and over again, without proof, and duplicated on a number of websites. 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. The POWs are beaten. [1] Cited on November 24, 2004. But now, very quickly, treason is the only crime defined in our Constitution. I was not the kind of mother that I wished I had been to my children. Why are people more angry at Jane Fonda that they are against, say, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, the people really responsible? She posed on an anti-aircraft gun used to shoot down our American pilots. It is always distressing to find American citizens who benefit from the protection and assistance of this government lending their voice in any way to governments such as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam distressing indeed, said State Department spokesman Charles W. Bray, according to a July 1972 Reuters story. Status: TRUE" Fonda may have regrets about those photos in particular, but shes never regretted her political activism. Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images "It was a very tumultuous and polarized time," she said in the HBO documentary. Which is precisely why U.S. liberals so vehemently protested U.S. involvement - and that is the only reason - we were destroying their comrades the communists. After all, she is an American; surely shell carry the message home to the families that their husband or son is alive. Im not you know, they all went to jail. So I ask, should she have been put on trial for treason? They landed two months later on 7 May with the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines. Hows this for a story? And definitely not fonda Fonda. There was a real Colonel Carrigan, and he was a POW in Vietnam. In July of 1972, she made two trips to This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, However, the fact that she advocated Communism does not give anyone license to make up stories or slander. Fonda consorted with the enemy and made propaganda broadcasts on their behalf. Alisyn Camerota hosted a number of Fox News programs during a 16-year run that ended in 2014. Whereupon Truman dismissed MacArthur for insubordination. Four die; one, Col. Larry Carrigan, survivesjust barely, but it is he who tells about the incident. WebNevertheless, there are Vietnam veterans out there who served in the war zone before 1969 who are convinced that Jane Fonda was in cahoots with the Commies during their own 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. Read on. Lee said she still loves being a journalist and thatshehas"some really big ideas on how to better serve you in that particular arena" without Fox News. 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. If I was used, I allowed it to happen. Nixon has responsibility for everything he did or didn't do on his watch. "Flashpoint Vietnam," the real story about the road to the war. 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. Screw you. Yeah, said my stepdaughter, Jill, when I told her about this. WebJane Fonda & TheVietnam War. "VIET NAM: A repeat scenario was played 10 years later under another banker-picked Democratic administration. And the question I have is 50 years later, how do you look back on that particular chapter? Kelly was defending herself after Fonda said over the weekend that the question was so inappropriate and that Kelly is not that good an interviewer.. 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. Dave Its something very like the worst sort of lovers betrayal, the deep wound that time itself often is powerless to heal. The media heaped calumny on U.S. military leadership; presented biased, horrifying scenes depicting "the wanton killing of Vietnamese civilians", and the "degeneracy" of our fighting men and women. Many Americans traveled to Nobody remembers, nobody cares. Fonda told the audience that their protests saddened her. She sided with the Viet Cong as revolutionary liberators. And she travelled to Hanoi at a time when North Vietnamese soldiers were killing Americans. "CHINA: Following WWII, Mao Tse-Tung, financed by the international banks, led his Chinese communists in an armed conflict against nationalist China under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, America's ally against Japan. 