I dont think they know, Fonda said in a news conference when she returned home. And it was a terrible mistake because of the image that it showed, which was not at all what the reality was. There is certainly no doubt that the country was basically split down the middle on the idea of our military presence in SE Asia, and as Americans we were all free to protest the war to our hearts' content. Libertarian commentator Jedediah Bila appeared on Fox's "Outnumbered" and later turned up on ABC's "The View.". CHRIS WALLACE: Your most famous protest was 50 years ago when you went to North Vietnam at the height of the war there. And the question I have is 50 years later, how do you look back on that particular chapter? 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. YOU'VE REACHED YOUR MONTHLY ARTICLE LIMIT. 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. By July 1972, when Fonda accepted an invitation to visit North Vietnam, America had been at war overseas and with itself for years. So did Joan Baez and William Sloane Coffin, Noam Chomsky and Pete Seeger, Rennie Davis and Judy Collins. I plead with him, You have to be sure those photographs are not published. How unfair! ET!. Fonda was lambasted for her trip to North Vietnam in 1972 during the Vietnam War. Youre gonna come through it, okay. I did not know then. I know what its supposed to be now. She called our POWs hypocrites and liars and referred to their torture as understandable. There was a real Colonel Carrigan, and he was a POW in Vietnam. . 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. (Later, after 58,152 American dead were just names on a wall, declassified US Navy logs revealed there had been no torpedo attack!). "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. Yeah, said my stepdaughter, Jill, when I told her about this. quote: Fonda was a political activist in the counterculture era during the She said It is possible it was a setup, I will never know. 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. Respected online resources such as Snopes, Truth Miners, and Urban Legends have all cited key persons in the infamous email as having refuted its claims. Truman refused. I want you to go home and say, "I'm sorry I got caught doing the wrong thing.". Joe? COLMES: Many of us forgive many of us forgive George W. Bush (search) for being young and irresponsible, and maybe we can also forgive Jane Fonda. He was Americas most famous pediatrician. Watch above via HBO Max and CNNs Whos Talking to Chris Wallace. 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. 5:15 After numerous apologies over four decades, its time to let Hanoi Jane Fonda off the hook for Vietnam. Here is my best, honest recollection of what took place. Fact check: Barbara Walters did not write post on Jane Fonda, _taboola.push({ Its something very like the worst sort of lovers betrayal, the deep wound that time itself often is powerless to heal. Maybe John Nolte of Breitbart had the best of intentions, but his essay We Should Accept Jane Fondas Apology About Vietnam is an ethics mess. The Army builds a tolerance for violence, she shouted at the crowd. I feel sorry for NORTH: She didn't apologize, Alan. 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. She is the daughter of legendary actor and WWII Naval Officer Henry Fonda. Did our government lie to us during Vietnam? I mean, it depends on what you want to know. Mr. Nolan wrote something that helped me better understand the fury of this sort of reaction. In replying, I discovered that the Good Book notwithstanding, a soft answer turneth away wrath no more than zo percent of the time. His alliance with the Reds made sense, since both upheld elite control of the world. This story hearkens to a real visit to North Vietnam by Jane Fonda in July of 1972, but the stories about betraying POWs is not true. The Fonda trip became unforgettable because it infuriated Americans, especially Americans in uniform, many of whom still regard her as a traitor. She now works at Reuters. 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. I wanted to tell them what I was seeing as an American on the ground there. Quite the contrary. And, you know, I think they thought, Oh, shes this white privilege rich, famous daughter of all of that stuff. CHRIS WALLACE: Your most famous protest was 50 years ago when you went to North Vietnam at the height of the war there. The U.S. government secretly abets communism around the globe, then sends in the American military to "contain the communist menace". Rudi Bakhtiar jumped from CNN to Fox News in 2006. In July of 1972, she made two trips to How Jane Fondas 1972 trip to North Vietnam earned her the The story surfaced on the Internet in 1999, and my guess is that it will live there a long time. Jane, now 84, is HANNITY: That's quite often in my case, by the way. Her book just may not make the bestseller NORTH: And mine too, brother, even after 37 years. "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. The other stories allege a far more direct participation in war crimes on the part of Fonda. Since the dawn of the