Fonda's Pseudo-Apology

National Review Online: Non-Apology Not Accepted

(National Review Online) 
Hanoi Jane's wrongs go far beyond the photograph. First, of course, are the facts that she joined the enemy gun crew at all and made two visits to North Vietnam. Second, Fonda's self-initiated broadcasts on Radio Hanoi accused Americans of being war criminals. It was these broadcasts from the enemy's capital (not the gun photo) that gave her the lasting handle "Hanoi Jane" in emulation of "Tokyo Rose," an American who broadcast Japanese propaganda in World War II. In her self-proclaimed FTA ("F*** the Army") rallies, she claimed that personal atrocities "were a way of life for many of our military".

Third, Fonda exploited American POWs for Communist gain, asserting that the POWs were being treated humanely following a Communist-controlled visit. In fact, the remarkable POWs who showed any resistance to the Fonda visit were beaten severely and she betrayed the POWs by falsely claiming that they expressed "disgust" and "shame" over what they had done. When the returning POWs reported their torture, showing their broken bodies as proof, Fonda called them "hypocrites and liars." She claims in her book that she was "framed."

Fourth, Fonda ignored the non-Communist Vietnamese and Cambodians who resisted the Vietnamese Communists and the Cambodian Khmer Rouge, showing no concern for their fate. Fonda continued to support the Communists against indigenous non-Communists even after American withdrawal. She was not "anti-war"; she was "pro-war" -- for a Communist victory. She was not even "anti-atrocity" per se, remaining silent on Communist executions of Vietnamese and Cambodian civilians (such as the 3,000 slaughtered with their hands tied in Hue in 1968, or the final tragedy following Communist victories in 1975).

Fonda's hopes for a Communist victory in South Vietnam and Cambodia were fulfilled. But her hopes for fame as an instrument of Communist achievements have been dashed on the rocks of reality-- the truth about Communist malevolence and disregard for human dignity; the truth about the commitment by most American soldiers to honorable behavior; the truth about the torture and murder of American POWs. Now her efforts to promote commercial gain through a limited pseudo-apology, which is simultaneously withdrawn by a less visible (yet explicit) defense of her transgressions, will fail on the same rocks of reality.

Jane Fonda has always lived in a kind of Wonderland -- where American POWs are liars and Communist tyrants are honorable men. Now she says that "the U.S. loss represented our nation's chance for redemption" and that the Communist victory "symbolizes hope for the planet." Her latest foray into the Vietnam War only shows that, unlike Alice, Jane Fonda has yet to emerge from Wonderland.


Dexter Lehtinen was severely wounded as a reconnaissance platoon leader in Vietnam. He later graduated first in his class from Stanford Law School and served as a Florida state senator and United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.