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. And the more they tried, the more. I went to a session at the 2003 Peace History Society Conference in Mt. There's nothing like a historian 'cherry-picking' his citations or only presenting a partial 'truth' from his source. CHRIS WALLACE: Your most famous protest was 50 years ago when you went to North Vietnam at the height of the war there. Over the years, as Fonda reinvented herself as a fitness maven and again a movie star, she apologized many times for the antiaircraft gunphoto. [3] She praised the USSR for their support of the Viet Cong. This "police action" quickly developed into a full-blown but undeclared war. He hadnt liked the story but at least was willing to discuss it. [5] One man who was supposed to have encountered Jane Fonda, one Colonel Larry Carrigan, has denied any claim that he ever met her. Deprived of American assistance, his army bereft of supplies, Chiang Kai-Shek retreated to the island sanctuary of Formosa and dug in. Fifty years later, he bears witness again. But newly discovered tapes tell a very, very different story. On the basis of those meetings alone, she proclaimed that American POW's weren't being mistreated, and that any who said they were mistreated werte either liars, or were simply experiencing punishment for their racist treatment and attitude towards their Vietnamese captors. Perhaps most dramatically, in March 1973, the Maryland state legislature held a hearing to have Fonda and her films barred from the state. Communism is an atheistic system, and even advocating it is a serious offense in my eyes (with or without war crimes participation). 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? Subsequently communist China was awarded a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, its most powerful chair. She was a symbol of a divided nation. But also admits to consulting with psychics. He hadnt liked the story but at least was willing to discuss it. I make it a habit not to intervene as an intern. CHRIS WALLACE: Who the people in the Nixon administration? Oh, my God. 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. She now works at Reuters. We have no right to bomb military targets in Vietnam. If a prisoner tried to escape, it is quite understandable that he would probably be beaten and tortured.. It sounds loony until you actually think about it - and the general thesis of "no-win wars" (i.e. But look, you have more to talk to us about something you're going to show us. : Yes, that one story was true. In fact, when the Tet Offensive broke, Jane Fonda was the featured pinup girl in that months issue of Leatherneck , the official publication of the Marines.. America. The Ms. , we thought, would signal a bit of ironic distance from the broad, ingenu- ous affection contained in Miss America., It evidently didnt. I did not know then. The other stories allege a far more direct participation in war crimes on the part of Fonda. They have never acknowledged their role in the killing fields of Cambodia and fail to discuss the fact that Vietnam, one of about four communist countries left on the face of this earth, is currently at the bottom rung of third world nations in terms of per capita income. 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. After we published Peter Braunsteins article on Jane Fonda in our July/August issue, perhaps 60 people sent me this story. Ms. Fonda only met with those POW's who had sold out their fellow POW's, who willingly (without torture) made propaganda statements for their captors, and who enjoyed privileges of medical care, food, and even night-time excursions into Hanoi to watch movies in return. Kellysaid she was among those at Fox News sexually harassed by Ailes. Screw you. "Because of this," the narrative continues, "I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees with outstretched arms with a piece of steel placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane every time my arms dipped." If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. More than 58,000 Americans died in the war.. Her book just may not make the bestseller Four die; one, Col. Larry Carrigan, survivesjust barely, but it is he who tells about the incident. The alleged mission was to prevent communism from spreading to South Korea, a peninsula pointed at now disarmed Japan. This article was published more than4 years ago. Sheturned down a four-year, $100 million offer to stay with Fox News saying that one of the reasonsfor her departure was to spend more time with her kids. wars the intention of which is not to win but to bleed) is quite plausible. ( New York: G.P. Hundreds of Americans had gone to North Vietnam, journalists diplomats, our Secretary of State Ramsey Clark, Vietnam veterans, but I said but a movie star hasnt gone and maybe if I go it will draw more attention, and thats what it did. GRUMMETT: Don't worry about it, you know? It wasnt firing at the time, and Fonda said in 2011 she hardly even thought about where I was sitting and that itis possible that it was a set up, that the Vietnamese had it all planned.. Many Americans traveled to Vietnam on peace delegations to end the war, yet it was Jane Fonda who was captured as a timeless image when she was photographed looking through a Viet Cong anti-aircraft gun. JANE FONDA: it was a mistake to go, I never wanted to go to any military installations. MacArthur complained that his conduct of the war was compromised by spies within the U.S. government: "The enemy receives my (Pentagon) directives before I do". . Heres Kellys