Internet and a spate of anti-Fonda websites, there have been many fabrications and exaggerations regarding her actions, but her photo ops and press conferences to "give aid and comfort to the enemy" are not and never were in question. Switch to the dark mode that's kinder on your eyes at night time. And I don't NORTH: Well, that's not going to happen. Her name was Jane Fonda. Jane Fonda Kelly responded with a cannon by bringing up the time Fonda posed on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun. You will not be surprised to hear that I have bowdlerised the above considerably, removing racial designators and course expressions of various sorts. Putnams Sons. Unforgiven | AMERICAN HERITAGE War materiel, shipped via the Fonda traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam, to protest the Vietnam War, but she did not do most of the things the post claims. Hanoi Jane: Photos of Jane Fonda's Trip to North Vietnam in 1972 Kiran Chetry was a Fox News host from 2001 to 2007. They landed two months later on 7 May with the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines. It is nothing more and nothing less than the full culmination of Greco-Roman Humanism as it has defined itself throughout the thousands of years. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 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. I think that this is rather odd. And I refused to have them scare me away from being actively against the Vietnam War. It's not just handing out, you know, blankets. Market data provided by Factset. 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. I mean, you know, of all manner of slings and arrows were thrown my way. During the visit she posed for several pictures. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. I think so, and I would hope that all Americans will at least speak their minds at the movie box office and refuse to further enrich one of the greatest American traitors. They realized that the war was wrong, that we werent wanted there. Some lawmakers calledher actions treason. Heres what she said in 2011: In my anger at the torture story that was being allowed to spread, at how the entire situation was being manipulated, I made a mistake I deeply regret. Hows this for a story? [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. However, you may note that the Left still presumes to lecture the rest of us often concerning foreign policy on a regular basis. NORTH: In fact refused to apologize for the POW meeting, which was tantamount to, basically torture. HANNITY: Is Jane Fonda really sorry or just trying to sell her brand new book? 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." 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. Was Jane Fonda's sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun that was used to shoot at and kill Americans, and launching an anti-American PR campaign with the North Vietnamese giving aid and comfort? Fonda shakes the last hand, then turns to the officer and gives him the fistful of messages. Ramsey Clark went to Hanoi during the war. "Happening Now" anchor Jenna Lee announced that she was leaving the Fox Newsafter working there for 10 years. Thats all the ground troops were Free subscription>>, Please consider a donation to help us keep this American treasure alive. Kelly attacked Fondas Vietnam War history to defend questions about plastic surgery. Ramsey Clark went to Hanoi during the war. Jane Fonda is a star of stage and screen whose career began in 1960. A new HBO documentary on Fondas life, Jane Fonda in Five Acts, explores the fallout for the actress, who is now 80. MacArthur soon realized he was expected to win battles but lose the war. The Veterans of Foreign Wars passed a resolution calling for her to be prosecuted as a traitor. Megyn Kelly Fact-Check: The Truth About Jane Fonda and Vietnam ET! Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949. But His replacement, General Ridgway, said after the war: "The reason we didn't win is because I was under orders not to win". Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. The POWs are beaten. But also admits to consulting with psychics. The chance to remake oneself is a universally acknowledged strength of this Republic, and the Republic itself has done it often enough. "Flashpoint Vietnam," the real story about the road to the war. They knew we were coming. A young photographer took this harrowing image of the Vietnam War. Even she had to apologize years later for that gun picture, but not for the rest of it. Aristide was an ENEMY of Communism, hence his downfall. Andrea Tantaros, former co-host of "The Five," filed a lawsuit saying that Fox News operated like a "sex-fueled, Playboy-Mansion-like cult.". MacArthur publicly insisted upon victory, infuriating the international banks. If I was used, I allowed it to happen. And the more they tried, the more I. JANE FONDA: I know what Im doing. JANE FONDA: I know what Im doing. The POWs are beaten. Many Americans disapproved of Fondas comments Perhaps most dramatically, in March 1973, the Maryland state legislature held a hearing to have Fonda and her films barred from the state. 