Salem Press

	Recommended along with its companions, The Fifties in America and The Sixties in America.
Booklist

	This title is a well-written, well-organized, and thorough resource on this most transitional of decades in American history. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and general readers.

Choice

	This browsable set... is probably best suited for high school and public libraries, academic libraries may consider it as a companion to the recent scholarly studies.

Library Journal

	Historians and political science majors, undergraduate, and graduate students will find this work useful. The Seventies in America is recommended for all academic libraries.

ARBA

The Seventies in America
Fonda, Jane

Identification: American actor and antiwar activist
Born: December 21, 1937; New York, New York

While Fonda received accolades as an actor, her political activism in opposition to the Vietnam War in the 1970's made her a subject of much public controversy.

A popular actor and the daughter of prestigious actor Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda was deeply involved in the protest movement against the Vietnam War. In 1972, she visited Hanoi in North Vietnam on a self-described peace mission, enraging public opinion in the United States by posing for photographs that suggested she admired the enemy's antiaircraft weaponry. While there, she also made radio broadcasts that supported the North Vietnamese government and characterized American military and political leaders as war criminals. She created further controversy when she met with American prisoners of war who later said that they had been forced by their captors to denounce the American war effort and to deny that they had been tortured. As a result of this trip, some disapproving Americans compared Fonda to a vilified figure known as Tokyo Rose, convicted of treason for making radio broadcasts supporting the Japanese during World War II. Similarly, Fonda was labeled "Hanoi Jane" by critics, who also accused her of giving aid and comfort to enemies of the United States. Fonda nevertheless continued to speak out against the war in the United States in the years immediately following her visit to North Vietnam.

There is no doubt that Fonda's special invitation to Hanoi was because she was a member of a famous acting family and a movie star in her own right. Her highly regarded film work during this decade provided her with a platform for her political activism, and her antiwar activities gave added credibility to her already accomplished screen portrayals of plucky and independent young women. Although Fonda enjoyed much success and popularity in the previous decade, the 1970's saw her at the peak of her creative powers. She starred in such important films as A Doll's House (1973), Julia (1977), and The China Syndrome (1979), and she won the Academy Awards for Best Actress in 1971 for Klute and in 1978 for Coming Home, a film about Vietnam veterans.

Impact
Throughout the 1970's, opinion was divided about Fonda's antiwar activities. A significant portion of the public remained convinced that her celebrity gave undue legitimacy to political activities that were dubious if not actually unpatriotic. Many others, however, admired her as a talented actor whose strong convictions made her willing bravely to face public disapproval in support of a cause in which she passionately believed and for which the country itself developed increasing sympathy.

Further Reading
French, Sean. Jane Fonda: A Biography. North Pomfret, Vt.: Trafalgar Square, 1998.
Holzer, Henry Mark, and Erika Holzer. "Aid and Comfort:" Jane Fonda in North Vietnam. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2002.

Margaret Boe Birns

See Also
Antiwar demonstrations; Coming Home; Enemies List; Feminism; Film in the United States; "Radical Chic"; Vietnam Veterans Against the War; Vietnam War.