Posted on 04/10/2005 1:59:36 PM PDT by rightalien
After 15 years being out of the public eye, Jane Fonda has burst into the spotlight to explain all the events in her tumultuous life – and it turns out that it was all her father's fault.
Just about everything she did, from her three failed and sometimes bizarre marriages to her disgraceful if not treasonous behavior during the Vietnam war was the result of her need to win approval and love denied her by her cold and aloof dad, Henry Fonda. Story Continues Below
In her new tell-all book, "My Life So Far," she really does tell all, and we could really do without knowing a lot of it. The seamier parts however – and they are very seamy – serve the purpose of attracting media attention, and media attention does tend to sell books. When a famous Hollywood personality goes into intimate detail about the perverted love-making sessions with one husband or the cheating by another, the media snaps to attention and the book quickly hits the best-seller lists as readers go straight to the juicier parts. Despite her openness about her sex life and her revelations about her famous father, Fonda is less frank about her most notorious activities – her real-life role in giving lots of aid and comfort to an enemy that was in the process of killing 58,000 American servicemen and torturing American POWs.
She apologizes for allowing herself to be photographed smiling behind a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun used to shoot down U.S. aircraft, but the apology rings hollow when she remains defiantly unapologetic about her anti-war activities that helped North Vietnam win the war in the media while losing it on the battlefield.
Fonda, who earned the name "Hanoi Jane" after posing for photographs in which she appeared standing next to that anti-aircraft gun that had been used to shoot down American planes, admitted that it was a "betrayal" of the U.S. armed forces, and acknowledged that it was the "largest lapse of judgment that I can even imagine."
"I realize that it's not just a U.S. citizen laughing and clapping on a Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun: I am Henry Fonda's privileged daughter who appears to be thumbing my nose at the country that has provided these privileges," she wrote.
That photo, she wrote, negated the prior two years in which she had worked extensively with Vietnam veterans, she said.
"Now, by mistake, I appear in a photograph to be their enemy. I carry this heavy in my heart. I always will," she wrote.
But she insists she has no regrets about the anti-American broadcasts she made on Radio Hanoi, nor the visits she made to American prisoners-of-war, claiming: "there are hundreds of American delegations that had met with the POWs. Both sides were using the POWs for propaganda ... It's not something that I will apologize for."
According to Snopes.com, Fonda's Hanoi radio broadcasts and propaganda films were especially painful and damaging to American servicemen held as prisoners of war by the Hanoi Reds. Communist interrogators used the Fonda recordings, along with starvation and torture, in attempting to brainwash American POWs into becoming turncoats.
Upon returning to the United States, Fonda told the world press that U.S. prisoners of war were being well-treated and not tortured. Her outrageous claims were later exposed when American POWs were finally freed and told of years of agonizing tortures and inhumane treatment. Fonda responded, not with an apology, but with an accusation calling our returned POWs "liars and hypocrites."
David Hoffman, a former POW who was shot down over North Vietnam in 1971, said that he had been tortured because of Fonda's visit to Hanoi. "The torture resulted in a permanent injury that plagues me to this day," says Hoffman, who suffers a disfigured arm inflicted by brutal communist guards at the POW camp known as the "Zoo."
"When Jane Fonda turned up, she asked that some of us come out and talk with her," he recalled bitterly. "No one wanted to. The guards got very upset, because they sensed the propaganda value of a famous American war protestor proving how well they were treating us.
"A couple of guards came to my cell and ordered me out. I resisted, and they got violently angry. My arm had been broken when I was shot down, and the Vietnamese broke it a second time. It had not healed well, and they knew it caused me great pain. "They twisted it. Excruciating pain ripped through my body.
"Still I resisted and they got more violent, hitting me and shouting, 'You must go!' I knew there was a limit to which I could push them before they might actually kill me.
"I was dragged out to see Fonda. I decided to play the role. I knew if I didn't, not only would I suffer - but the other guys would be tortured or beaten or worse."
When he saw the actress and heard her antiwar rhetoric, "I was almost sick to my stomach. She called us criminals and murderers.
"When I had to talk to the camera, I used every phony cliche I could. My arm hung limply at my side, and every move caused me pain, which showed in my face.
"When it was over, Fonda unbelievably did not see through the ruse - or she didn't want to. I was taken away politely - then shoved back into my cell.
"I detested Jane Fonda then and I detest her now - but I would fight to the death to protect her right to say what she thinks.
"What she did was a slap in the face to every American. It was wrong, ill-advised and stupid. But it was her right. Unfortunately, it was not my right to refuse to be seen with her.
"There is no way I will ever forget what she did to me. I have the reminder here - in an arm that can never be normal again.
On her return from Vietnam, Jane Fonda posed for the media, proudly sporting a necklace given to her by the North Vietnamese. It was made from the melted parts of a U.S. aircraft shot down by Hanoi.