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. I hardly even think about where I am sitting. Communism is an atheistic system, and even advocating it is a serious offense in my eyes (with or without war crimes participation). Jane Fonda tested the limits of patriotic dissent. 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. If it wasn't I must be missing something. Also Read: Megyn Kelly Trashed by Rosie O'Donnell as 'Spineless Wanna Be Barbie' for Jane Fonda Spat. So setting aside the issue of whether plastic surgery has anything to do with Vietnam, is Kelly right about Fondas record? I spent many years its when I made coming home talking to American soldiers, who had been in Vietnam and the things they told me were heartbreaking. She so symbolized the divided nation, hawks arrayed against her and doves siding with her, that she became a personal target, most recently with allegations about personal involvement in the mistreatment of POWs. It wasnt firing at the time, and Fonda said in 2011 she hardly even thought about where I was sitting and that it is possible that it was a set up, that the Vietnamese Screw you. Fonda consorted with the enemy and made propaganda broadcasts on their behalf. But newly discovered tapes tell a very, very different story. The answer, of course, is that they won't. If even one of them were true, it would change the entire focus of my article. 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. "Claim: POWs were beaten for refusing to cooperate or meet with Fonda during her visit. He didnt live to see it published. Finally the brainwashed, confused, exhausted American public forced our government to surrender. Megyn Kelly ended her 12-year run with Fox News in early 2017 in exchange for a weekday show at NBC. What Did Jane Fonda Really Do Over in Hanoi? - History News 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. Jane Fonda and the Vietnam War. Watch "Hannity & Colmes" weeknights at 9 p.m. During her two-week stay, Fonda concluded that America was unjustly bombing farmland and areas far flung from military targets. [1] Cited on November 24, 2004. The financial elite then move into the vacuum, establish central banks, and issue debt-credit to the devastated populations. Support with a donation>>. Fonda moves down the line, greeting each man with encouragements like Arent you ashamed you killed babies? as she shakes his hand. wars the intention of which is not to win but to bleed) is quite plausible. These men were bombing and strafing and napalming the country, she said, according to an Associated Press report in April 1973, which quoted an interview she gave to KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. Due to actions and images some people consider unpatriotic or treasonous, she earned She claimed she was sexually harassed by correspondent Brian Wilson and later spoke out against Fox News' culture after the Ailes scandal broke. The cameras flash. The great General Douglas MacArthur drove the North Koreans, led by Red Chinese JANE FONDA: Well, I didnt like it. 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. This, probably more than anything, earned her the nickname Hanoi Jane.. 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 Politicians make mistakes that affect the body politic and statesmen sometimes direct a foreign policy that disregards individuals in the national interest. Again the secret policy of the financiers was: "containment of communism" while disallowing an American victory. Also Read: 'Jane Fonda in Five Acts' Film Review: Doc Explores the Many Lives of the Actress-Activist, She posed on an antiaircraft gun used to shoot down our American pilots. True, by Fondas admission. You have "War Stories" coming up. quote: Us veterans will never forget or forgive her posing on a North Viet anti-aircraft gun, regardless whatever else she may or may not have done. 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. Fonda told the audience that their protests saddened her. CHRIS WALLACE: Who the people in the Nixon administration? Due to the pressure of so-called "rationalists", Article VI, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution forbids Congress from excluding Communists, Anti-Semites, or Globalists from its membership, allowing the control that you decry. mode: 'thumbnails-b', Its going to look like I was trying to shoot down U.S. planes! officer gets an idea. Del. February 25, 2023 / Jack Marshall. I'm not going to tell you anything of the sort. but not for the rest of it. False. To license content, please contact licenses [at] americanheritage.com. A photograph caught her looking through the scope of an anti-aircraft gun, surrounded by revolutionaries. But the reality of it is, Alan, this is a woman,who I quite frankly feel sorry for. Its more than being a traitor; millions of Americans felt treasonous during that war. Do any right-wingers ever decry the fact that Bush and the conservatives overthrew Aristide because he was a socialists----then invited the Chinese Communists in to our hemisphere? If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. You know, we can we can scare her, and boy did they try? 