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| The Saga continues August 2001
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| Professor Skip Klingman, the one who unwittingly forwarded the hoax
e-mail with his name attached writes the following:
-----Original Message----- First, my apologies for the misinformation. The e-mail which you received did not originate with me, and in no way involves my university. After receiving it myself in early Spring of this year (1999), I sent it to one of my friends, and wasn't aware that my e-mail "signature" was appended to it. My intent was not to have the e-mail forwarded as is stated in that document, but I didn't make that clear to my friend. He then forwarded the letter to an extensive address book without removing my name. I'm sure the fact of the name and contact information make the letter look completely valid to most people, and now the letter (with my name) is in wide circulation. Although I was in the military during the Vietnam years, I did not serve in combat, nor was I in Southeast Asia during the conflict. Many friends and acquaintances of mine did serve, and a couple didn't return. I would in no way want to diminish their contribution by making false claims. Much of the information in the e-mail has been difficult for me to personally authenticate, but writer David Emery has apparently researched this letter quite thoroughly. Dates are incorrect in a couple of instances. One thing is true; Jane Fonda did visit Hanoi and the POW camp in 1972, and she made accusatory statements against the U.S. government and military personnel that caused servicemen and their families a great deal of anguish. The stories about the subsequent torture and beatings are not all true, and since I have communicated personally with Col. (Ret.) Larry Carrigan, I have discovered that he never even saw Jane Fonda during her visit. Most of the letter is debunked in the website below. This was sent to me by a respondent who read the Fonda e-mail with my signature. I only wish I'd seen this before I sent the letter to my friend. It was my willingness to believe the worst of Jane Fonda that caused me to send it to him. http://urbanlegends.about.com/science/urbanlegends/library/weekly/aa110399.htm -- then search "Fonda" as a keyword for the link to the e-mail. This account is by David Emery. Jane Fonda, along with 99 other "Most Important Women of the Century" was honored by Barbara Walters in April '99, and subsequently by Ladies Home Journal magazine. (See following website) http://www.moorej.org/jane/ In the brief biographies of the women, their contributions were summarized. Fonda's anti-war activism is mentioned, but her film career and her success as a workout "guru" in her several videos were the major credits in Ms. Fonda's bio. Again, I'm sorry for the inadvertent "spamming" I've caused. I'd appreciate your sending back this information to the person from whom you received it, and I thank you in advance. Sincerely, Charles Klingman Note: It is possible that the original mess started with a reprint of a column by Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe which was carried in the June 23rd, 1999 Washington Times. We're trying to track this down. NEXT STORY: The Bogus Jane Fonda Story In 1999 a shocking story about Jane Fonda and POW hit the Internet. This story was false although it contained many verifiable facts. The story has been repudiated by at least one of the POW named in the story. This story is now considered a hoax and has taken its place among other urban legends. You decide for yourself. I get a lot of e-mail on Jane Fonda, because I have clear and strong opinions about Fonda, and I occasionally write about her, and she is featured on my military web site. This all began in the summer of 1999 I received an e-mail containing this shocking story and I repeated it once or twice until Captain Mike McGrath, USN (Ret.) advised me that the POW involved had denied significant portions of the e-mail. I promptly informed my correspondents of this new development. The e-mail began with something like "Jane Fonda is being honored as one of the '100 Women of the Century.'" Well that part is true, she was, and here's the facts on that. I got involved in all this while I was fully engaged in a veterans campaign to persuade the American Bar Association (ABA) to not invite to punish the American Bar Association (ABA) for inviting Jane Fonda to speak at their national convention in 1999. I say punish because that's what the ABA leadership deserves for being duped into joining the feminist and collectivist campaign to rehabilitate Jane Fonda's image. Even before Jon Dougherty wrote Not Saluting Jane Fonda for WorldNetDaily (Sept. 15, 1999), the bogus story on Jane Fonda was circulating the Internet by e-mail. In fact, Dougherty stated that he based the story on the e-mail which quickly proved false. A few months later a sheepish Dougherty was apologizing in print and exposing the bogus story. Propaganda masterpiece The trouble with the e-mail is that it is a blend of falsehood and truth, in essence, a masterpiece of gray propaganda. Based largely on well-known facts that made it believable and acceptable, the story fits the public image that Jane Fonda has foolishly crafted for herself. Charles "Skip" Klingman As if Dougherty's misguided
story was not enough of a problem, an Oklahoma college professor named
Charles "Skip" Klingman picked up the story and repeated it,
and as of today, the damned Rebuttal Charles Klingman and Captain McGrath have tried to undo the damage from this phony story and authorized this REBUTTAL. The first part of the phony story alleged that during Jane Fonda's
real visit to North Vietnam in 1972 several American POW tried to pass
their identity (social security numbers) to her on tiny slips of paper,
but that Fonda passed the little notes to the POW's captors, who then
proceeded to brutally beat several of the POW. One of the prisoners
supposedly beaten was Col. Larry Carrigan. One version of the story also
