Jane Fonda Portrays Nancy Reagan – Tells Vets ‘Get A Life’
By Stephanie Bertorelli
Clash Daily Guest Contributor
In one of the strangest casting decisions of the all-knowing Hollywood elite, Jane Fonda will be portraying First Lady Nancy Reagan in the upcoming movie, The Butler.
Wait, what?
Yes, you read that correctly. Famed leftist, ‘Hanoi’ Jane Fonda, is going to tackle the role of one of the most beloved figures in Republican history. Of course, there has been the expected uproar from the right on this particular decision.
Fonda was very vocal in her opposition to the Vietnam War. In 1970, she and fellow actor, Donald Sutherland, formed the anti-war road show “Free the Army” as an alternative to the USO/Bob Hope tours for the soldiers serving abroad. The tour was made into a film and featured many service men and women sharply criticizing the war and the draft. She was also credited as being a major patron to the Vietnam Veterans Against the War even before her controversial comments made in 1972 in Hanoi.
I doubt that anyone would dispute Ms. Fonda’s fierce dissension and her borderline civil disobedience in her actions at that time. However, despite the anger toward her, let’s face it, the idea that she has the right to voice her opinion is one that we should appreciate.
To her credit, whether her comments are believed by some or not, Fonda has expressed regret for some of her comments and actions in part by saying:
I would like to say something, not just to Vietnam veterans in New England, but to men who were in Vietnam, who I hurt, or whose pain I caused to deepen because of things that I said or did. I was trying to help end the killing and the war, but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I’m very sorry that I hurt them. And I want to apologize to them and their families. I will go to my grave regretting the photograph of me in an anti-aircraft gun, which looks like I was trying to shoot at American planes. It hurt so many soldiers. It galvanized such hostility. It was the most horrible thing I could possibly have done. It was just thoughtless.
