The Patriot
by John Nichols
Forty years ago, America's cultural icons expressed the frustration of the American people with the failure of then-President Lyndon Johnson to end this country's undeclared war in Vietnam by boldly demanding peace. The most respected newsman in the nation, CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, explained to a national television audience after the Tet Offensive that the war had gone horribly awry.
Singer Johnny Cash, whose music and style had made him a hero of blue-collar Americans, described himself as "a dove with claws" and began singing the anti-war song "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream." The Smothers Brothers variety show was censored when it attempted to air a segment featuring Harry Belafonte singing in front of images of student protesters clashing with the police. CBS executives reportedly feared that the implicit anti-war message would offend President Johnson and his aides. But the most direct and powerful anti-war statement of the period was delivered by singer Eartha Kitt, then at the height of her celebrity.
I, like many of my vintage, was first exposed to the perfectly feline Kitt through her portrayal of Cat Woman on the campy Batman television series of the 1960's. (Kids searching Youtube for any "dark" undertones in that Batman incarnation can stop right here). 
