Jane Fonda

Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an Academy Award-winning American actress, model, writer, fitness guru, producer, and political activist.

Political activism

Fonda became involved in political activism during the time of the Vietnam War, Civil Rights Reforms and significant rebellion against the "Establishment." Her activism and philanthropy in opposition to the Vietnam War, as well as her strong support of the North Vietnamese military and their treatment of American POWs, has made her infamous to this day among many mainstream and pro-war Americans.

Related Topics:
Political activism - Vietnam War - Activism - Philanthropy - Opposition - Vietnam War

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Fonda and other celebrities were supporters of the Alcatraz Island occupation in 1969, which was intended to call attention to Native American issues.

Related Topics:
Alcatraz Island - 1969 - Native American

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She likewise supported Huey Newton and the Black Panthers in the early 1970s. She said "revolution is an act of love; we are the children of revolution, born to be rebels. It runs in our blood." She called the Black Panthers "our revolutionary vanguard. We must support them with love, money, propaganda and risk."

Related Topics:
Huey Newton - Black Panthers - 1970s

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Opposition to the Vietnam War

In April 1970, Fred Gardner, Fonda and Donald Sutherland formed *FTA* ("Free The Army," a play on the troop expression "Fuck The Army"), an antiwar road show designed as an answer to Bob Hope's USO tour. The tour, referred to as "political vaudeville" by Fonda, visited military towns along the West Coast, with the goal of establishing a dialog with soldiers to get their thoughts on their upcoming deployments (which were later made into a movie).

Related Topics:
Donald Sutherland - Bob Hope - USO

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Also in 1970, Fonda spoke out against the war at a rally organized by Vietnam Veterans Against the War, in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. She offered to help raise funds for VVAW, and was bestowed the title of Honorary National Coordinator for her efforts. Beginning November 3, she toured college campuses and raised funds for the organization. As noted by the New York Times, Fonda was a "major patron" of the VVAW.

Related Topics:
Vietnam Veterans Against the War - November 3

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In March 1971, Fonda traveled to Paris (some claim alone, some claim with an unnamed VVAW representative) to meet with NLF foreign minister Madam Nguyen Thi Binh. According to a transcript in which she was translated to Vietnamese and back to English, she told Binh at one point "Many of us have seen evidence proving the Nixon administration has escalated the war causing death and destruction perhaps as serious as the, bombing of Hiroshima." Afterwards, she travelled to London. A speech that she gave in London was criticized for her discussion of the US use of torture in Vietnam. Her financial support to VVAW at this time was apparently not significant, as within a month VVAW was broke and one of its prominent leaders, John Kerry, raised the needed funds.

Related Topics:
Nguyen Thi Binh - John Kerry

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Sixteen months later, Fonda went on her infamous trip to Hanoi.

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"Hanoi Jane"

In Vietnam, Fonda was photographed seated on an anti-aircraft battery used against American pilots, and participated in several radio broadcasts of the Communist regime, asking US pilots to turn around without dropping their bombs. In her 2005 autobiography she claimed that she had been manipulated into sitting on the battery. She said she was sitting on the weapon with its muzzle pointing skyward whilst laughing about an unrelated joke during the Public Relations event. She claims to have been immediately horrified at the implications of her actions. She apologized for the photo 16 years later, amidst continued hostility to her personally by many Americans. Her apology was directed to the soldiers who served their country in Vietnam, and carefully crafted to only include the photo incident and not the rest of her conduct in support of Communist Vietnam.

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She also visited American prisoners of war, who she claims assured her they had been neither tortured nor brainwashed. Fonda advanced these claims and relayed them to the American public. When cases of torture began to emerge among POWs returning to the United States, Fonda called the returning POWs liars. She also added, concerning the POWs she met, "These were not men who had been tortured. These were not men who had been starved. These were not men who had been brainwashed." She apparently was unable to understand that a meeting such as hers is by definition a staged event. Concerning torture in general, Fonda told the New York Times in 1973, "I'm quite sure that there were incidents of torture...but the pilots who were saying it was the policy of the Vietnamese and that it was systematic, I believe that's a lie." Her stance has some backing but former vice presidential candidate and highly decorated POW James Stockdale wrote that he was beaten and tortured for refusing to meet with Fonda.

