Absolutely Nothing Could Salvage John Wayne’s Biggest, Most Controversial Failure — Not Even the White House

In the midst of the politics of the Vietnam War splitting America, John Wayne doubled down on the controversy that accompanied his decades-long career. In 1968, he made The Green Berets, his love letter to the U.S. military on the war that had the full backing of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration. Wayne set out to rally public support for the increasingly unpopular conflict, roping in the Pentagon, who provided helicopters, weapons, real Green Berets, and access to the army base at Fort Benning, Georgia, for filming. Alongside director Ray Kellogg, Wayne co-directed The Green Berets and starred in it. Feeling more like a government commercial, the movie is a cultural relic that critics and historians alike have continued to dissect for its simplistic politics and cinematic shortcomings despite all the firepower and star power that Wayne brought to it.