Fonda role again draws heat

WASHINGTON -- Actress and long time peace activist Jane Fonda, a favorite target of right-wing attacks since the 1970s for her high-profile opposition to the Vietnam War, will rejoin the ranks of the antiwar movement today at a major rally in Washington .

The return to the spotlight for the Hollywood star derisively known as "Hanoi Jane" for going to North Vietnam at the height of the war, was seen by some activists and chroniclers of the antiwar movement as politically risky. They said her presence could be distracting in a rally that organizers hope can capitalize on congressional opposition to President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq.

"I wonder if the appearance of someone like Jane Fonda is going to pull attention away from other messages," said Rhys Williams, a University of Cincinnati sociologist who has chronicled American anti war movements. "If I were an organizer, I would worry how much her presence is going to be dominating the news cycle."

Though it's been decades since she posed atop a North Vietnamese anti aircraft gun, many Vietnam veterans are still angry . Fonda later apologized -- but didn't say she was sorry for fervently opposing the Vietnam War.

Her acting career survived, and Fonda left Hollywood nearly two decades ago. Though she's on record against the Iraq war, she's stayed on the sidelines of the anti war movement -- perhaps because of lingering public resentment over her highly charged propaganda visit to Hanoi.

That two-week trip in 1972 included a government-staged news conference with American POWs and a radio broadcast in which she declared the United States "will never be able to break the spirit of these people." Outraged, many Americans accused her of treason, and some fellow anti war activists said Fonda went too far.

In 1988, she apologized to veterans and their families. "I was trying to help end the killing and the war," she said on ABC's "20/20" news show , "but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I'm . . . very sorry that I hurt them."

Fonda will join a speaker's roster today that includes fellow Vietnam War-era protesters, grass-roots activists, and movie stars such as Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins.

Fonda declined to be interviewed for this story.

At a lecture in Vancouver just weeks after the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, Fonda expressed concern that the war would damage America's "stability as a nation" and could tarnish the country's prestige. "I think the entire world is going to be united against us," she said.

But she hasn't spoken out much since then and decided not to join a cross-country bus trip with Iraq veterans protesting the war in 2005. In an interview last April on ABC's "Good Morning America," Fonda acknowledged, "I carry too much baggage."

Indeed, as news spread that she'd join this weekend's protest , conservative blogs exploded with vitriol.

"The enemies of this nation are feeling so emboldened that they are confident enough to bring Jane Fonda to a MEMORIAL for the United States Navy," the conservative website Freerepublic.com decried in an "urgent" post. Fonda "posed with our enemy [in North Vietnam] on an anti aircraft battery used to shoot down our Navy pilots."

The resentment isn't limited to political bloggers. A man who said he was a Vietnam veteran wrote an angry letter to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel after Fonda appeared at a local abortion-rights rally earlier this month. "Healing will only begin when Ms. Fonda tells the American people that she was wrong to go to Hanoi, that she was wrong to openly accuse American soldiers of murdering [Vietnamese] babies, and that she was wrong to betray the trust of those [American] POWs," Bart Arcoleo wrote.

For the architects of today's demonstration, which organizers predict could draw more than 100,000 people, the star power of Fonda and other celebrities is a way to draw national attention and hone the anti war message.

Fonda "is a natural bridge" between generations, Judith LeBlanc , co chairwoman of United for Peace and Justice, an umbrella organization of anti war, community, and religious groups . "US foreign policy is on a continuum. We need the support of those who are in Hollywood to speak their minds on the issues of the day. They play a big part in our country."

"She is perfectly entitled to speak, and it won't make a difference one way or another for public opinion," said Tom Hayden , Fonda's former husband, a onetime California state senator, and a co founder of Students for a Democratic Society. Hayden, who will also attend the rally, bristled at the suggestion that Fonda's presence would undercut the protesters' message.

"There is no Jane Fonda factor," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson , a civil rights leader who is also on the list of scheduled speakers today. "That's insulting. This is about soldiers doing three and four tours and thousands killed and wounded."

Still, participants like Keshini Ladduwahetty of the antiwar group DC for Democracy questioned whether giving Fonda a central role will do more harm than good. Ladduwahetty wrote in an e-mail that Fonda doesn't offend her, but "some people do find her a turnoff."

Meanwhile, Liam Madden of Boston, a Marine who served in Iraq in 2004 and is a co founder of the antiwar group Appeal for Redress, said Fonda's public support is a mixed blessing: She "brings attention, but in some people's eyes it lessens credibility."

Yet the political conditions surrounding the Iraq war are far different than during the Vietnam War, when it took much longer for public opinion to turn against the war , according to David Walls , an author and retired sociology professor at Sonoma State University .

"The climate has changed a lot in the last year with the congressional elections," Walls said. "Compared to the others from the far wings of left-wing politics, Fonda is a much more recognizable person and frankly a lot closer to the mainstream."

Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com.