You know Holden, its easy to pick on John Wayne. He was in two of the most unpopular movies of all time,
The Green Berets and
Big Jim McLain. These movies supported two of the least popular episodes in American History (McCarthyism and the Vietnam War). However, to criticize him for these choices is really to criticize him in hindsight.
In 1952 and 1968 the causes he was exposing were patriotic. I have trouble criticizing him for being anti-Communist in 1952 and in 1968. In 1952 we were in the middle of the Cold War. I have written a web site on McCarthyism and the Movies(
http://www.jacknilan.com/senatorjoe/index.html), so I am pretty aware of the damage Tail-Gunner Joe did to the country. However, I have trouble condemning the Duke for being in a being in a movie in 1952, which he thought was supporting his country,
The Green Berets was an awful movie, but again, John Wayne thought he was making a movie that was helping his country. In 1968 there were a lot of Americans who believed in the Domino theory. John Wayne made a movie that he thought would help his country (just like he did numerous time in WWII).
John Wayne chose to be in the most anti-racist movie of all time,
The Searchers. I will always admire him for that.
I happen to be a liberal in terms of politics, but I admire Patriots, Conservative or Liberal. I admire John Wayne, not because his choices always turned out to be right, but because he made a decision on what he thought was right, and then chose to follow it.