Jane Fonda aka 'Hanoi Jane' aka 'Barbarella' - What Is FACT & What Is FICTION?

LOVE HER or HATE HER .... I can think of no one person during the Vietnam War who brought about more controversy or hatred than Jane "Hanoi Jane" Fonda. In looking over material on the internet, I came across a story written by David Emery of About.Com. Like so many urban legends that have been dissected over the years including, as mentioned in another thread, the Hippie Chick meeting returning Vietnam Vets at the airport and spitting on them..... I wanted to see what FACTS there were and what part of things that I heard after I left Vietnam was FICTION. This is a very interesting article.

READ IT.... then come back here and SHARE your opinions with the rest of the ATS community. Is Jane Fonda a HERO or a TRAITOR? You Decide HERE and NOW!

urbanlegends.about.com...

Just one opinion.

LISTEN To The ATS MIX SHOW With JANE FONDA'S INTERVIEW

Dave

[edit on 12/31/2007 by Dave Rabbit]

Well I know that the location of Jane's house in Atlanta when she was married to Ted Turner was marked on all of the ready room charts at NAS Cecil Field, Florida in the 80's. I also know that they replaced more than a few windows in that house.

Wow Jim.... interesting. Do you happen to know WHY the location was marked on the ready room charts? That sounds like a GREAT STORY.

Dave

I imagine old Jane there is suffering from own dose of PSTD. The Vietnam period was crazy. Perhaps even more intense than it is now. heck, we had a draft then, so just about anyone whose dad couldn't get them into the NG was fodder for the Nam. But Jane was a movie star and a fox and showing up in the north was, for some, unforgivable. Yet, considering the guys who got away with murder - and I'm not just talking about someone like, say, Lt. Calley, or Capt. Medina, but the President of the United States, much of Congress, the best and brightest, Nixon, and Kissinger...and, please, feel free to add or subtract to the list according to your own consciences - when all is said and done, why single Jane Fonda? Easy target, I guess. And probably because she looks even better in person. And that's enough to piss a lot of guys off, right there.

I know... Dave has gone too far..... he is nuts..... a degenerate..... filth... scum..... WAIT.... I'm a proud ATS member.... I am ALL OF THE ABOVE!

Okay... this is strictly a SIDEBAR off of the main topic..... but..... BEFORE Jane Fonda became an Anti-War Activist.... she was a SEX POT! I first saw her in a Science Fiction B movie called "Barbarella".

www.scifi.com...

She was scantily clothed..... and they had Dildo Guns of some sort.... and some kind of pleasure palace thing...... sorry....

Anyway..... she was HOT..... she was SEXY and she had a GREAT BOD!

And this is strictly a scientific study..... but...... WOULD YOU? Forget what you know now, forget about politics .... you are on Planet 16 of the Tau Seti system. Barbarella is sitting there all HORNED up...... you (and this is for the guys and maybe a few of the gals) are there with her........ so....... WOULD YOU?

I will START...... DUH!

Sorry about going off topic......

Dave

[edit on 6/8/2006 by Dave Rabbit]

All I can say is, there is a small VFW in a small town of America that has a fine bulls eye sticker stuck smack dab in the center of each of the urinals, I imagine to improve one's aim, funny, those GI's always trying to improve their aim, in any event, the aforementioned sticker is none other than our beloved Jane

Originally posted by Dave Rabbit
Wow Jim.... interesting. Do you happen to know WHY the location was marked on the ready room charts? That sounds like a GREAT STORY.

Dave

So that any time aircraft from those squadrons were in the area they could let Jane know how much they cared. To Ted's credit though there was never a complain filed. There couldn't have been anything made of glass in that house that was more than six months old.

smokenmirrors,
Those urinal stickers are standard equipment for VFW and American Legion Posts. We recently started a new Legion Post and it wasn't open 30 minutes before all of the urinals had those stickers. I think the National Comander brought them.

Originally posted by JIMC5499
smokenmirrors,
Those urinal stickers are standard equipment for VFW and American Legion Posts. We recently started a new Legion Post and it wasn't open 30 minutes before all of the urinals had those stickers. I think the National Comander brought them.

Thanks for that info Jim, I did not know. I turned 18 years old in 1977, and am NOT a vet. However, I do recall my fear of the draft before the war ended, as I was a teen nearing that magical age.....and I do recall my youth and the impact Huntley/Brinkley had on me

Here's the deal. Jane made a dumb decision. Apparently those who hate her so are not familiar with dumb decisions.