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 one story that was true never touched the question of whether or not she directly participated in war crimes. That's an apology. I mean Alan, this woman was totally caught up in the age of the '60s, the rhetoric of the '60s, and quite frankly I feel sorry for her, because she's not out of it. Truman warned Chiang to integrate communists into China's nationalist government or American aid would be withdrawn. Hows this for a story? GRUMMETT: Don't worry about it, you know? The Nixon Justice Department poured over the transcripts of my broadcasts trying to find a way to put me on trial for treason but they could find none. Youre gonna come through it, okay. In no sense am I a Fonda apologist. 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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.". I mean, you know, of all manner of slings and arrows were thrown my way. Laurie Dhue was a familiar presence on Fox in the early 2000s but left the network in 2008. 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. 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. Heres Kellys take on what she called Fondas poor me routine. After Fonda returned from hertrip, the State Department spoke out against her. How Jane Fondas 1972 trip to North Vietnam earned her the nickname Hanoi Jane, The 27 best things to do in D.C. this weekend and next week, Tom Wilson gives Capitals a boost on an otherwise painful night in Anaheim, Corey Dickerson aims to lead and have a bounce-back year with Nats. 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. She still does not know what she did wrong. MacArthur asked Truman to permit Chiang Kai-Shek's troops to fight with Americans against the Red Chinese. 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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. Oh, my God. So did Joan Baez and William Sloane Coffin, Noam Chomsky and Pete Seeger, Rennie Davis and Judy Collins. Im not you know, they all went to jail. Did Jane Fonda Really Apologize for Vietnam? Oliver North Weighs In Ive never really wanted to settle.. After all, she is an American; surely shell carry the message home to the families that their husband or son is alive. A Vietnam War photographer captured the bloody Tet offensive. Jane didnt make her infamous and idiotic trip to Hanoi until 1972. I make it a habit not to intervene as an intern. What most Viet-Nam veterans think about Jane Fonda is expressed in a number of products sold by D & G Enterprises, Jane Fonda Here's what she's got. 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." [2] Peter Collier, The Fondas; A Hollywood Dynasty. 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. Legal Statement. No, after the Left's "victory" in the United State's withdrawal from Southeast Asia, the matter of consequences was conveniently dropped from the discussion. 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. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation. And you were photographed sitting on an anti aircraft gun. After all, she is an American; surely shell carry the message home to the families that their husband or son is alive. Transcription Copyright 2005 eMediaMillWorks, Inc. (f/k/a Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.), which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. Fifty years later, he bears witness again. Of course, she was a Vietnamese. In 2015, about 50 veterans stood outside theWeinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick, Md., to protest Fondas appearance there. One presumably claimed to have been struck by her, while another claimed to have had his confidence betrayed to his Communist captors. In 1972, Fonda toured North Vietnam, where she spoke against U.S. military policy in the country. But Jane Fonda: Cancel my subscription! Donald SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Jane Fonda says she is sorry for some of her actions during the Vietnam War. In 2005, she apologized again on 60 As the war raged, the one-time blonde bombshell cut her naturally brown hair short, trading sex appeal for liberal activism and rebranding herself as a political crusader against the war. Listen closely. All Rights Reserved, Copyright MAGA Conservatives. She called our president, according to this report, "a new type of Hitler," pilots "war criminals.". And definitely not fonda Fonda. Yeah, said my stepdaughter, Jill, when I told her about this. 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. 1990) Pages 121-123. Copyright 1949-2022 American Heritage Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved. Number two: You've got the POW meeting, where she sits down and holds a press conference for propaganda purposes with these prisoners of war. 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. Its folklore, but folklore of a curiously evolved sort. I am assured it will be taken care of. 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.