Yet in the 1960s, the caldron of social issues and political
unrest throughout the country, coupled in 1967-68 with an
offering of hopeful candidates – especially on the Democratic
side — brought both older and newer Hollywood celebrities into
the political process like never before. “In no other election,”
observed Time magazine in late May 1968, “have so many actors,
singers, writers, poets, artists, professional athletes and
assorted other celebrities signed up, given out and turned on
for the candidates.” A war was then raging in Vietnam and a
military draft was taking the nation’s young to fight it.
President Lyndon Johnson had raised U.S. troop strength in
Vietnam to 486,000 by the end of 1967. Protests had erupted at a
number of colleges and universities. In late October 1967, tens
of thousands of demonstrators came to the Pentagon calling for
an end to the war. In addition, a growing civil rights movement
had pointed up injustice and racism throughout America. Three
summers of urban unrest had occurre