I will explain: a dumb decision is one made for whatever reason, most likely, inattention to circumstances and the long run picture, by anyone who is not perfect.

So, for those of you who can be counted among the perfect among us, hate away.

Otherwise, give the woman a break and take a minute and unwind your panties; you will enjoy the relief from the pressure and not be inclined to forget your own imperfections…which are, no doubt, many!

Since I missed Vietnam by like, minutes, I'm not sure I deserve an opinion. I look to those who were there to tell me the deal. Here's John McCain's view, and he sure has earned the right to have it (from a 2005 interview with Chris Matthews)-

McCain on Jane Fonda
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about—we’ve got Jane Fonda on tomorrow night. You over there for all those years in the Hanoi Hilton. What do you think I should ask her?

MCCAIN: I think you should ask her what she was thinking when she got into that anti-aircraft gun site and applauded and smiled and all that. And I think she’s going to tell you she was young and foolish and regrets it. And if anybody regrets something they’ve done—I’ve regretted some of the things I’ve done in my life—that’s fine with me.

MATTHEWS: What about visiting the POWs? She had a hand in that, too, right?

MCCAIN: Yes, she did. It’s...

MATTHEWS: She did a broadcast from that perspective, as if she was sort of like part of a—you know, sort of a care package coming over there.

MCCAIN: I didn’t like it. I thought it was wrong. But we had a former attorney general of the United States who was acting worse, Ramsey Clark. I expected more of him than a troubled actress.
[url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7505537/]>LINK

When I found ATS back in February 2006.... this ATS site really blew me away. Although there was only one thread by John Jeremiah (which is on the RFT Forum now), I was really wiped out by the sheer SIZE of this forum and the TOPICS.

THIS THREAD is a perfect example of WHY I love ATS....... intelligent people, different opinions..... stating a position or idea without SLAMMING THE CRAP out of the other person who takes an opposite stand.

CLASS! (Salute)

Just one opinion.

Dave

So that any time aircraft from those squadrons were in the area they could let Jane know how much they cared. To Ted's credit though there was never a complain filed. There couldn't have been anything made of glass in that house that was more than six months old.

Too Funny. So basically Sonic Boom Time? I had always heard that Ted was a pretty decent guy and took things pretty much in stride regarding his then wife's EARLY YEARS.

Great story. Thanks for sharing!

Dave

Back then you bet she was a hot moma. There were a good bunch of guys that had the poster of Barbarella. Would I? Back then - Oh Hell Yea!!!!

The lady made mistakes, just like a lot of people in those days. She's paid for it many times over. I think it's what some call karma. All in all she was young (like us all) idealistic (like us all), and thought she was doing right (some of did for awhile).
The sonic boom thing I had never heard about. About 25 years ago I was on a flight to Washington DC to see an old nam buddy and she was on the plane across from me. I was in Uniform and I remember thinking "it's hanoi Jane". She actually was polite to me and actually pleasant to be around. No arguments and she did say she was young and stupid in many ways and about many things.
But I think I still have that old poster in a footlocker in the attic.

I was born in 74. So I don't have living memory of Hanoi Jane.

However, my uncle is a Nam vet and so are some of his friends. I never been into the Bathrooms at the VFW halls, but I have also heard about "the stickers". Personally, I can't really blame the vets for wanting to do "target practice" on Jane. She may have been young and foolish, but that doesn't change that those were real live honest to god American soldiers locked up in those stinking hellhole prison camps.

But I am glad to see that we have some clarification on the other incidents attributed to Jane Fonda. They did not happen. That is good. Still, I think she was another sell out who jumped on the radical anti-war bandwagon at the time which was anything but "peace and love".

I must admit, Dave, being female, Fonda's charms are lost on me. And while you may be able to look past her annoying Hanoi Jane episodes, sex pot or not, when a guy has been locked up in what amounts to be a large toilet hole and gets a daily workout with bamboo shoots under the nails and the ratan cane, it can really kill any sex pot images of a hot woman when she is seen praising the enemy who torments you.

