From: Charles Klingman
Date: 9/17/2001
Time: 8:07:34 AM
Remote Name: 164.58.10.126
The document titled "Hanoi Jane" found at this website was posted by someone who obviously did not verify its contents. Though it ends with my signature, I DID NOT AUTHOR THIS PIECE. Moreover, the contents, aside from the information about the "100 Women of the Century" award, are completely false. Three men who were inmates at Ho Lo prison in 1972 have personally verified that fact, saying that they never ever SAW Jane Fonda. I've been using the following "boilerplate" response for over a year, in my efforts to stop the spread of the false e-mail. Unless people verify information they receive via e-mail, large amounts of "spam" will continue to clog the bandwidth on a daily basis. *******MESSAGE FOLLOWS********** You’re among the over 6000 persons to whom I’ve responded since April of 2000. Ms. Fonda’s award actually took place a year prior to that, in April 1999. Here’s the story of how a monumental lack of foresight caused my name to be appended to the hoax!
First, my apologies for the misinformation. The hoax 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 last year, I sent it to one of my friends. The e-mail software was set to auto-signature, and it appended my signature block. 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. THE E-MAIL IS TOTALLY BOGUS; ALL THE ALLEGATIONS ARE FALSE.
Writer David Emery has researched this hoax 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 slips of paper, the subsequent torture and beatings are not 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. The content 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 1999, 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 E-MAIL: klingmc@swosu.edu Addendum: 8Sept2000 - http://danford.net/vietnam.htm Addendum: 19Sept2000 http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHome.html http://www.Vmyths.com/index.cfm Addendum 27Feb2001 http://www.hanoijane.net THE FOLLOWING IS FROM CPT (USN Ret.) MIKE MCGRATH, PRESIDENT OF NAM/POWs: [[[[[[[[[****** 11/9/99 Please excuse the generic response, but I have been swamped with so many e-mails on the subject of the Jane Fonda article (Carrigan, Driscoll, strips of paper, torture and deaths of POWs, etc.) that I have to resort to this pre-scripted rebuttal. The truth is that none of this ever happened. This is a hoax story placed on the internet by unknown Fonda haters. No one knows who initiated the story. Please assist by not propagating the story. Fonda did enough bad things to assure her a correct place in the garbage dumps of history. 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. I have spoken with all the parties named: Carrigan, Driscoll, et al. They all state that this particular story is a hoax and wish to disassociate their names from the false story. They never made the statements attributed to them. Systematic torture of POWs by the North Vietnamese did slow down in late 1969, after Ho Chi Minh died. Some camps were devoid of torture after 1969, but several individuals continued to be brutally tortured for information and propaganda. Fonda’s visit was in late 1972. Treatment was starting to improve at the time of her visit, but at least one POW was hung by his broken arm to force him to go before Ms. Fonda (name withheld by request). Even the last POW shot down and captured, 1/27/73 was brought to Hanoi and brutally tortured only two weeks before the first release of prisoners. You are welcome to forward this rebuttal to the Carrigan story as you like. No acknowledgment of this note is required. Thank you. Mike McGrath, President of NAM-POWs, <www.nampows.org> <mmcgrath@iex.net>
Addendum: 23Jan2001 Subject: Hoax Bulletin #8a - Jane Fonda, Klingerman Found., NPR/PBS Funding X-Priority: 1 (Highest)
If you wish, you may forward this Hoax Bulletin #8 in its entirety, because it contains official descriptions of the hoax through links to bona fide sources.
DO NOT FORWARD THESE HOAXES - D-E-L-E-T-E THEM!
1. JANE FONDA E-MAIL It doesn't matter what we think of Jane Fonda. What is important is that the information we disseminate on the Internet is accurate. An e-mail is circulating wchic "blends fact and fiction." I urge you to correct the erroneous information. The correction is provided by Prof. Charles Klingman, whose name appears at the bottom of the hoax you might receive, and he is NOT the originator of the story. Please refer your senders to this page: http://www.sdsltd.com/fonda_hoax.htm
========================= DON'T FALL FOR HOAXES - CHECK OUT AN E-MAIL'S VALIDITY BEFORE CLICKING ON THE "FORWARD" ICON. HERE ARE SOMES SITES:
HOAX AND URBAN LEGENDS PAGES
1. URBAN LEGENDS AND FOLKLORE http://urbanlegends.about.com/science/urbanlegends/
2. KOROVA MULTIMEDIA http://korova.com/virus/hoax_index.htm
3. AFU AND URBAN LEGENDS ARCHIVE http://www.urbanlegends.com/ulz/
========================= SOME VIRUS ENCYCLOPEDIA PAGES
1. NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION CENTER (NIPC) http://www.nipc.gov/
2. MAIN NORTON/SYMANTEC VIRUS ENCYCLOPEDIA PAGE: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/vinfodb.html
3. MAIN McAFEE/NETWORK ASSOCIATES VIRUS ENCYCLOPEDIA PAGE: http://vil.nai.com/villib/alpha.asp
4. F-SECURE CORPORATION (Formerly DATA FELLOWS) VIRUS ENCYCLOPEDIA http://www.datafellows.com/v-descs/
NOTICE TO ADDRESSEES If, after reading this bulletin, you wish to inform people on your address book, you may forward this message in its entirety without altering it.
N. Sherman ns@sdsltd.com Sherman Dynamics & Security Ltd. ======================== Check out http://www.sdsltd.com/hoaxes2.htm for general information on viruses, trojan horses, worms, etc., and virus hoaxes. For more information on hoaxes, check out http://www.sdsltd.com/net_hoaxes.htm.
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