Four decades after she became "Hanoi Jane" in the eyes of many who served in Vietnam, about 50 veterans protested a Friday visit by Jane Fonda to an arts center in Frederick, Maryland, passing along a very brief message that began with the letter "f."
'Forgive? Maybe. Forget? Never," read some of the signs held by those assembled outside the Weinberg Center for the Arts, according to a Frederick News-Post article that has triggered follow-up pieces on national news sites, military blogs and other outlets.
Fonda, whose actions during a 1972 visit to North Vietnam outraged part of a deeply divided generation, addressed the issue during her talk, according to the News-Post, calling her behavior "a huge, huge mistake that made a lot of people think I was against the soldiers."
Jane Fonda visits anti-aircraft gun position near Hanoi on July 1, 1972, a visit that has angered many veterans for decades.
Photo Credit: Associated Press file photo
- She apologized to Vietnam veterans on ABC's "20/20" in 1988 for the "thoughtless and careless" approach she sometimes took to her anti-war activism.
- In a 2011 post on her website outlining the visit, she said she would "regret to my dying day" allowing herself to to be photographed on and near an anti-aircraft gun.
- She called the photo an "unforgivable mistake" in a 2013 appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
For the Maryland protesters and some other veterans, the remarks are far too little and much too late. Some protesters told the News-Post they believe her actions cost American lives, and many individuals continue to campaign against Fonda's speeches and her work in films. A Vietnam veteran spat tobacco juice at her in 2005 after standing in line to have Fonda sign a copy of her autobiography.
Fonda has apologized for allowing herself to be photographed sitting on an anti-aircraft gun in North Vietnam in 1972, but has said the visit itself was on humanitarian, not political, grounds.
Photo Credit: STF/AFP/Getty Images
She told the News-Post that she's a "lightning rod" for the issue, and that she tries to speak with Vietnam veterans about her actions "whenever possible."
