The actress, Jane Fonda was arrested today.
Accused of smuggling and treason.
They needed a person
to do something really terrible.
And that was me.
You were photographed behind
aerial gun of the North Vietnamese.
What were you doing behind an enemy gun?
People felt very suspicious
about my motives.
She's the most despicable woman.
I don't care if she's
a famous movie star, that is treason.
They just tried to smear
her reputation over and over.
I'm naive and I make mistakes,
but it was my fault that I sat there.
I will go to my grave regretting that.
How did it feel to know
that the president of the United States
was targeting you personally?
And I knew that it was to scare us.
We came home, there wasn't
a drawer in the house
that wasn't pulled out and turned over.
They would've killed her if they could.
Well when the president does it,
it is not illegal.
Jane Fonda fights back against Nixon.
President Nixon has been
put on trial for abusing his power.
I consider Jane Fonda
one of the most courageous
women of our time.
You think I'm gonna back down?
What can they do to me now
that they haven't already tried?
I will never forget the day.
I was aware that I was being followed
and there was very little attempt
to disguise it.
There'd be these guys in trench coats
with dark glasses.
I was traveling from Canada,
and I had a suitcase
filled with vitamin pills in little envelopes,
and they busted me for drug trafficking.
The arresting officer said to me,
I'm working on orders
from the White House.
Jane's father, Henry Fonda,
warned her that this would happen.
But she was desperate to make him proud.
I became an activist because of Dad.
He stood up for the underdog,
fairness, and justice.
I wanted to prove to him
that I could also stand up for justice.
My father could look from the
upstairs window
and see the leadership of the
Black Panther party
going in and out.
And he said to me, I'm gonna turn you in.
He was a hero to so many people,
but these kind of men
aren't always good fathers.
It's hard to be both.
Her dad had been chasing his Oscar dreams
and abandoned Jane in her darkest moment.
I came home from school one day.
My father and my grandmother
were sitting in the living room,
and they sat me down,
and they said, your mother died
of a heart attack.
My father took me to Union Station
with my suitcase
and put me on the train to boarding school.
He was newly married.
He was in a play on Broadway
and making films.
And I couldn't continue living
at home with him.
A year after my mother died,
I was in study hall
and a girlfriend passed me a
movie magazine
in which it said that my mother
had cut her throat.
I sat on the edge of my bed thinking,
what's the matter with me?
Why can't I cry?
I was floundering.
My father called me frivolous and lazy.
He didn't realize that I was suffering.
Jane was a talented actor like her father,
but she was driven to do more.
I wanted my life to have meaning.
There was so much catching up
to do about Vietnam,
and about Native Americans,
and about what
was happening to Black people.
How could I have reached the age of 32
in such ignorance?
I felt so guilty.
All of a sudden become an overnight
righteous activist.
People felt very suspicious
about my motives.
You are a rich movie star, why do you care?
Why are you involving yourself in this?
She dedicated herself to a higher cause,
but President Richard Nixon
was determined to shut her up.
What in the world is the matter
with Jane Fonda?
She's a great actress.
She looks pretty, but boy
she's often on the wrong track.
Ms. Fonda is quite active in
the peace movement, the civil rights field,
efforts to aid Mexican Americans,
American Indians, and dissident soldiers.
Jane Fonda is reported to be
on Nixon's list of enemies.
A list of people Nixon is
determined to take down.
We came home, there wasn't a
drawer in the house
that wasn't pulled out and turned over.
Everything was torn out of the closets,
papers were rifled, desks were opened.
Someone had gone through our house.
I knew that it was to scare us.
Jane refused to back down.
But when she took her activism overseas
she made a huge mistake.
I didn't quite know what I was doing
or how to make proper use of my celebrity.
So much had happened so quickly.
Nixon was bringing ground troops home
and he was saying that he was
ending the war.
When in fact it wasn't.
And then in your trip
you were photographed behind a aerial gun
of the North Vietnamese.
I will go to my grave regretting that.
Well, what were you doing
behind a enemy gun?
I wasn't even thinking what I was doing.
