Jane Fonda has been arrested seven times that drew national attention: once at a Cleveland airport in 1970 on drug charges that were dismissed within days, and five times in late 2019 during the weekly climate protests she led on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. The 2019 arrests, part of her Fire Drill Fridays campaign with Greenpeace USA, are the ones most people are asking about when they search for Jane Fonda arrested.
The Five Fire Drill Fridays Arrests in 2019
Fonda launched Fire Drill Fridays in October 2019, moved to Washington for the duration, and pledged to get arrested every Friday through the end of the year to pressure Congress on fossil fuels and the Green New Deal.1Greenpeace USA. One Year of Fire Drill Fridays She was 81. Over the next ten weeks, she was taken into custody five times.
- October 11, 2019. Fonda and 15 others were arrested on the Capitol’s east steps after repeated warnings to disperse.2ABC News. Jane Fonda Arrested at Climate Change Strike at Capitol
- October 18, 2019. Fonda was arrested with actor Sam Waterston; 17 people were taken in that day.3CBS News. Jane Fonda, Ted Danson Arrested at Climate Change Protest
- October 25, 2019. Ted Danson was arrested with Fonda and 30 other protesters.4Rolling Stone. Ted Danson Arrested Alongside Jane Fonda at D.C. Climate Change Protest
- November 1, 2019. Her fourth arrest, inside the Hart Senate Office Building, led to an overnight stay in custody and a morning appearance in D.C. Superior Court.5Variety. Jane Fonda, Rosanna Arquette, Catherine Keener Arrested at Climate Protest
- December 20, 2019. On the eve of her 82nd birthday, Fonda was arrested with at least 138 other people, the largest single Fire Drill Friday action. Gloria Steinem and Rosanna Arquette were among those taken in. The crowd sang “Happy Birthday” as she was led away in handcuffs.6USA Today. Jane Fonda Arrested on Eve of 82nd Birthday at Climate Change Protest
Fonda skipped one week of civil disobedience between the fourth and fifth arrests after being warned that another arrest before her mid-November court date could expose her to up to 90 days in jail.7JaneFonda.com. My Fire Drill Fridays
Other well-known figures were arrested at Fire Drill Fridays actions alongside her, including Sally Field, Catherine Keener, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Brooklyn Decker, June Diane Raphael, and Abigail Disney. Waterston was arrested twice.8The Hollywood Reporter. Sam Waterston Arrested for Second Time at Climate Change Protest9Fox 29. Sally Field Arrested While Protesting Climate Change With Jane Fonda Greenpeace later reported that hundreds of activists chose to be arrested over the course of the campaign.1Greenpeace USA. One Year of Fire Drill Fridays
What She Was Charged With
Each Fire Drill Fridays arrest was charged under D.C. Code § 22-1307, a misdemeanor that makes it unlawful to “crowd, obstruct, or incommode” public spaces or building entrances after police have ordered a person to stop. The statute carries a maximum of 90 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both.10D.C. Law Library. D.C. Code § 22-1307 – Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding
In practice, the usual consequence of a first offense was a $50 fine, which let the arrested person skip a court appearance and avoid a record.11The New Yorker. Jane Fonda’s Climate-Change Star Power Fonda’s own description of the process: “You pay 50 bucks and you get out.”12Esquire. Why Was Jane Fonda Arrested Her overnight detention after the fourth arrest was unusual, driven by the stack of charges she had accumulated. Capitol Police issued three warnings before beginning arrests, then handcuffed, processed, and typically released detainees within hours.
The 1970 Cleveland Airport Arrest
Fonda’s first high-profile arrest came on November 3, 1970, at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. She was returning from a Canadian speaking tour that raised money for the Winter Soldier Investigation into U.S. war strategies in Vietnam. Authorities seized her luggage and accused her of smuggling drugs and assaulting a police officer.13Cleveland.com. Hanoi Jane Fonda Got Arrested in Cleveland in 1970, and the Mug Shot Is Iconic
The “drugs” were vitamins, packed in plastic envelopes marked “B,” “L,” and “D” for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Lab testing confirmed it, and the charges were dismissed. Fonda has said authorities told her “they were getting orders from the White House,” and she describes the arrest as a Nixon-era attempt to derail her tour.14JaneFonda.com. Mug Shot Declassified records show she was on Nixon’s “enemies list,” that the FBI obtained her bank records without permission and planted false press stories, and that the CIA intercepted her mail during the 1970s.15Cleveland.com. Jane Fonda Reminds Us That Political Retribution Is Not a New Tactic After the charges were dropped, a Nixon aide suggested in a memo that the administration should insist Fonda was guilty but had been freed through a “cover-up.”
The booking photo became one of the most recognizable mugshots in American history: Fonda, in the shaggy haircut from Klute, raising a clenched fist. Vogue later described it as a symbol of “women who won’t back down.”13Cleveland.com. Hanoi Jane Fonda Got Arrested in Cleveland in 1970, and the Mug Shot Is Iconic
The Hanoi Trip Was Not an Arrest
The 1972 trip to North Vietnam that produced the “Hanoi Jane” nickname is often confused with an arrest, but Fonda was never charged. In July of that year she appeared on 10 Radio Hanoi broadcasts urging American pilots to stop bombing civilian targets, and she was photographed sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun.16TIME. Jane Fonda on the “Hanoi Jane” Nickname The Veterans of Foreign Wars called for her to be tried as a traitor, and the Maryland legislature considered banning her films.
The Nixon Justice Department reviewed transcripts of the broadcasts and concluded there was no basis for a treason prosecution. A DOJ official stated that her broadcasts asked military personnel “to do nothing other than to think.”17JaneFonda.com. The Truth About My Trip to Hanoi Fonda has repeatedly called the gun photograph a “huge, huge mistake” that created the false impression she opposed American soldiers rather than U.S. government policy.16TIME. Jane Fonda on the “Hanoi Jane” Nickname
Speaking at the TIME100 Summit in April 2024, Fonda looked back on turning 82 in a jail cell and called Fire Drill Fridays “the smartest thing I ever did.” She said she had expected the arrests to prompt others to follow: “A lot of women said, ‘Well, I can do that too.’ And that’s why so many gray-haired ladies showed up in Washington.”18People. Jane Fonda Recalls Turning 82 in Jail After Climate Protest Arrest