Samantha Power, the recently seated U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, may have made many in Hollywood happy with her recent public praise of actress icon and exercise legend Jane Fonda, but veterans aren’t smiling.
Ms. Fonda was dubbed “Hanoi Jane” for her propaganda reach-out to Viet Cong enemies in 1972, with a personal visit and widely distributed photo with the Communist soldiers. And years later, veterans — especially those who served in the conflict, or were held captive by the very Viet Cong Ms. Fonda rubbed shoulders with — still remember the sting of her perceived betrayal.
Yet Ms. Power gushed about her star power, in a recent dinner in New York for the U.N. Association of the USA 2013 Global Leadership Award ceremony, Fox News reported.
“You know life has changed when you’re hanging out with Jane Fonda backstage,” Ms. Power said, Newsmax reported. “There is no greater embodiment of being outspoken on behalf of what you believe in — and being ’all in’ in every way — than Jane Fonda. And it’s a huge honor just to even briefly have shared the stage with her.”
Veterans, however, saw differently.
“We all hate her,” said Ned Foote, president of the New York State Council of the Vietnam Veterans of America, to Fox News.
Ms. Fonda, 75, apologized for her Vietnam actions on an Oprah Winfrey appearance, calling it an “unforgivable mistaken.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.