Related Topics:
Prisoners of war - New York Times - James Stockdale

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Fonda's visit to Hanoi was not until July of 1972, and the Paris Peace Accords were signed less than six months later. She also is often credited with publicly exposing the strategy of bombing the dikes in Vietnam, for which she was at the time called a "liar" by then-UN ambassador George H. W. Bush.

Related Topics:
Paris Peace Accords - Bombing the dikes in Vietnam - George H. W. Bush

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Although in the U.S. the war protests were large and increasing and many Americans were against the war, her actions in July, 1972, were widely perceived as an unpatriotic display of aid and comfort to the enemy, some characterizing it as treason. At other times Jane Fonda had expressed a partisanship for the opposing side in the war.

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Rumors that Fonda handed over information from U.S. prisoners of war to National Liberation Front (NLF) insurgents (better known in the U.S. as the "Viet Cong") were never confirmed. Other stories confirming that the NLF actively recruited POWs for her events and punished prisioners who refused have ample confirmation. Michael Benge, a civilian advisor captured by the NLF in 1968 and held as a POW for 5 years, wrote "When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi, I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her. I said yes, for I would like to tell her about the real treatment we POWs were receiving, which was far different from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by Jane Fonda, as 'humane and lenient.' Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees with outstretched arms with a piece of steel re-bar placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane every time my arms dipped." http://www.snopes.com/military/fonda.htm http://www.pownetwork.org/fonda/fonda_benge_letter.htm

Related Topics:
National Liberation Front - Viet Cong

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Her detractors labeled her Hanoi Jane, comparing her to war propagandists Tokyo Rose and Hanoi Hannah. She has often been associated with contributing to a perceived anti-soldier sentiment among Vietnam War protesters, such as spitting on soldiers. Because of her actions, actor John Wayne cut off contact with her, even though he was a close friend of her father, and the Fonda children considered him an uncle.

Related Topics:
Tokyo Rose - Hanoi Hannah - Spitting on soldiers - John Wayne

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Fonda's regrets

In 1988, Fonda admitted some regret to former American POWs and their families, stating, "I would like to say something, not just to Vietnam veterans in New England, but to men who were in Vietnam, who I hurt, or whose pain I caused to deepen because of things that I said or did. I was trying to help end the killing and the war, but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I'm very sorry that I hurt them. And I want to apologize to them and their families." She stated: "I will go to my grave regretting the photograph of me in an anti-aircraft gun, which looks like I was trying to shoot at American planes. It hurt so many soldiers. It galvanized such hostility. It was the most horrible thing I could possibly have done. It was just thoughtless." On the Charlie Rose programme, Fonda made the distinction that her apology was limited to the photo appearance with the NVA AA-gun, and that she was "proud" of her activism against "the bombing of the dikes."

Related Topics:
1988 - Charlie Rose - Bombing of the dikes

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When Jane Fonda was honored by Barbara Walters in 1999 as one of the 100 great women of the century, sentiments regarding Fonda's actions in Vietnam were rekindled.

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In 2004, her name was used as a disparaging epithet against Kerry, the former VVAW leader, who was then the Democratic Party presidential candidate. Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie called Kerry a "Jane Fonda Democrat". In addition, Kerry's opponents circulated a photograph showing Fonda and Kerry in the same large crowd at a 1970 anti-war rally, although they were sitting several rows apart. http://www.snopes.com/photos/politics/kerry.asp Some also circulated a faked composite photograph to give the false impression that the two had shared a speaker's platform. http://www.snopes.com/photos/politics/kerry2.asp Fonda appeared on CNN to defend Kerry against these attacks.

Related Topics:
2004 - Democratic Party - Republican National Committee - Ed Gillespie - CNN

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Fonda funded and organized the Indochina Peace Campaign. It continued to mobilize antiwar activists across the nation after the 1973 Paris Peace Agreement when most other antiwar organizations closed down.

