HANOI JANE

In the early 70s, the war in Vietnam dominated the social and political landscape in the US. Many Americans did not agree with troops being sent to fight and a wave of anti-war protests took place.

One celebrity out on the picket line was glamour girl Jane Fonda. She swapped Hollywood for activism and began to attend protest marches rather than red carpet events.

The actress was arrested in action but continued to protest and earned the nickname “Hanoi Jane” in July 1972 after she visited the Vietnamese city of Hanoi to criticise America’s role in the war.

During her two-week stay, she saw evidence that the US was wrongly bombing farmland away from military targets and made several radio announcements asking US pilots to stop the attacks.

But a photograph of Jane sitting on an antiaircraft gun with Vietnamese locals proved to be the most controversial of all.

Experts pointed out that it would have been used to shoot down US planes and she was branded “anti-American”. Some even called her actions treason.

Congress met and the Veterans of

Foreign Wars passed a resolution demanding she be prosecuted as a traitor.

In March 1973, the state of Maryland also called for Fonda and her films to be banned.

The star maintained she was not a traitor and that the US government was lying to the troops.

But she has since apologised repeatedly for the photograph, which made it look like she did not support the troops themselves. Around 58,000 Americans died in the conflict.

Jane has said: “It hurts me, and it will to my grave, that I made a huge, huge mistake that made a lot of people think I was against the soldiers.”