Meeting My First President
I was eating lunch all by myself at home when I got a text today from my son, Debo, who asked, “Do you know where you were on this date in 1970?” My reply was an obvious, “No, do you?” And sure enough he did. He wrote back, “You were at the White House performing for President Nixon. Give me some memories.” And sure enough he was right. I get that a lot from both my sons. They are great Statler historians and they are always saying to me, “Give me some memories”. I usually don’t think I have much to offer and maybe I don’t on this, but here goes with what I remember.
April 17, 1970- 47 year ago – Memories:
We were right in the heat of the Johnny Cash TV show on ABC. We were regulars on every show; the show was hot and the invitation came from the White House for John and cast to come to D.C and entertain. But it also came with what was said to be a personal request from the President for John to sing “Welfare Cadillac”. This was a novelty hit of the day, long gone and forgotten now, by someone named Guy Drake and I never heard of him before or after this one song. But the lyric was about bilking the welfare system and we knew John was not going to do anything that political at the time even if it was requested personally by the President of the United States. But it was a big national news story for about a week before the appearance and all the country was in suspense as to whether Johnny Cash would sing this political, satiric ditty that Mr. Nixon had requested.
John and June, the Statlers, Carl Perkins, the Carters and The Tennessee Three converged on the White House at 4:30 that afternoon for a rehearsal in the East Room. (The Statlers would perform a number of times by invitation in that same room for future presidents although we had no idea of those coming events at the time.) President Nixon personally served as emcee and introduced the show that night. He was in a particularly good mood as Apollo 13 had just splashed down successfully hours before the show began. He and First Lady Pat sat on the front row and hopefully enjoyed themselves. We never knew for sure because they were very somber and staid people and their faces never really reflected whether they were having a good time or not. It was a rousing good show as I remember it and afterward the Nixons and all the Washington dignitaries there were in a glee telling us how much they enjoyed it. The President even invited the Statlers to his house in San Clemente a couple of years later. He gave us each a pair of Presidential cuff links that I always wear whenever I dress formal.
We did a lot of gospel songs with John that night: “Peace in the Valley”, “Were You There?”, “This Ole House”. We learned from John never to turn from the music you’re comfortable with no matter where you’re playing. It’s your music that has brought you there and you should always be yourself in every situation. Which brings us right back around to “Welfare Cadillac”.
Just as we had predicted when it first came up, he did not sing that song. He never sang that song. And to this day it is still a minor mystery as to who Guy Drake was.
And here’s something else I remember. The audience was full of Congressmen and Governors of the day and familiar faces from the evening news and it was sort of a heady experience to see them all there listening intently as we performed. But the calming effect was three friendly faces from our own comfort level smiling back at us all from the second row. Roy Acuff, Tex Ritter and Archie Campbell. I loved all three of those legends dearly. I should write about each of them one day.
4/17/17 DSR
