Nation music legend Johnny Money had by no means worn tails earlier than President Richard Nixon invited him to carry out on the White Home on April 17, 1970, the identical day the Apollo 13 astronauts have been rescued. Besieged by Vietnam Conflict protests, Nixon thought that Money might assist him with southern voters, a key bloc for the Republican Get together then and now. The singer got here from a rural, conservative and spiritual background. He additionally supported disenfranchised Native Individuals and performed his music for audiences of imprisoned convicts.
The Netflix documentary ReMastered: Nixon and the Man in Black chronicles Johnny Money’s 1970 go to to the White Home. Nixon noticed Money as considered one of his personal – a patriot. What might go fallacious? However Nixon by no means anticipated to conflict with the singer’s strong-willed character. The White Home had the vanity to publicly ask Money to sing two songs by different artists, songs with overtly reactionary lyrics: Welfare Cadilac mocked poor individuals who trusted welfare, and Okie from Muskogee ridiculed the rebellious hippies who so offended Nixon.
Money had simply come from performing for US troops in Vietnam, the place he was shocked to witness all of the helicopters bringing in wounded troopers from the battlefields. Johnny Money refused to honor Nixon’s request, and as an alternative carried out considered one of his personal songs, What’s Reality? “And the lonely voice of youth cries ‘What’s fact?’… Yeah, those that you simply’re calling wild are going to be the leaders in a short while… This previous world’s wakin’ to a new child day, and I solemnly swear that it’ll be their method.” Money later coated Bob Dylan’s pacifist anthem, Blowin’ within the Wind on his tv program. The singer met as soon as once more with Nixon in 1972 to advertise jail reform.
Nixon lied to Individuals about wanting a “lasting peace” in Vietnam and as an alternative invaded Cambodia. In 1974, he was felled by one other lie – Watergate. Phrases mattered to Johnny Money, and nobody was going to place phrases in his mouth, not even a president.