And that image went out, and the image
makes it look like I was against our soldiers,
which was never the case.
I had been working with soldiers
prior to that,
and for years after that.
And I knew right away that was wrong.
I'm naive and I make mistakes,
but it was my fault that I sat there.
Nixon took advantage of Jane's mistake
and made her a national target.
They needed a very visible person
who represented the peace movement
to do something really terrible.
And that was me.
Jane Fonda's an outrageous liar.
She's a hypocrite and a liar.
She's the most despicable woman.
I don't care if she's
a tender young female,
a famous movie star, that is treason.
Actress Jane Fonda was arrested today
at the airport in Cleveland.
Well, how did it feel to know that
the president of the United States
was targeting you personally?
He wanted to figure out how they could
get me for treason.
And so he assigned
to the justice department to find a way.
And they ended up coming
back to him and saying,
she didn't commit treason.
You should focus on somebody
who's really a danger.
I was exonerated.
Shortly after Jane was proven innocent,
Nixon was convicted of abusing his power.
President Nixon stunned the country today
by admitting that he held back evidence.
Well when the president does it,
it is not illegal.
President Nixon will announce
his resignation tonight.
But it didn't take the target off
Jane's back.
One vet spit tobacco juice at me.
And it got a lot of headlines.
They've spread lies about things
that I supposedly did that aren't true.
I'm proud of most of what I did.
And I'm very sorry for some of what I did.
Despite everyone turning against her,
Jane realized true activism meant
putting others' needs before her own.
What the hell do you have to lose?
So arrest me already.
So I'm gonna be
an activist like you've never seen.
So what, what can they do to me now
that they haven't already tried?
You've been taking your public
by surprise recently.
From where I am it looks like
a different Jane Fonda.
Oh, I think you're right,
I think I am different.
To men who were in Vietnam, who I hurt,
I owe them an apology.
I was trying to help
and I was thoughtless and careless about it.
And I am very sorry that I hurt them.
And I want to apologize to them
and to their families.
I've gotten many, many letters
from Vietnam veterans
who indicate that they have healed
and that they are forgiving.
I wasn't some privileged person.
It was full time, on the ground activism.
I consider Jane Fonda
one of the most courageous women
of our time because she made a conversion
from a life that was so sterile
and easy to live
into a life that's filled with
harassments and ridicule,
and requires real courage.
I've become a whole
full whole human being, finally.
Having learned from her mistakes,
Jane supported her father for who he was,
instead of who she wanted him to be.
I wanted to work with him,
we knew he was dying.
I saw the play "On Golden Pond"
and I thought,
boy this is a great part for him
that could win him an Oscar.
And so I produced it.
The parallels were very, very
close between the characters
and my father and I in real life.
I reached out and I touched his arm
and he put his hand up,
but I saw the tears in his eyes.
And you know, it just,
it meant the world to me.
And the winner is Henry Fonda.
Oh Dad, I'm so happy and proud for you.
And on his death bed
she was there for him when
he needed her the most.
Sitting by my father's bedside
as he was dying,
he wouldn't say anything.
I wanted him to tell me that he loved me
and I wanted to ask him questions.
And I knelt at his feet and
looked up at him,
and I told him that I loved him,
and I knew he'd done
the best that he could.
I don't know what it meant for him,
but I do know that he is with me.
And I feel his energy, I feel so lucky.
And after his death,
Jane learned how her father
truly felt all along.
There was an interview with your father
that was done in 1974.
And he said, and I quote,
Jane is the best actress and...
I couldn't be more proud,
She's not only this incredible actress,
but she's the activist.
You're proud of that part of her?
I'm in awe.
Are you surprised?
He never told me that.
I had no idea that he admired me.
By committing herself to change,
and standing up for others,
Jane found her true purpose.
And I'm glad that I continue
to change and grow
When I was young I thought
that activism was a sprint.
If I just go fast enough
everything can be fixed really quick.
And then I got a little older,
and I realized that it's really a relay.
You pass the baton.
Well, you just have to feel
in your gut, in your heart,
I know who I am,
I know that this is the right thing to do.