Why did former child star Shirley Temple Black criticize Eartha Kitt?
In January 1968, Kitt was invited to a luncheon the First Lady was giving that featured a discussion on crime and juvenile delinquency. Always known for speaking her mind, Kitt caused a sensation when she challenged Mrs. Johnson about the effects of the war on young people in America. As the New York Times reported: Singer Eartha Kitt stunned fellow guests at a White House luncheon and left Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson in tears Thursday when she declared angrily that the Vietnam War was causing American youth to rebel in the cities. About 50 white and Negro women invited to the White House to discuss President Johnson’s proposals to combat crime in the streets sat at their tables in embarrassed silence as Miss Kitt delivered an emotional tirade against the war. “You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed,” she told her fellow guests. “They rebel in the street. They will take pot…and they will get high. They don’t want to go to school because they’re going to be snatched of
This is the original news story. Singer Eartha Kitt stunned fellow guests at a White House luncheon and left Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson in tears Thursday when she declared angrily that the Vietnam War was causing American youth to rebel in the cities. About 50 white and Negro women invited to the White House to discuss President Johnson’s proposals to combat crime in the streets sat at their tables in embarrassed silence as Miss Kitt delivered an emotional tirade against the war. “You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed,” she told her fellow guests. “They rebel in the street. They will take pot…and they will get high. They don’t want to go to school because they’re going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam.” Mrs. Johnson rose afterward and looked directly at the singer, who leaned against a podium in the yellow-walled family dining room. “Because there is a war on–and I pray that there will be a just and honest peace–that still doesn’t give u
This is the original news story. Singer Eartha Kitt stunned fellow guests at a White House luncheon and left Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson in tears Thursday when she declared angrily that the Vietnam War was causing American youth to rebel in the cities. About 50 white and Negro women invited to the White House to discuss President Johnson’s proposals to combat crime in the streets sat at their tables in embarrassed silence as Miss Kitt delivered an emotional tirade against the war. “You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed,” she told her fellow guests. “They rebel in the street. They will take pot…and they will get high. They don’t want to go to school because they’re going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam.” Mrs. Johnson rose afterward and looked directly at the singer, who leaned against a podium in the yellow-walled family dining room. “Because there is a war on–and I pray that there will be a just and honest peace–that still doesn’t give u
