Jane Fonda was probably the most famous (or infamous, if you will) Vietnam War protester. In 1970, she and Donald Sutherland and others toured West Coast military bases with a show entitled “Free the Army” (which was take-off on the slogan “Fuck the Army!”). It was peaceniks’ answer to Bob Hope’s USO tours. She supported the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and went to college campuses as part of anti-war demonstrations. In July, 1972, she made a two-week trip to North Vietnam and allowed herself to be used for propaganda. Not that she was duped (except possibly once). She sincerely thought the war was a big mistake and she definitely sided with North Vietnam. Her argument for being used by the enemy was that it was to counter lies and propaganda from the American government. Fight fire with fire. On the trip, she toured villages, hospitals, schools, and factories. The visit to the countryside was to highlight the claim that American bombers had targeted dikes to disrupt crop production. She made a series of anti-war, pro-North Vietnamese broadcasts from Radio Hanoi. From this she earned the pejorative “Hanoi Jane” from pro-war or pro-military groups. She allowed herself to be photographed smiling sitting at an anti-aircraft gun. It became the most famous image of her from the war. Recently, a meeting with several POWs had gotten a lot of attention on the Internet and social media. According to the story, the POWs were forced to meet her. They were cleaned up to look well-treated. Fonda proceeded to harangue them with questions like why did you kill babies and aren’t you grateful for your humane treatment? One of the men spit on Fonda and was subsequently beaten so badly he suffered from permanent double-vision. When she shook hands with each of the Americans, they slipped her pieces of paper with their social security numbers on them. She then proceeded to give the papers to the North Vietnamese. That b****! The POWs were subjected to torture and some of them died from it. This was proof that Fonda was a traitor. Some of the POWs were quoted supporting the story.
How much of the POW encounter is true? Little, actually. Fonda did meet seven POWs in a propaganda stunt. However, the Americans volunteered to talk to her. The conversations were social, things like asking about their families. None spit on her and were then beaten. None were tortured after trying to slip info to her. If you think about it, the story breaks down when you realize the identities of the men were not a secret, so there would have been no reason to pass on their social security numbers. Fonda brought back 241 letters from prisoners. The prisoners who subsequently spoke about the incident denied that there was any exchange of slips of paper. The spitter denied that he even met Fonda. Most of the seven had no love for Fonda’s activities, but debunked the story. After all, Fonda had done enough anti-American actions to seal her fate with patriotic Americans. The internet story was just piling on.
Fonda was dogged by the story for many years. She did apologize for some of the things that happened on the trip. She claimed she had been tricked into taking the picture and tried to make sure it was not published. She asserted she was not in favor of shooting down Americans, although she did not take back her assertion that the air war was a war crime. As far as the dike charge, she did not change her opinion. But if you think about it, bombs dropped on Vietnam did not always hit the target and almost surely any damage to dikes was incidental. She admitted she was “thoughtless and careless” in some of the things she said and did. She was 35 at the time of the trip. Not exactly a naïve college kid, but a spoiled rich kid from an acting family. You know how some of them can be. That’s no excuse, but she has been unfairly accused of an egregious act that was totally made up to create internet umbrage. When you read a story on social media that validates your feelings and raises your blood pressure, double check it. It might be a lie. And don’t share provocative e-mails unless you verify them.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jane-fonda-pows/
https://time.com/5116479/jane-fonda-hanoi-jane-nickname/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Fonda
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