Jane Fonda's "Apology"

(Red texts are links.)

Here is an article that does a good job of telling the story of the individual we Vietnam veterans prefer to call Hanoi Jane.

Jane Fonda campaigned against the war. She told college students that if we knew what communism is we would pray that we would become communist.

She went to N. Vietnam, posed wearing a helmet in the seat of an anti-aircraft gun and made a radio broadcast in North Vietnam supporting the communists.

Here's another site with a picture of Jane Fonda posing with N. Vietnamese soldiers on her propagana tour of North Vietnam. She did this while US troops were dying in S. Vietnam trying to secure freedom for the South Vietnamese. Don't let the liars fool you. The war in Vietnam was not a civil war. It was only one of several fronts in the war of global communist expansion.

Here is a Google Seach on Jane Fonda for those who are interested.

Then one day she aplogized:

"I will go to my grave regretting the photograph of me in an antiaircraft carrier [sic], which looks like I was trying to shoot at American planes. That had nothing to do with the context that photograph was taken in. But it hurt so many soldiers. It galvanized such hostility. It was the most horrible thing I could possibly have done. It was just thoughtless. I wasn't thinking. I was just so bowled over by the whole experience that I didn't realize what it would look like."

She wasn't thinking. She was bowled over. She didn't realize what it would look like.

Is this acceptable? Why?


[edit on 04/9/7 by GradyPhilpott]

So what if she did? Its her decision.

Just because she's an actress doesnt mean she's not allowed to be a deviant.

Originally posted by Nerdling
So what if she did? Its her decision.

Just because she's an actress doesnt mean she's not allowed to be a deviant.

Since apology is the flavor of the day, could she apologize for being an "actress"?

Personally I think the whole Ted Turner thing was some demented form of mutual penance... Hollywood style.

It sounds reasonably sincere to me... why shouldn't it be acceptable?

She took a political stand from what I can see, which shouldn't concern the soldiers on the battlefield.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Then one day she aplogized:

"I will go to my grave regretting the photograph of me in an antiaircraft carrier [sic], which looks like I was trying to shoot at American planes. That had nothing to do with the context that photograph was taken in. But it hurt so many soldiers. It galvanized such hostility. It was the most horrible thing I could possibly have done. It was just thoughtless. I wasn't thinking. I was just so bowled over by the whole experience that I didn't realize what it would look like."

She wasn't thinking. She was bowled over. She didn't realize what it would look like.

Is this acceptable? Why?

While what she did was clearly wrong, she did finally apologize. People change.
Who are we to pass judgment on anyone...we cannot know what is in her heart and should take her at her word.

Although I was never the radical she was, my views in my youth were clearly far left of what they are today. I hardly know the person I was. I think I rebelled against parents and all authority as part of growing up.

If I could change, so might she have changed.

[edit on 7-9-2004 by DontTreadOnMe]

Why should she have appologised for an opinion she held years ago and had the freedom to express?

That was her right, just as it is your right to have your opinions and post them here. Do you think of every possible repurcussion of your actions 30 years from now?

She only "hurt" those who let themselves be hurt because they cared about what she said and did.

Grady I have a question for you:
I'm curious as to what you think should've been the end result of the Vietnam War (without any protestor's interference).
In your mind how should things have went? I'm trying to see your point here.

[edit on 7-9-2004 by elaine]

she is called hanoi jane for a reason. the viciousness she used when speaking against the soldiers that fought in vietnam, NOT JUST THE WAR ITSELF, BUT THE SOLDIERS THAT FOUGHT IT, cut deeply into the people that served. they're off, fighting for their lives and a cause they believe in, and here comes jane fonda ridiculing them for fighting and actually saying she hopes they lose. this is why what she said concerned those on the battlefield. as for her apology, i'd take it with a grain of salt, however, to me it does sound sincere.

She came to her senses! Good for you Jane and you're forgiven

Originally posted by Gools
Why should she have appologised for an opinion she held years ago and had the freedom to express?

Your so gracious, Gools. Are you aware of the extent of her statement of her 'opinion?" Are you aware of the impact her statements had on POWs?

The Fonda-Hayden trip became unforgettable because it infuriated Americans, especially Americans in uniform, many of whom still regard her as a traitor. She praised the North Vietnamese, posed for a photo at a Communist anti-aircraft gun emplacement, made several radio broadcasts for the Communist North Vietnamese in which she called American military leaders "war criminals," then when some of the POWs returned home and described mistreatment by the North Vietnamese, she said Americans should "...not hail the POWs as heroes, because they are hypocrites and liars." There is no dispute that her visit took place, that her words and actions were in support of the enemy, and that her conduct caused harm to the war effort and to some of the prisoners of war.
www.truthorfiction.com...

More info.

Consider this point of view.

Originally posted by elaine
Grady I have a question for you:
I'm curious as to what you think should've been the end result of the Vietnam War (without any protestor's interference).
In your mind how should things have went? I'm trying to see your point here.

Well. There might have been a complete victory and Vietnam could have been reunited under one democratic government. There might have been a ceasefire or a treaty to maintain the boundaries of the North and South with a situation that is similar to the one in Korea.

Clearly the second is less desireable, but the assertion by some that the war was unwinnable is patently false.