But it all comes back to Daddy Dearest and the desire she felt to please the men in her life as she feels she was never able to please her father. Writing in Slate, Bryan Curtis explained that "her ever-mutating public image was stage-managed by the men in her life, who sought to mold her in their own image."
Henry Fonda, who he calls "a cold, churlish man," was "said to have cried only once, upon learning of the death of Franklin Roosevelt, treated her and her brother Peter like a pair of particularly unloved pets. His aloofness drove Fonda's mother, Frances, into a sanitarium, where she committed suicide by cutting her throat. (Fonda, then in grade school, learned the news by reading a film magazine.)
Henry drifts in and out of Fonda's life, occasionally reappearing to upbraid her for her nascent activism. This leaves Jane grievously perplexed: How could the man who played Abraham Lincoln, Tom Joad, and Clarence Darrow turn a cold eye to social justice?"
It was her efforts to please her three husbands that led her to do the things she now regrets. To please Roger Vadim, she shared her marriage bed with other women, many of whom were prostitutes she recruited; to please her second husband, the rabid Marxist Tom Hayden, she joined him in his fanatic pro-Communist war against America; and to please her last husband, Ted Turner, she accepted the role of submissive house wife.
She says she regrets not being a better parent to her own children when they were younger. Vanessa, 36, her daughter with Vadim, lives in Atlanta, where Fonda has made her home for the last 13 years. Her 31-year-old son with Hayden, Troy Garity, is an actor. He was named for a Communist hero, Nguyen Van Troi.
Fonda wrote she is determined not to create any more regrets. "The main thing [would be] if I get to the end of my life feeling I hadn't done all I could to be close to my children."
So if read that correctly, her problem is that she was photographed in North Vietnam--not that she was actually in North Vietnam, giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Whore.
She can regret, wax philosophical and apologize from now till the cows come home and it won't change that she is and forever will be Hanoi Jane. And a traitor.
I like firing squads!
Does anybody know Henry Fonda's political persuasion? Apparently he wasn't an anti-war hippie like Jane, he played one of the officers leading the charge at D Day in The Longest Day, and Admiral Nimitz in Midway.
I'm just guessing here, but could one of the reasons Jane felt estranged from her Dad was because of the gulf between them on patriotism?
I hope to live long enough to urinate on her headstone.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1380532/posts?page=86
A word that rhymes with hitch is not good enough for her.
That anyone would spend their hard-earned dollars on a book to understand why Fonda has lived her life so far the way she has is a little hard to comprehend. That she would write such a book is just mind-boggling. What's the meaning, worth and relevance of her life in relation to the billions and billions of galaxies in the universe we exist in?
Fonda is not a boomer. She was born in 1937. Boomers were born after WWII. Every single generation has it's shallow misfits that fail to grow up.
Wow. And they conclusively know that his aloofness caused the woman to go crazy? Seems a little too pat for me.
Typical liberal, everything is always someone else's fault.
> Hanoi Jane. And a traitor.
She wrote this book because she is 60-something, she screwed up her life, she hasn't got a husband and (would you believe it) there's no one lined up at the door.
I have two words for Hanoi Jane, and they aren't go to hell.
Isn't s - just slightly - too old to be a boomer?
I grow more and more astounded on how these left wing imbeciles and there condition of vomiting lyes and bull shat from every orofice of there body...i ponder most of all of how the news media can sit there and nod and watch that whore Katie Couric say OH THATS SO TRAGIC whats more What ever happened to LOYALTY to ones Nation (As the saying goes the Deepest pits in hell are reserved for treacherous scum) she should have instead of crying about her little life and going to North Vietnam she should have thanked god that she wasnt in a terrorist police state but then again that may have been better with her immediate execution impending. No offense to college educated people because i do not wish to lump you all together but it seems alot of these kids now days Come out of college ever more foolish than when they once entered into it. Although I'm Merely 18
Yes she will always be Hanoi Jane.
I wish this wasn't the same cute young girl who played the newlywed, Corie, in 'Barefoot in The Park' in 1967. Bummer.
> I detested Jane Fonda then and I detest her now - but I
> would fight to the death to protect her right to say what
> she thinks.
He's already fought for that, to protect my rights and yours. Thank heavns people like him ALWAYS stand ready to do so.
(and even if Hank was a Democrat, at least he wasn't a freaking commie - like her)
Fonda will have to rely on God's charity and forgiveness...
She'll receive neither from me....
Even if she went to the Wall on the Mall and slit her wrists.......
I would stand nearby, quietly and patiently to make certain of her success - before reporting to my lost brothers - that a small measure of revenge had been achieved.
Too many Americans and their loyal allies among the tribal groups of Vietnam lost their lives in vain - as a DIRECT result of this perverted loony bitch's assistance...
Semper Fi
Umm, I think you will find that George W. Bush is a boomer. Not to mention quite a few freepers. I'm sure the list is endless.