(Saw your "In Brief" blurb in the May/June 2006 "Veteran", glad you're around for your 35th!)
I have to look at this whole Jane Fonda thing as what is dis-information and how many POW's from the "Hanoi Hilton" were threatened with various consequences if they spoke about what they heard, saw, or experienced. As a veteran, Dave, you know what I speak of.......
The Fonda's were very wealthy and influential, might ol' Henry made a contribution to make this sorid mess go away?
Ms. Fonda did publically apologize, but did not deny allegations of causing the deaths of POW's when she gave the scraps of paper handed to her, by the POW's, to their captures. I would think that would have been at the top of her list as far as setting the record straight or the beginning paragragh of her apology.
The story I've heard is 8 POW's lost their lives while being beaten to death for passing notes......
My B.F. is a Nam Vet and this has caught his interest. His brother also served, part of the "Walking Dead". They're putting their resources together to see if they can find out what pilots were "killed", their names, etc., or if indeed this has been a long going line of BS.
All in all, Ms. Jane can kiss my keister

I found this interview interesting, for that matter, so did my BF, who has strong feelings about miss Fonda....
[url=http://allpowmia.com/inter22/in031702fonda.html]
Please excuse my first try at posting a link. I hope if I screwed up, the moderator will correct it!

All I can say is "What a small world........."
This thread has really gotten the interest of my BF. He made a few calls this morning. (Airforce, bomb loader...)
This is bizarre.......BF's brother(Marine, "Walking Dead"....) and wife were invited to wife's best friend's house for a BBQ several years ago. Best friend is married to a certain airman/POW, that will remain nameless.
Subject of "Hanoi Hilton/Jane Fonda" and the deaths of airmen were brought up to best friend by BF's wife.
When airman/POW returned home he told of the deaths of airmen and endless severe beatings that he recieved from his captors after said visit by miss Jane.
Best friend told BF's wife that it really happened, but airman/POW will deny it for the simple reason that it made his life hell.
We are trying to track down individuals that were at the Hanoi Hilton in 1972 and come up with the names of the airmen that were killed connected with Jane's visit.
I consider the source reliable. Now it's just a matter of uncovering information backing up this original story, besides the airman/POW who most of you have probably put a name to.
Jane committed treason, was responsible for the deaths of POW's, and, but for her father's last name, she would have been trailer trash. I don't have to hate her, karma's got her number, but good.

Hi everyone.....

Sorry... have been out of town...... NOW..... as I said BEFORE..... my OPINION of Jane as a Veteran...... and that of a YOUNG MAN...... are TWO distinct personalities. Although I never stated a position when I started this thread.... here goes.......

I don't know about each of you.... but "I" did many things in my youth that I regretted. When the Hanoi Jane first came about, there is no question... I couldn't stand the "Bench". When I saw our POW's..... I was even more inflamed as, like I have stated over and over..... did my show for THE TROOPS! Flash forward to present.... now I'm 57. The anger I had towards Jane has long since diminished. We have politicians who have screwed over the VETS for years...... and THEIR ACTS have affected MILLIONS...... not just those in the Hanoi Hilton. Don't misunderstand..... those that were POW deserve our gratitude, respect and honor. But I have a hell of a lot more anger towards the congressional leadership that has failed time and time again to provide DECENT and HONORABLE health care for those that served. (Dave steps down off of his soap box).

Now.... to my female fans (or enemies)..... as I said originally..... IF (and you were male) you ever saw Barbarella........ "Would You?". Those of you that know me, my history and my character... KNOW that SATIRE is my tool of trade. The comment was meant for discussion...... to make a subject that is fairly heavy into something that is light hearted as well.

Anyway... no offense intended to anyone..... but satire is my nature.... and always will be until the day I die. If I have one calling.... that is to make fun of any idiot who BETRAYS the trust of the American People, our Allies and most especially OUR TROOPS.

I hope this CLARIFIES my position on Jane...... wait.... let me rephrase that !

Peace!

Dave

[edit on 6/19/2006 by Dave Rabbit]

So maybe the forum should be changed to,
"9 out of 10 men prefer Camels over Hanoi Jane- Fact or Fiction?"
But then you'd have to deal with the post "Barbarella" Jane (ie. "Old Gringo" Jane putting her 2 newly modified breasts, er, best assets forward) and the pre-"Barbarella" Jane, au natural, floating in an anti-gravity chamber for about 3 minutes......
God, I'm sure glad I'm not a man on this one!

(Definately not a female enemy, if I came off like one, apologies to everyone.)

Zubaz.....

Damn you are SHARP! Where were you when Nguyen was out of female contribution ideas for the show in Saigon?

Seriously..... I LOVE having you as a contributor!

Thanks....

Dave