In a conservative forum, I cannot concede that John Wayne's acting career in any way qualifies him to instruct the world about politics. If that were so I would have to accept that Robert DeNiro should be able to instruct me about his politics, after all, DeNiro is a technically more proficient actor than John Wayne.
John Wayne's greatest moment as a political figure rather than as an actor occurred when he had the good grace to laugh at himself by arriving at Harvard mounted on a military half track. There are actors in Hollywood, such as Jimmy Stewart, who were actual heroes in war and who therefore deserve to be honored for their actual service. There are actors such as Gary Sinise who is currently being honored for his service to veterans in a non-acting capacity who deserve our respect as conservatives.
But we must be careful about confusing the roles an actor plays when he dresses up and pretends before the cameras with real life conservative values. If we attach conservatism to the career of an actor and identify conservatism with that person because he is an actor, we fall when he falls.
Do we really want to admit that Barbra Streisand is a legitimate source of political values? Jane Fonda?
Let us admire real life heroes.
PS I am not sure that John Wayne was a great horseman if you watch his form you'll see that his feet were planted on the dashboard. That might be why Ben Johnson, who was a real cowboy and a real horseman, did the real difficult riding in those Westerns.
As a producer in The Alamo and, I believe, in The Green Berets he flubbed despite noble patriotic intentions which miscarried when the world, especially the critics of Hollywood, was turning upside down against conservatism.