mentions Col. Jerry Driscoll, USAF (Ret) in the beating scenes. Both
Col. Carrigan and Col. Driscoll have denied this account through Captain The second part of the bogus Fonda e-mail is an account from Michael Benge. Mr. Benge has confirmed this part of the e-mail as being correct. After being asked if he would like to meet with Jane Fonda, Benge told his captors he would tell Fonda "...about the real treatment we POWs were receiving, which was far different from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by Jane Fonda, as 'humane and lenient.'" Benge said that when the Vietnamese found out his intentions; "I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees with outstretched arms with a piece of steel re-bar placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane every time my arms dipped." "Liars and hypocrites" Despite the disinformation in the bogus e-mail, the truth remains: the POW were beaten and tortured. But at a press conference Jane Fonda dismissed reports of POWs being tortured and beaten, saying the POW were "liars and hypocrites." Who benefits from a bogus Jane Fonda story? Jane Fonda and her image rehabilitators, that's who. Just picture a hand-wringing, tear-drenched Oprah Winfrey television audience hanging on every word as a Fonda apologist says "See! I told you! They'll do anything to crucify Jane Fonda. They will even make up horrible lies about Jane Fonda just to drag her down." As Captain Mike McGrath says; "We don't want to be party to false stories, which could be used as an excuse that her real actions didn't really happen either." (Ref.) Captain McGrath is exactly right. Jane Fonda can be thoroughly repudiated on the basis of the facts alone, nobody needs to make up stories and muddy the waters. Imagine then, the sympathy for Jane Fonda the alleged born-again Christian, flooding the airwaves and filling the pages of popular magazines such as Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, Rosie's (Rosie O'Donnell) and O (Oprah Winfrey) with gushing praise of America's most popular traitor. Hollywood's liberal elites might even rush forth to embrace Jane Fonda and gain fresh courage for their own wacky causes. The Association of American University Women, the National Organization for Women, Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy would all enjoy surges of popularity and fund raising as Jane Fonda embarked on a new round of speech making and interviews. Concerning Oprah Winfrey and Jane Fonda, check this rolling on the floor laughing Barf Alert. Jane Fonda's treason didn't strike me until 1973, a year after her visit to North Vietnam. As the elevator door opened for me and my 3-year old daughter at the Naval Hospital in San Diego, we were faced by a gaunt former POW, who looked at my daughter, then looked at me, and back at my daughter. I watched his face, and won't forget the story or the emotions told by the haunting look in his eyes. It was either Jeremiah Denton or James Stockdale, but it makes no difference. The story is not in the name, but what was in his eyes. When I read the dictionary definitions of treason and put them alongside what Jane Fonda did, I come up with Jane Fonda's treason. IN SUMMARY: 1. I have received over 100 of the e-mail hoax from well-meaning
people and received several as recently 2. It's true. Jane Fonda was recognized as one of the top 100 women of the century. In April 1999, Jane Fonda was honored by ABC News and Ladies Home Journal (LHJ) as one of the 100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century. ABC television aired "A Celebration: 100 Years Of Great Women With Barbara Walters" honoring Fonda and the others. ABC and the LHJ relied on a "distinguished panel of professors" of seven female academes described as a "top-flight group of advisors" to produce the initial list of more than 250, so Jane Fonda beat out more than 150 other women to make this list! It shouldn't be a shock to learn that four of the seven advisors to Ladies Home Journal in the selection of the 100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century also signed a petition opposing impeachment of President Clinton, America's most famous draft-dodger. See story. Back to E-mail began. 3. While working on the Jane Fonda and ABA engagement, several
former POW and POW leaders including Michael 4. As soon as I heard from Captain McGrath I posted an advisory on American Bar Association sucks up to traitor Hanoi Jane: -- as -- Veterans, ex-POWs counterattack, force withdrawal. 5. Neither Jon Dougherty nor WorldNetDaily publisher Joseph Farah
acknowledged my September 1999 e-mail 6. I figure Dougherty and Farah were already too busy responding
to what Mike McGrath and others had written 7. Nevertheless, to their credit, Jon Dougherty and Joseph Farah corrected Dougherty's misleading article about two months later with Not saluting Jane Fonda, part II in WorldNetDaily (Nov. 10, 1999). 7. REBUTTAL FROM CHARLES "SKIP" KLINGMAN AND CAPTAIN MIKE McGRATH. 8. Just prior to the date of Jane Fonda's scheduled appearance to speak to the American Bar Association (ABA) in August 1999, ABA stated that Fonda had a "scheduling conflict" and would be replaced by Judy Woodruff. My reply was that "Anytime Jane Fonda thinks she's up against Vietnam War veterans she will have a scheduling conflict." So far, 1-/12 years later, nobody has disagreed with me on this. 9. Reporter Chris Vaughn of the Star-Telegram in Texas has caught
hell for ignoring the bogus parts of the story. Vaughn told me;
"Mr. Rongstad, Thank you for doing your best to knock this story
down. Good luck, though I suspect you won't get very far. I have talked
to dozens of veterans and interested readers in recent days about my
story, and almost every single one of them took me to task (some rather
nastily) for not recounting that story. I told 10. Learn more about Mike McGrath and other Vietnam War prisoners-of-war at NAM-POWS. 11. For more info on Jane Fonda's 1972 visit to North Vietnam, see Hanoi Jane. 12. -- BARF ALERT In the August 2000 issue of her 'O' Magazine,
Oprah Winfrey quotes Fonda on her most |