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Friday, January 31, 2025

January 31, 2025: Musical Activism: Endorsements

[Forty years ago this week, the musical supergroup USA (United Support of Artists) for Africa recorded their single “We are the World” (it would drop on March 7th). So this week I’ll AmericanStudy that effort and other examples of musical activism!]

On three examples and types of political endorsements from musicians.

1)      Elvis and the Polio Vaccine: I said in that hyperlinked post much of what I’d want to say about the role played by Elvis Presley (among other celebrities) in helping make the new and frustratingly (if not necessarily, here in early 2025, surprisingly) controversial polio vaccine palatable to the American public in the 1950s. A moment that helpfully reminds us, when we’re quick to complain about the outsized influence of celebs in our moment or on the public, that it’s been thus for at least half a century now.

2)      Elvis and Nixon: As that Time article indicates, the most-requested photo from the National Archives is the one that captures the December 1970 Oval Office meeting between the President and the King. It wasn’t an endorsement exactly—Nixon was in between campaigns at the time, and Presley wasn’t there to support any particular policy or the like—but it nonetheless reflects that the intersection between musical celebrities and political figures is likewise nothing new.

3)      Sinatra and Multiple Campaigns: My man Bruce Springsteen might have eclipsed the record over the last few presidential campaigns, but for a good while no musicians had endorsed more such campaigns than did Frank Sinatra. And likely no other has crossed party lines in the way Ol’ Blue Eyes did—campaigning with FDR in 1944 and JFK in 1960 but later endorsing Ronald Reagan during his 1980 campaign. Much as those shifts might have angered particular supporters, I think they do reflect, as I believe Springsteen’s certainly do as well, artists genuinely sharing their perspectives (which, to be clear, was also the case with Kamala’s endorsers in this last campaign, who despite false stories to the contrary were not paid for their support).  

January Recap this weekend,

Ben

PS. What do you think? Activisms you’d highlight?

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