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Back when she was a regular Post contributor, author Joan Didion had a chance to meet one of her childhood heroes. The result was "John Wayne, A Long Song."
John Wayne made 142 movies in his career, mostly westerns and war films. When actor John Wayne visited American soldiers in Vietnam in the summer of 1966, he was warmly welcomed. As he spoke to groups and individuals, he was presented gifts and letters from American and South Vietnamese troops alike. This was not the case during his USO tours in 1942 and ’43. According to author Garry Wills’ 1998 book, “John Wayne’ America: the Politics of Celebrity,” the actor received a chorus of boos when he walked onto the USO stages in Australia and the Pacific Islands. Those audiences were fil...