July 1, 1972: Jane Fonda In Vietnam

July 1, 1972: Actress Jane Fonda takes action that will make her famous around the world, admired by many, and thoroughly despised by many others.

The daughter of Henry Fonda and the sister of Peter Fonda, she had already become a star, starring in Cat Ballou, Barbarella and They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, and winning an Academy Award for Best Actress the year before for her role in Klute. (She wasn't the 1st actress to play a prostitute as "Oscar bait," and she certainly wasn't the last.)

Thus far, though, entertainers had usually not used their stardom for political causes. Bob Hope had organized OSU tours for the troops during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and would do it one more time after this, in the Persian Gulf War. Hollywood's Republicans had rented the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for a rally for Presidential nominee Thomas Dewey in 1944. On the other side, right after World War II, Frank Sinatra had done a short film for his song "The House I Live In," promoting inclusiveness as an American value. The March On Washington in 1963 had been bipartisan: Democrats Marlon Brando and Harry Belafonte were there, but so was Republican Charlton Heston.

By early 1972, the war in Vietnam still had no end in sight. The promise that Richard Nixon had made in the Presidential election of 1968 had proven to be worthless. Through 1963, 202 American servicemen had died in Vietnam. In 1964, 216 died; in 1965, 1,928; in 1966, 6,350; in 1967, 11,363; in 1968, 16,899; in 1969, with Nixon taking office at the beginning of the year, 11,780; in 1970, 6,173; and in 1971, 2,414. Total: 57,325.

Fonda visited Vietnam, including the North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, to witness firsthand the bombing damage to the dikes along the Red River. She concluded that the U.S. Air Force had been intentionally targeting the dikes, which turned out to be true.

She also posed next to an anti-aircraft gun. For this, ever since, conservatives have called her a traitor and "Hanoi Jane." They have said she directly led to the deaths of American servicemen, which is not merely a lie, but a very stupid one. (The conservatives don't even get the story right: They say she posed on top of the gun, as if she was having sex with it. That never happened.)

Next to it. Not on top of it.

Fonda has apologized for her pose with the gun, calling it "a huge mistake." The Eisenhower Administration men who started the Vietnam War never apologized for it. Robert McNamara, who had been Secretary of Defense under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, offered more of an apology than anyone else in a position to need to do so. No one in the Nixon Administration, including Nixon himself, ever apologized for widening the war before winding it down.

Another 759 American servicemen died in Vietnam in 1972, and another 68 in 1973 before, as George W. Bush would have said, "major combat operations had ended." Total: 58,152.

In 2022, Jane Fonda is 84 years old, and is filming 80 for Brady, about 4 senior-citizen women who followed New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to Super Bowl LI in 2017, along with fellow film legends Rita Moreno, Lily Tomlin and Sally Field. She has survived both breast cancer and skin cancer, and has not given up her many fights. She is a hell of a lot braver than most of her haters.

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July 1, 1972 was a Saturday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-1 at Yankee Stadium. Mike Kekich went the distance for the win. Thurman Munson went 2-for-3 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Bobby Murcer went 1-for-4. Graig Nettles hit a home run for the Indians. Before the next season, the Yankees acquired him in a trade.

* The New York Mets beat the Montreal Expos, 2-0 at Jarry Park in Montreal. Jerry Koosman pitched a 4-hit shutout, outpitching Mike Torrez. Dave Marshall hit a home run for the Mets, while Willie Mays went 0-for-4 for them.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. Marty Pattin went the distance, and hit a home run. He must have been loose, quack. (That's a Ball Four reference.) Ben Oglivie, later to star for the Brewers, hit 2 home runs for the Red Sox, and Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4.

* The St. Louis Cardinals swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-4 and 1-0 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Bob Gibson won the 1st game. Lou Brock went 3-for-8 with a walk over the 2 games.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Cubs led 3-2 going into the bottom of the 9th, but Milt May led off with a single off Fergie Jenkins, and Roberto Clemente hit a home run to win it. It was part of a 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs day for Clemente. Willie Stargell went 1-for-3.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 2-0 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Mickey Lolich pitched a 7-hit shutout, outpitching Dave McNally. Al Kaline hit a home run. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The Twins' only run was on a home run by Harmon Killebrew. Rod Carew went 2-for-4.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers, 3-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Gail Hopkins singled John Mayberry Sr. home with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning.

* The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-2 at the Astrodome in Houston. Don Wilson outpitched Phil Niekro. Hank Aaron went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 3-2 at San Diego Stadium (later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Pete Rose went 1-for-4, and Johnny Bench went 0-for-4.

* The California Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-3 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Nolan Ryan went the distance, striking out 16 batters. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-4.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-5 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie McCovey, Dave Kingman and Dave Rader hit home runs, in support of Sam McDowell. Frank Robinson, in his only season with the Dodgers, did not play in this game.