take on what she called Fondas poor me routine. Ramsey Clark went to Hanoi during the war. She has reportedly been shopping a tell-all book this year. They realized that the war was wrong, that we werent wanted there. Heres a transcript of her remarks so you can judge for yourself. . When Rockefeller said what he said about the Cultural Revolution (in an Op Ed that I read long ago, attesting to its existence), he was addressing the Communist system as a Fascist system with potential for realizing corporate/banker control much more than as a "Marxist" system. Then Dr. Spock attacked the Vietnam draft. Support with a donation>>. And that we probably couldnt win it not because they werent a fabulous soldiers. And, you know, I think they thought, Oh, shes this white privilege rich, famous daughter of all of that stuff. She also spoke about her infamous protests. Kelly responded with a cannon by bringing up the time Fonda posed on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun. Yeah, said my stepdaughter, Jill, when I told her about this. Listen closely. Trump Jumps on Kellyanne Conway Divorce To SAVAGELY Tell World He Finds George Conway Extremely Unattractive, Republican Strategist Goes Scorched Earth on CPAC Scam, Rips Professional Grassroots Huckster Wing of the GOP, CPAC Crowd Stands and Cheers as Raging Steve Bannon Vows to Bring Down Fox News: Were Going To Fight You Every Step Of The Way!, Florida Bill Requiring Bloggers to Register with Government Wont Survive Court Challenge, Says UF Law Prof, CPAC Crowd Cheers Wildly as Matt Gaetz Demands Congress Defund Federal Law Enforcement, They Are Lying: Tucker Carlson Reveals Why He Will Air Hidden Surveillance Jan 6th Footage Next Week, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Please Just Shut the Hell Up: Michael Steele Tells Fool Congresswoman She Has No Clue, Former Federal Prosecutor Says Rupert Murdoch Agreed with The Worst Possible Sentence in His Deposition, CNN Anchor Asks Chuck Schumer If Democratic Senators Should Still Go On Fox News In Light of Dominion Revelations, DeSantis Snaps at Reporter When Pressed On What He Would Do Differently From Biden in Ukraine, End This Charade: Tim Robbins Backs Woody Harrelson Calling to End Covid Mandates, De La Soul Lives! I would like to hear more about this. So setting aside the issue of whether plastic surgery has anything to do with Vietnam, is Kelly right about Fondas record? 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. I'm sorry I hurt you, Alan, and I hope you can forgive me." Kiran Chetry was a Fox News host from 2001 to 2007. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. But he never met Jane Fonda, and he has no idea how the maddening tale attached itself to him. It hurts me, she said, and it will to my grave that I made a huge, huge mistake that made a lot of people think I was against the soldiers., The Dragon Lady: How Madame Nhu helped escalate the Vietnam War. He didnt live to see it published. The POWs are beaten. Putnams Sons. Donald No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon Fox News Network, L.L.C. Jane Fonda remains unforgiven. I dug in my heels. But it wasnt untilshe traveled to Hanoi in July 1972 that she really enraged criticsand fundamentally altered how the world viewed her for decades to come. 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. We have no right to attack that country. One of the definitions of treason is giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Jane didnt make her infamous and idiotic trip to Hanoi until 1972. She did not merely criticize the authoritarian government of South Vietnam, or the dubious motives of powerful corporations that make up the American military-industrial complex. 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. It is possible that the Vietnamese had it all planned. Now, aid and comfort can be measured a lot of ways. I will never know. 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. Kelly attacked Fondas Vietnam War history to defend questions about plastic surgery. I am trying to show up now.. Lets break down her remarks. She claimed she was sexually harassed by correspondent Brian Wilson and later spoke out against Fox News' culture after the Ailes scandal broke. 1991) Pages 225-229. 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. She called the POW's liars. 