Sunday, April 1, 2007

Jane Fonda Anti-War Rally (1970)


The FTA Tour ("Free The Army", a play on the troop expression "Fuck The Army", which in turn was a play on the army slogan "Fun, Travel and Adventure") was an anti-Vietnam War road show designed as a response to Bob Hope's USO tour. It was first organized in April 1970 by activist Fred Gardner, and actors Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland. The tour, referred to as "political vaudeville" by Fonda, visited military towns along the West Coast, with the goal of establishing a dialogue with soldiers about their upcoming deployments to Vietnam.
The resulting dialogue was turned into a film called F.T.A. (released in 1972) that contained very strong, frank criticism of the war by service men and women. Footage and discussion of the FTA Tour is included in the 2005 documentary film Sir! No Sir!.

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