My point of view is this. During our war with the communists in Vietnam, American citizens supported the cause of the enemy and these acts should not be forgotten and none should be the Commander-in-Chief. And also that the blood of 58,000 US servicemen is on the hands of all those who supported the communists during that time.

Another point might be that Jane Fonda did not apologize for her acts. She expressed regret for posing for a picture. No one should ever forget that.


[edit on 04/9/7 by GradyPhilpott]

So you are upset at her becaue she didn't use the specific word "apologize."

Well, here is a definition of an apology: " Acknowledge, with regret, an offense"

I think she did apologize. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to spend waking nights burning with a hate for Jane Fonda. In fact, I'd probably be burning with something else. Then again, I'm not a Vietnam Veteran, but I have a hard to believing that all vietnam vets were for the cause, in fact, I think a significant percentage were against the war.

It's only the famous people we decide we want to pick out. And I wonder how many people these days feel glee about the death of American soldiers. I bet you won't find one in the list of so-called "traitors" from the Vietnam War. I would wager a bet on whether you'd find some of them in our government.

BTW, I'm not justifying what she did, she should of never gone to North Vietnam like that.

[edit on 7-9-2004 by Jamuhn]

Thanks for your answer Grady. I will mull this over, although I've seen several sources on the net claiming that the war was a futile and costly one. It also makes me cringe to think of all the lives that were lost. I saw one George Wildman Ball, the undersecretary for Johnson and Kennedy also opposed the war.
I do see your point as being that of a dedicated, conservative, ex-military man. You're talking military strategy. My father, a WW2 vet might've felt the same as you. He was a U.S. Army sargeant stationed in Germany. I just can't feel good about the deaths of so many killed during Vietnam. It must've been horrible for all the young people whose average draft age was 19 then to have so many family members and friends killed. Never knowing if you would be the next one drafted. And realizing that the rich and privileged could get out of a draft. Most of the draftees were poor or black. So you see I can see the side of the protestor's too.
As for Jane it seemed like just a foolish thing she did for attention or something. She's probably very embarassed about it now.
As far as the war in Iraq goes, we do not need another extended war that costs lives and accomplishes nothing. That's what a lot of people are worried about.

She should have been convicted as a traitor to the united states long ago.

First, in keeping with the topic, I should say that I never understood what kind of idiocy would have prompted Jane Fonda to do what she did, at the time she did it. I believe it was naive and selfish of her to make the trip to Hanoi when our troops were suffering in the very same place.

That said, I cannot understand the point of view that every single American who opposed the Vietnam war was somehow a traitor, or supporting the enemy's cause. As I understand it, in the military, you follow your orders and fall in line behind your objective. However, in the civilian world, in a free country, you are free to express dissent with the government's actions at any time. The President of the US is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, not America the nation. He presides with the mandate of the people and those people are free to make up their minds about the justness or appropriateness of the government's actions. And the military, of course, falls under that same civilian leadership.

-koji K.

[edit on 7-9-2004 by koji_K]

Originally posted by elaine
Most of the draftees were poor or black.

This is a fallacy and it is indicative of the class warfare ideology that fueled the "anti-war" movement.

Vietnam War Myths

As for Jane it seemed like just a foolish thing she did for attention or something. She's probably very embarassed about it now.

Fonda's only motivation for the "apology" is the fact that veteran's opposition cost her money.

In 1988, sixteen years after denouncing American soldiers as war criminals and tortured POWs as possessed of overactive imaginations, Fonda met with Vietnam veterans to apologize for her actions. It's interesting to note that this nationally-televised apology (during which she attempted to minimize her actions by characterizing them as "thoughtless and careless") came at a time when New England vets were successfully disrupting a film project she was working on. It's also interesting that not only was this apology delivered sixteen years after the fact, but it has not been offered again since. More than a few have read a huge dollop of self-interest into Fonda's 1988 apology. (Finally, in an interview in 2000, almost thirty years after the fact, Fonda admitted: "I will go to my grave regretting the photograph of me in an anti-aircraft carrier, 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.") www.26thmarines.org...

She aided and abetted the enemy! Her behavior was treacherous! She's nothing but a traitor! She endangered every American fighting man over there! Hell, I've been knowing this most of my life! She was making $millions$ from "pinko" liberals! Her apology is an attempt to make $millions$ off of wafflely moderates! My vote goes for: hang the commie beeeyaahtch!mad::mad

To hell with her apology. If Osama bin Laden were to come out of hiding, and announce that he has thought about what he'd done and regrets it now, and wants to apologize to America. How many f'd up liberals would go running to him with open arm of forgiveness?

Forgive? Never.

Forget? That's a never too.

[edit on 7/9/04 by Intelearthling]

Let the mob commence! Then we can drape communist flags over her remains and dance in the blood!

I'm guessing some of us haven't found Jesus LOL

Originally posted by Jamuhn
Then we can drape communist flags over her remains and dance in the blood!

This is too good for her. She should have to work at Burger Doodle for the rest of her life.

Yes Grady I can also see how Fonda doing that would've been devastateing to the morale of the troops. A movie star on top of that.
Especially if you were in Vietnam at the time.
I'm not takeing up for Jane Fonda. Personally I've never cared for her as an actress either.
I was just a tot you during the sixties, so it may be harder for me to picture the ambience of that time.