In Fonda, Vietnam Finds a Link to U.S.

As the 25th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War approaches, old foes are searching for ways to build a new relationship on common ground.

For one Viet Cong war hero, that’s Jane Fonda.

Lt. Gen. Phan Trung Kien, a senior member of the Vietnamese military leadership who rarely ventures into the public eye, met Wednesday with Defense Secretary William S. Cohen as the American ended the first trip to Vietnam by a U.S. defense chief in nearly 30 years.

Beneath a huge portrait of the late Communist leader Ho Chi Minh, the two men talked about setting aside their nations’ bitter past and looking ahead.

But Kien couldn’t help mentioning one war story: his interest, while a Viet Cong operative, in the career of the actress, who opposed the war and stirred a storm of controversy for visiting Hanoi while it was under U.S. attack.

The U.S. officials were intrigued by the reference but puzzled by Kien’s mention of Fonda’s singing career because the actress isn’t known for that talent.

Cohen conjectured later that Kien must have been thinking of another antiwar activist.

“I think he meant Joan Baez,” Cohen told reporters, referring to the folk singer from the same era.