By the summer of 1972, Jane Fonda was one of the most famous actresses in all of Hollywood.
In 1968, she had starred in the science-fiction spoof "Barbarella," and received an Academy Award nomination in 1969 for her role in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" Two years later, she won her first Oscar for her work in the thriller "Klute."
In addition to her movie work, she became an outspoken critic of the war in Vietnam. Her visit to North Vietnam in July of 1972 created an uproar back in the United States, especially her decision to pose for photos while sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun.
American actress and activist Jane Fonda is surrounded by soldiers and reporters as she sings an anti-war song near Hanoi during the Vietnam War in July 1972. Fonda, seated on an anti-aircraft gun, was there to "encourage" North Vietnamese soldiers fighting against "American Imperialist air-raiders."
She was derisively given the nickname "Hanoi Jane." (Hanoi was North Vietnam's capital city.)
Two months later, on Oct. 10, she was scheduled to appear in Syracuse for a full day of press conferences, seminars and speeches, with other representatives of the "Indochina peace campaign."
Joining Fonda were Tom Hayden, a founder of the Students for a Democratic Society; George Smith, a former POW, folk singer Holly Near and actor Donald Sutherland, who co-starred with Fonda in "Klute."
Her Central New York visit got off to a bad start when the Syracuse Kiwanis Club cancelled her appearance.
Club President Richard Wilson said the cancellation was because members "didn't feel she should appear under our sanction," and said, "all hell broke loose" when it was announced that she would address the local chapter of the national service organization.
After discussing the matter, the membership voted 5-1 to cancel her appearance.
Wilson said: "I don't think it's a matter of the members being afraid of controversial people. Many of the members just felt what she did in Hanoi was just too anti-American."
But Fonda scheduled events at the Syracuse Peace Council, Everson Museum, YWCA and Syracuse University's Manley Field House would go ahead.
The Post-Standard was at her speech at the YWCA where she sat on the stage of the auditorium.
She said it took "great difficulty" to change her image from a Hollywood actress to a "crusader for peace."
"It is still difficult for some people to take me seriously in the peace movement when they see me as Barbarella," she said.
"I got an Academy Award for playing a phony role written by men in Hollywood," she said. "but when I assumed my role as a U.S. citizen speaking out against the war, I got called a traitor."
She told the small audience about her conversations she had during trip with Vietnamese women and concluded, "If Americans knew more about the Vietnamese people, their history and culture, Americans would change their abstract beliefs about the war."
At the rally at Manley Field House, Tom Hayden reported there was no "imminent settlement" to the war from peace talks in Paris. He said that rumors of there being a peace settlement was being spread by the President Richard Nixon's efforts to "keep the George McGovern campaign and the peace movement off balance."
Fonda and Sutherland participated in a "dramatic reading" at the rally and folk singer Holly Near sang antiwar songs "in a clear rich voice."
Reactions to her appearance was mixed in the Post-Standard's letters to the editor's page.
A Fayetteville woman wrote that although she was not sure "to what extent I can support Miss Fonda's philosophy and lifestyle," she was disappointed by the Kiwanis decision to cancel her speech.
"She had every right in the world to express her viewpoint on the war," the letter continued. "And those of us genuinely committed to building a world without war have a responsibility to listen to what she has to say."
A Kirkville man scoffed at the small crowds for Fonda's speeches, and said "any Hollywood star worthy of the title could fill Manley Field House."
Fonda's Syracuse visit was mentioned in a fiery campaign speech by Vice President Spiro Agnew when he spoke to Nixon supporters at the Center of Progress Building on Oct. 24.
He quipped that he had learned that Fonda had "passed through here last week on her way back from entertaining the troops in Canada."
This feature is a part of CNY Nostalgia, a section on syracuse.com. Send your ideas and curiosities to Johnathan Croyle: Email | 315-427-3958.