Someone calling in to I think Michael Savage's radio show the other night had this comment:
That the night Ronald Reagan was elected President for the first time, Jane and Henry as well as Peter F. were guests on some tv show.
They all roundly criticized RR as a bad actor, and said he would be just as bad a President.
Not sure that answers your question, but it might.
Is Bridget her daughter? Why isn't she mentioned if she is.
Never mind, that is her neice I think.
The talking heads on McLaughlin Group were all making excuses for Hanoi Jane today. Disgusting.
>>>His aloofness drove Fonda's mother, Frances, into a sanitarium, where she committed suicide by cutting her throat. (Fonda, then in grade school, learned the news by reading a film magazine.)
Wow. And they conclusively know that his aloofness caused the woman to go crazy? Seems a little too pat for me.>>>
I agree. Many men have been aloof and it hasn't caused the slitting of throats. Hell, my ex was more than aloof but I still have an intact throat.
Although it's pretty crappy to find out your mother slit her throat while reading magazine. Kind of explains some things with her. Genetically with her mother's mental illness and then the childhood she had.
Bridget is Peter's daughter.
No, Hank was a leftie also. Years ago, I read a Playboy interview of him in which he roundly trashed Ronald Reagan, both as a politician and an actor. Movie roles have nothing to do with an actor's real-life beliefs.
I am Henry Fonda's privileged daughter who appears to be thumbing my nose at the country that has provided these privileges,"
Her mother sounds like she was mentally disturbed. That could be inherited, could it not?
Bridget is Peter Fonda's daughter, I believe.
My father, a hard working farmer who had done a tour in Korea, shook is head in disgust and disbelief - one of the few times he exhibited much emotion over a morning paper.
'we could really do without knowing a lot of it'
or any of it.
Da Bitch
Jane Fonda seeks exoneration,
Forgiveness from her traitored nation.
What say you warriors fought that war?
Is forgiveness due that wartime whore?
So rich, so smart, she thought she knew
Much more than us, we bloodied few.
So smug, self-serving, seeking fame,
The rich bitch played her seditious game.
A game that cost me many friends,
Many, thanks to Jane, came to bad ends.
I've borne scars forty years or more,
From lies laid on me by this whore.
Self-serving now she sells her tale,
This traitor who should be in jail.
Is it within our souls to grant her grace?
Our souls shout, "No... spit in her face!"
So self assured, she played high stakes,
Telling American prisoners, "That's the breaks."
She accused brave men of heinous crimes,
Which were disproved in future times.
And now our country knows the truth
Jane Fonda betrayed us in our youth.
She asks us now to read her book,
Americans, the folks this bitch forsook.
So now she crawls, her conscience bare,
To tell us she screwed up back there.
Well, hell, we knew that way back then,
This Hanoi Jane who helped them win.
It was glory then for this airhead star,
But forever now she'll bear the scar
A scarlet letter she'll now wear,
A stench forever in her hair.
So Jane, dear, you must realize,
You're the devil in a helmet in our eyes.
When Vietnam vets raise up their toasts
It's to damn your soul, to salute our ghosts.
We swear, we living, to our long-dead brave,
We'll live to piss upon your grave.
So Jane, good fortune, unforeseen,
Your traitor's grave will be forever green.
Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
Vietnam 66-67
>>>Her mother sounds like she was mentally disturbed. That could be inherited, could it not?>>>
Yes, not to mention growing up Hollywood. The lack of morals in that town is enough to twist anyone's mind.
Still no excuse and still can't stand her. Both my father and stepfather are Vietnam Vets and they don't deserve the wrath she spewed on them for doing what alot of men were too chicken sh*t to do.
Exactly....her regret is only about image control and appearances...
and most of all its all about her...
"Isn't s - just slightly - too old to be a boomer?"
That's why the "I was young and naive" defense does not wash with Fonda.
She was 35 when she went to Hanoi & 32 when she made political statements supporting the Commies.
She's 67 and still acting like she's emotionally about 17.
Well with people like Jane Fonda out running around its no surprise the Decay of america is going on. Well im sick of her i loathe her very prescence on this soil that was fought for by the bravest of men and the men that fought before them to preserve democracy such as the Greeks or Early Republic of Rome. "Valiant Deeds on the field do more than the poet or the philosopher." the liberals want to take over and make america complacent and slothenly dim witted and foolish via the New Education standards i for one will try my best so that this doesnt become reality i know you will too. I'm Sorry if im blathering on but this has to be Identifyed and stopped!!!
Traitor. Commie. Bitch.
Thanks for your service. The broad brush comments by some are thoughtless.
I was born in 1946, so I'm a boomer too. And like you, I believe that my military and civilian service (37.5 years total) belie such sweeping comments as the one you responded to.
The right to freedom of speech is a cornerstone of America, but it certainly would be nice if some folks used a little more brainpower, and a healthy dose of common sense, before exercising that right.
Thank you for your comments.
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