February 2014 - Jane Fonda - The Brooklyn Cocktail

Jane Fonda (1937-)

is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru from New York City.  Fonda opposed the Vietnam War and her associated activities were considered highly controversial.  She visited Hanoi in Northern Vietnam in July of 1972.  During her trip, Fonda made ten radio broadcasts in which she denounced American political and military leaders as "war criminals."  She was photographed seated on an anti-aircraft battery, the same used to bring down American aircraft.  The controversial photo outraged a number of Americans and resentment against her among veterans still exists.  For example, in 2005, a U.S. Navy veteran was arrested after he spat chewing tobacco in Fonda's face during a book-signing event for her autobiography, My Life So Far.  He told reporters that "she spit on our faces for 37 years.  It was absolutely worht it."  Fonda refused to press charges.  In 1988 interview with Barbara Walters, Fonda expressed regret for some of her comments and actions, stating, "I was trying to help end the killing and the war, but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I'm very sorry that I hurt them. [...] I will go to my grave regretting the photograph of me in an anti-aircraft gun, which looks like I was trying to shoot at American planes."  Fonda has also protested the Iraq War and violence against women.  In 2005, she co-founded (with Gloria Steinem) the Women's Media Center, an organization that works to amplify the voices of women in the media through advocacy, media, and leadership training, and the creation of original content.

The Drink:

The Brooklyn

2 oz whiskey
1 oz dry vermouth
1/4 oz maraschino liqueur
dashes Angostura bitters.

Drinkability:  3
Drunkability:  5
Taxic Diversity:  2
Accessibility:  4
Priority for Conservation:  3

Comments: the "3" for Drinkability isn't because we don't like it, it's just a sipper.  

From Women of Vietnam hosted by BallBuster

February 2014 - Joan Baez - Bourbon Swizzle

Joan Baez (1941 - )

is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician, and activist from Staten Island.  She performed at Woodstock in 1969, helped to bring the songs of Bob Dylan to national prominence, and has displayed a lifelong commitment to political and social activism for nonviolence, civil rights, human rights, and the environment.  Baez opposed the Vietnam War and publicly endorsed resisting taxes by withholding sixty percent of her 1963 income taxes, and she encouraged draft resistance at her concerts.  Baez was arrested twice in 1967 for blocking the entrance of the Armed Forces Induction Center in Oakland, California and spent over a month in jail.  During the Christmas season in 1972, Baez joined a peace delegation traveling to North Vietnam, both to address human rights in the region, and to deliver Christmas mail to American prisoners of war.  During her time there, she was caught in the U.S. military's "Christmas bombing" of Hanoi, North Vietnam, during which the city was bombed for eleven straight days.  It saw the largest heavy bomber strikes launched by the U.S. Air Force since the end of World War II.  Her disquiet at the human rights violations of communist Vietnam made her increasingly critical of its government. 

The Drink:

Bourbon Swizzle

2 oz bourbon
1/2 oz apricot brandy
1/2 oz lemon juice
top with ginger ale and garnish with a lemon wheel.

Drinkability:  4.5
Drunkability:  4
Taxic Diversity:  2
Accessibility:  4
Priority for Conservation:  5

Comments: n/a

From Women of Vietnam hosted by BallBuster

February 2014 - Capt. Mary Klinker - Singapore Sling

Captain Mary Therese Klinker (1953-1975)

was a flight nurse during the Vietnam War in the Air Force Nurse Corps.  The first Air Force women to receive orders for Vietnam were the nurses.  Initially, only male nurses were deployed but in short order the demand outstripped the supply because women greatly outnumbered men in the Air Force Nurse Corps.  By the end of the U.S. involvement in the war, the proportion of female officers serving was comparable to that of the male line officers in the Air Force, although female officers were employed chiefly in administration, clerical, personnel, data processing, and supply.  On 4 April 1975, flight nurse Capt. Mary T. Klinker became the last American military woman to die in Vietnam (in total, 8 American women were killed*).  As the war was drawing to a close and Saigon was about to fall, President Gerald R. Ford announced the evacuation of more than 2,000 South Vietnamese and Cambodian children, mostly orphans.  Known as "Operation Babylift," it began tragically when the aircraft carrying infants, flight crew, and caregivers, crashed shortly after taking off from the Tan Son Nhut air base outside Saigon, killing 138 of the 314 people aboard including Capt. Klinker.  She was 27, from Lafayette, Indiana.  She was posthumously awarded the Airman's Medal for Heroism and the Meritorious Service Medal.  She is also on the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. at location 01W 122. 
* In the war, about 50,000 Americans died and between 2-4 million Vietnamese died.  At least half a million Vietnamese deaths were civilians.  

The Drink:

Singapore Sling:

1 1/2 oz gin
3/4 oz cherry brandy
3/4 oz Benedictine
3/4 oz Cointreau (upgraded to Grand Mariner)
1 oz orange juice
3/4 oz lime juice.

Shake with ice and then top with 2-3 oz club soda, a pineapple wedge, orange slice, and marashino cherry.  (Created at Raffles Hotel in Singapore in 1915 by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon)

Drinkability:  4
Drunkability:  4
Taxic Diversity:  4
Accessibility:  4
Priority for Conservation:  5.5  (how did we get over 5?)

Comments: n/a

From Women of Vietnam hosted by BallBuster

February 2014 - Nguyen Thi Dinh - Sake Martini

Nguyen Thi Dinh  (1920-1992)

Was deputy commander of the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War.  From a peasant family in South Vietnam, she fought with the Viet Minh forces against the French in her teens, was in jail 1940-43, and helped lead an insurrection in Ben Tre in 1945 and again in 1960.  As deputy commander of the Viet Cong, Dinh held the highest combat position by a woman during the war.  While in this position she helped to design and deploy recruitment and offensive tactics, including the attack of South Vietnamese and American soldiers during the night while they were still sleeping in order to catch them off guard.  After the war, Dinh became the first female major general in the Vietnam People's Army.  Dinh was also a Deputy Chairman of the COuncil of State and remained very active in the women's movement until her death in 1992.  In her memoir No Other Road to Take [1976], she writes that many involved in the revolution were women, the "long-haired army," which she helped organize.

In traditional Confucian culture, which was imported from China to Vietnam, women were considered both weak and potentially treacherous - not appropriate soldier material at all.  But older Vietnamese traditions honor women warriors such as the Trung Sisters [c. 12-43 CE], who led a mostly-female army in rebellion against the Chinese.  "When war comes, even women have to fight" is an ancient saying in Vietnam.  Gender equality among communist soldiers was an important step toward women's rights in Vietnam.  For the Americans and more conservative South Vietnamese, the presence of female combatants further blurred the line between civilians and fighters, perhaps contributing to atrocities against female non-combatants.

The Drink:

Sake Martini:

2 oz vodka
1/2 oz dry sake
1 tsp plum wine (float on top)

Drinkability:  4
Drunkability:  5
Taxic Diversity:  2
Accessibility:  3
Priority for Conservation:  4  (only with good sake)

Comments:  BB had a *very* nice sake, so she tweaked the proportions to have a little more sake and a little less vodka - was nice.

From Women of Vietnam hosted by BallBuster