Eartha Kitt also has the great distinction of having lashed out at Lady Bird Johnson at a White House function, enough to make her cry.
Invited to a reception about juvenile delinquency, she snapped at Lady Bird about black children, “They don’t want to go to school because they’re going to be snatched from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam.”
To put this in context, VP Humphrey was attending the National Book Awards ceremony, where the novelist Mitchell Goodman screamed at him “We are burning children in Vietnam!” The anti-war pressure was intense, mean and often violent.
Later, Eartha Kitt was invited back to the White House, and took that opportunity to snap out at President Nixon, both over Vietnam and racism in America.
I guess we are better off without her.
It seemed the perfect opportunity to ask about politics. Ms. Kitt, after all, made headlines in 1968 when she had lunch at the White House with LADY BIRD JOHNSON and criticized the United States' involvement in Vietnam. Iraq is another story.and the Chicago Sun-Times (October 12, 2008):
"I don't believe in war, because I think man is civilized enough to have a very strong debate," Ms. Kitt said. "Leaders should debate and discuss before we rush into war. It may have been too much of a rush job. But now that we're there, we have to support our boys."
She discussed BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, who does anti-Bush concerts.
"I think that Springsteen is playing into the hands of the enemy," she said. "I think that it is wrong for us to stand on a stage where people have paid to hear us sing or play an instrument and entertain them -- it is the wrong place for politics. But if you ask me a question, if I was in the dressing room, I would give you an opinion."
"If he does go through that door into the White House, he's not carrying one race of people with him, but all races of people with him.
Because I have always felt that due to the biracial blood I have inside my body, everybody belongs to me, and I belong to all people.
I have never identified myself as black, white, pink or green. I'm an entertainer and thank goodness that has allowed me to pass through the boundaries of many worlds and many cultures.
If Obama becomes president he become president of all colors or all worlds. ... I've never felt I belonged to a race or a color. I belong to the race of people and that's the way I identify myself -- and hope Obama does too."