The FTA Show (or FTA Tour or Free The Army tour), a play on the common troop expression "Fuck The Army" (which in turn was a play on the army slogan "Fun, Travel and Adventure"), was a 1971 anti-Vietnam War road show for GIs designed as a response to Bob Hope's patriotic and pro-war USO tour. The idea was first conceived by Howard Levy, an ex-US Army doctor who had just been released from 26 months in Fort Leavenworth military prison for refusing orders to train Green Beret medics on their way to the Vietnam War. Levy convinced actress Jane Fonda who recruited a number of actors, entertainers, musicians and others, including the actors Donald Sutherland, Peter Boyle, Garry Goodrow and Michael Alaimo, comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory and soul and R&B singer Swamp Dogg (Jerry Williams Jr). Alan Myerson, of San Francisco improv comedy group The Committee, agreed to direct, while cartoonist and author Jules Feiffer and playwrights Barbara Garson and Herb Gardner wrote songs and skits for the show. Fred Gardner, the originator of the antiwar GI Coffeehouse movement, became the Tour's "stage manager and liaison to the coffeehouse staffs." At various times other actors, writers, musicians, comedians and entertainers were involved (see infobox). The United States Servicemen's Fund (USSF), with Dr. Levy as one of its principal organizers, became the official sponsor of the tour. The anti-Vietnam War USSF promoted free speech within the US military, funded and supported independent GI newspapers and coffeehouses, and worked to defend the legal rights of GIs. Sponsorship was later taken over by a group called the Entertainment Industry for Peace & Justice (EIPJ).
Anti-Bob Hope USO Tour
For many years the USO organized patriotic pro-military shows at US overseas military bases. Bob Hope became the most famous symbol of these shows through annual Christmas shows and a yearly nationally broadcast TV special. Hope "unequivocally supported the American mission in Vietnam", and praised General Westmoreland at the end of his 1965 Christmas show for "giving of all his military genius trying to preserve American lives and principles." As anti-Vietnam War sentiment increased in the U.S., Hope admitted in 1966 that "'a few' performers had turned down his invitation to join his Christmas tour for servicemen in South Vietnam because they disapproved of United States policy", but confirmed his own commitment to the war, saying "We ought to move a little faster – hawk style." Further, Hope's old fashioned vaudeville-rooted style and jokes "began to fall flat for audiences of young GIs, who often found [his] show corny at best, offensive at worst." His retro comedy often "objectified his female co-stars" and included "racist jokes." "During one show he infamously joked that the bombing of North Vietnam was 'the best slum clearance project they ever had,' insulting the humanity of Vietnamese and denigrating American minorities who lived in so-called slums." In 1970 The New York Times quoted one of Hope's writers, "He just doesn't understand how the G.I. of today feels." The writer jokingly continued, "When he sees a V sign in his audience he thinks two guys want to go to the bathroom." The Times also cited a Newsweek magazine report: "Hope was met by 'a barrage of boos' last December when he said President Nixon had asked him to tell the troops he had 'a solid plan for ending the war.'" At a Saigon USO show in 1970, an opening act of GI musicians dedicated their first song to "Mr. Bob Hope" and proceeded to play the heavy metal antiwar classic by Black Sabbath, "War Pigs".
The FTA Show is formed
These contending views intensified and by 1970 both The New York Times and The Washington Post were taking note of U.S. troop "disillusionment with Hope's humor and prowar message". Fonda told reporters that the FTA Show was inspired by "articles in The Washington Post and The New York Times about soldiers in Vietnam who were dissatisfied with the typical USO shows." She told a reporter from the Times that the show would reinforce "what the soldiers already know. They know that the war is insane. They know what GIs have to contend with better than we do. We're simply saying, 'We know what you're up against and we support you.'" Fonda was convinced "The military is filled with men who are against the war!" She explained:
The same reporter pointed out that Fonda had a lot to lose and asked whether she feared "for her career in movies?" Fonda responded, "if, because of my political activities, I were prevented from working in Hollywoodand there are no indications that that is likely to happenI would work elsewhere. That's all."