No wonder the Vietnam Syndrome of the Left exists. The hyperbolic vilification of Jane Fonda, as well as the persistence of the myth of anti-war activists (usually represented as female) spitting on veterans, must have had a demonstration effect. Yoshie Furuhashi <<<<<>>>>>
haven't read hershberger's book, but did read article she published a couple of years ago that gainesville friend from a long time back suggested i take a look at, one point that she made was that fonda went to vietnam quite late, in 1972, when war was very unpopular and actually was taken aback by criticism she received...
well, percentage of folks opposed to vietnam war was about 2/3rds by 1970 in some polls, in others, only about 60% thought war was mistake as late as 1972, it's that 'framing' thing, how you ask it influences answer you receive...
moreover, even in '72 when no matter how one asked it, majority opposed war, percentage supporting *specific* u.s. actions offers contrast: about 60% supported nixon's mining of north vietnamese ports and almost 50% approved continuous bombing in the north...
as for public attitude re. anti-war movement, some data indicated sizeable majorities in *agreement* with movement about the war (again, percentages vary according to ways questions were asked) even as percentage of public *supporting* movement maxed at about 50%...
review points out fonda's role getting 'winter soldier' investigation off the ground, more broadly, her connection to/relationship with vvaw was really important, according to scot camil, he went to see her speak when she came to speak at university of florida because he'd never seen a hollywood star and he became radicalized...
i was essentially a kid at the time caught up in the quite large and pretty violent confrontations that rocked gainesville in the spring of '72 (just one of number of local actions around the country that give lie to the claim that anti-war movement had declined because number of large demos had declined), became part of support group for gainesville 8 and worked with indochina peace campaign, that brought fonda, hayden, holly near and some other folks to town... michael hoover
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