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In a 60 Minutes interview on March 31, 2005, Jane Fonda says she has no regrets about her trip to North Vietnam in 1972, with one exception: her visit to a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun site. She says the incident that brought her the nickname "Hanoi Jane," was a "betrayal" of American forces and of the "country that gave me privilege." Fonda was quoted as saying "The image of Jane Fonda, `Barbarella,' Henry Fonda's daughter ... sitting on an enemy aircraft gun was a betrayal ... the largest lapse of judgment that I can even imagine."

Related Topics:
60 Minutes - Barbarella - Henry Fonda

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Fonda made the distinction between regret over the use of her image as propaganda, and pride for her anti-war activism; visiting Hanoi and being photographed with American prisoners of war there. "There are hundreds of American delegations that had met with the POWs," says Fonda. "Both sides were using the POWs for propaganda....It's not something that I will apologize for." Nor is she sorry for the broadcasts she made on Radio Hanoi, something she asked the North Vietnamese to do. "Our government was lying to us and men were dying because of it, and I felt I had to do anything that I could to expose the lies and help end the war," she tells 60 Minutes.

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In April of 2005, a man named Michael A. Smith from Kansas City, Missouri took advantage of one of Jane Fonda's book signings by spitting tobacco juice in her face. Minutes later, Michael Smith was caught by police and charged with disorderly conduct. He went to court on May 27, 2005. He said the reason he spat in Fonda's face was because Fonda was a "traitor", and said his actions were "absolutely worth it". Smith disagreed with her active support of North Vietnam and what was percieved as a betrayal of American POWs during the Vietnam War. After being spat in the face, Fonda kept signing books without getting up.

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In May 2005, Kentucky resident Irving Bouthwell announced that his two movie theaters would not show Fonda's new film Monster-in-law. Bouthwell (who had in the past banned other Fonda films and Fahrenheit 9/11) hung photos outside the theater of Fonda clapping with a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft crew.

Related Topics:
May 2005 - Kentucky - Fahrenheit 9/11

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Slayings of women in Ciudad Juárez

Fonda led the march through Ciudad Juárez, urging Mexico to provide sufficient resources to newly appointed officials helping investigate the slayings of hundreds of women in the rough border city. (February 16, 2004)

Related Topics:
Ciudad Juárez - Mexico

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Campaign against genital mutilation

V-Day, a movement to stop violence against women, sparked by the off-Broadway hit The Vagina Monologues, held its first summit Friday, bringing together Fonda, Afghan women and a Kenyan campaigning to save girls from genital mutilation. (September 21, 2002)

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Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Fonda continues to participate in peace activism, in particular regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Fonda has been criticized by right-wing Israelis during a trip to Jerusalem in 2002 billed as a promotion of "world peace": the actress and activist was heckled as she arrived for a meeting with leading Israeli feminists. Three hecklers, members of Women in Green, criticized her controversial stance during the Vietnam War and said that she "came to Israel as a guest of Peace Now, Israeli traitors" http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1202/jane_jeru.html.

Related Topics:
Israeli-Palestinian conflict - Israelis - Jerusalem - Women in Green - Peace Now

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Opposition to the Iraq War

Fonda says that the military campaign in Iraq will turn people all over the world against America. She has also asserted that a global hatred of America will result in more terrorist attacks in the aftermath of the war. (April 11, 2003)

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In July 2005, Fonda said that war veterans she had met while on her book tour had urged her to speak out against the Iraq War. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050725/ap_en_mo/people_fonda

Related Topics:
July 2005 - Iraq War

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In September 2005, Fonda and George Galloway postponed their vegetable oil powered anti-war bus tour due to the perceived slow start to the relief operation now underway in the Gulf Coast devastated by Hurricane Katrina. http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_212534.shtml

Related Topics:
September 2005 - George Galloway

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Fonda will take the anti-war bus tour in March 2006 with her daughter and families of military veterans.

Related Topics:
Anti-war - 2006

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