On January 18th 1968, Lady Bird Johnson, the first lady and wife of Lyndon B. Johnson, held a luncheon at the White House and invited prominent women in the United States. One of these women was Eartha Kitt who was an influential singer and actress who is best known for her song “Santa Baby”. The First lady was advised to bring in Kitt by fellow women that were invited because of her advocacy for President Johnson’s policy on crime. What Lady Bird did not expect though was how outspoken Eartha Kitt would be.
The first thing that Earth Kitt did when arriving at the luncheon was approach the President and questions him on the topic of Social security. President Johnson dismissed he question and told her that it was not a subject that should be discussed at a women’s luncheon. This response did not sit well with Eartha and it is a prime example of how women were treated during this time period. This first interaction displeased Eartha and caused her to keep asking questions and raise displeasure with the Vietnam War.
The luncheon started and the First Lady reportedly asked Eartha Kitt about her stance on the Vietnam War. Kitt lashed out against this question reportedly saying things such as “You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed”. Kitt was angered with the First Ladies ignorance with the war and what was truly going on at home. The First lady was embarrassed by the incident and it made national news that Eartha Kitt had been so blatant in her comments. Kitt did not regret any of her comments and was proud that she had said something that sparked discussion, but these comments would follow her for the rest of her life.
Above is an interview from 1995 with Eartha Kitt in which she talks about the 27 years that have transpired since her comments at the White House. After her comments at the White House that fateful day, Kitt was not able to find work within the United States and was forced to look for work in Europe. She did not return to the United States until 1978 in which she was able to return to her career. She claims in this interview that it was at the President and First Ladies request that the CIA and FBI blackmail her and prevent her career from continuing. At the bottom of one of the documents given to her by the CIA in 1974, it writes that the CIA was instructed at that time to deface her in order for her influence to not be spread.
Eartha Kitt was pushed out of her profession and out of the public eye for responding to a question on the influence of the war upon American culture and its individuals. This is a prime example of what President Johnson and the government agencies were doing to prominent individuals from the onset of the Red Scare to the end of the Vietnam War. Famous individuals such as Kitt have a big voice and influence upon a population especially when they create controversy or speak out against a government as she did. Over and over the government suppress and defaced these individuals comments and careers.
I believe one of the most important lies in this interview is when she says that the news outlets wanted her to apologize for her comments years later and she responded by saying “That the government should apologize to the American people because they know that we should not have been involved in the War”. The government knew what it was doing was wrong and instead of admitting it when people such as Kitt spoke up, they defaced them and tried to destroy their careers.
Anti-War Suppression 