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. Market data provided by Factset. Email us. Even so, the main focus of my essay was whether Jane Fonda participated in war crimes, not whether she was morally culpable for her part as an apologist for the mistreatment of POW's (she was). tips@mediaite.com. It all has nothing to do with where I am sitting. Never. and booed people attending the event, according to the Frederick News-Post. CHRIS WALLACE: When you got that nickname Hanoi Jane, how did you feel at the time? I should have been clearer that my anger back then was at the Nixon Administration. Fonda was lambasted for her trip to North Vietnam in 1972 during the Vietnam War. In 2005, she apologized again on 60 It was the last day of my two week time there. Jane Fonda sparked outrage among war veterans when she was pictured sitting on an anti-aircraft gun in 1972 during the Vietnam War, earning her the nickname Hanoi Jane. The cover called her Ms. Again and again against incredible odds, and at great cost in American casualties, U.S. forces stopped the enemy; but were prevented by President Truman from administering the coup de grace. During her two-week stay, Fonda concluded that America was unjustly bombing farmland and areas far flung from military targets. If you must know, my original draft did make reference to the one true story that you mentioned. CHRIS WALLACE: Your most famous protest was 50 years ago when you went to North Vietnam at the height of the war there. HANNITY: Is Jane Fonda really sorry or just trying to sell her brand new book? Youre gonna come through it, okay. Fondas wide-ranging response went from apologetic to defiant and everywhere in between: CHRIS WALLACE: Your most famous protest was 50 years ago when you went to North Vietnam at the height of the war there. Its something very like the worst sort of lovers betrayal, the deep wound that time itself often is powerless to heal. I find that intolerable.. She was young and famous at the time, maybe the Iraqi insurgents could get some of the present crop of empty headed celebrities, Britney Spears perhaps, to pose next to those Muslim mopes in robes and head towels while they aim their weapons. You're a great American. Jane Fonda remains unforgiven. That's an apology. ET!. I'm not going to tell you anything of the sort. I mean, he realized that. To begin with, the title is deliberately misleading: his real point has nothing to do with Jane Fonda. And, as she does, each POW palms her a scrap of paper with his Social Security number written on it. 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. And I didnt even think and they sang me a song and Im made me laugh. WebIn July of 1972 Jane Fonda went to Hanoi, North Vietnam, for a two-week tour of the country. Whether youre a lifelong resident of D.C. or you just moved here, weve got you covered. I never asked pilots to desert. The day anti-Vietnam War protesters tried to levitate the Pentagon. No article of ours gets hundreds of letters, but this one did, very few of them friendly. These men were bombing and strafing and napalming the country, she said. I mean, that's what you and I do with our wives when we say something that we shouldn't have said. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. And four months later, the bombing stopped of the dikes. But she maintains she was not a traitor by speaking out against the war or trying to turn soldiers against it, because she still believesthe U.S. government was lying to them. Fox News has enhanced the careers of numerous women who have served as hosts. Outspoken host Elisabeth Hasselbeck left "The View" to join "Fox & Friends" in 2013, which she exited at the end of 2015. Whether Fonda wanted to shame troops is subjective. And I was I was like a limp noodle what I had experienced and what I had seen, I just I wasnt able to resist, they said were gonna take you out here today. According to the email she visited Hanoi in 1968. 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. I mean, it depends on what you want to know. www.DanandGEnterprises.com quote: Fonda was a political activist in the counterculture era during the Vietnam War. The 85-year-old Fonda has had a lengthy career as a Hollywood icon that includes her current turn in the film 80 For Brady, an equally long stint as an outspoken liberal, a fitness craze that began in the infancy of home video, and much more. In 1972, Fonda toured North Vietnam, where she spoke against U.S. military policy in the country. 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. Each of them suggested that they had done at least one interview with Fonda, and individually they were looking into the historical accuracy behind the claims made about Fonda and why she became such a lighting rod for controversy. And I refused to have them scare me away from being actively against the Vietnam War. 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. Fonda told Wallace that she did not like the nickname she was given, but she stuck by her choice to oppose the war. Truman refused. Urban Legends story then identifies the POW and gives some quotes about his treatment by the NVA. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. You know, we can we can scare her, and boy did they try? She has to be a murderess too. Fonda has refused to tell her side of the story to historians investigating her role, purportedly because she was saving her story for her own memoirs, which are expected to be published soon.