Sinatra performed for President Nixon at a state dinner for Prime Minister Andreotti of Italy on April 17, 1973.
An inaugural gala that featured a stunning array of Broadway and Hollywood stars was held for President Kennedy the night of January 19, 1961, in the old Washington Armory. The ticketed event—purposed to raise funds to pay off campaign debts for the Democratic National Committee—was meticulously planned over a two-month period by Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack buddy Peter Lawford. In addition, the singer served as unofficial host and sang two songs he dedicated to the president: “You Make Me Feel So Young” and “That’s America to Me.” [1]
Some 12 years later, after his conversion from Democrat to Republican, Sinatra again performed for a president, this time Richard Milhous Nixon at a state dinner for Prime Minister Andreotti of Italy on April 17, 1973. After the banquet, in the East Room, Ol’ Blue Eyes opened his 10-song set with “You Make Me Feel So Young” and closed with “That’s America to Me,” the two songs he had sung to Kennedy 12 years before.
Coincidence? We’ll never know. At show’s end, and after the applause had faded, a reporter asked Frank why he had chosen the songs he sang, Sinatra snapped back, “How else could I put a program together?” and moved quickly away. [2]
Guess we’ll never know. And no, he didn’t sing these two songs for President Reagan, even though he performed twice for the septuagenarian president.
Some 12 years later, after his conversion from Democrat to Republican, Sinatra again performed for a president, this time Richard Milhous Nixon at a state dinner for Prime Minister Andreotti of Italy on April 17, 1973. After the banquet, in the East Room, Ol’ Blue Eyes opened his 10-song set with “You Make Me Feel So Young” and closed with “That’s America to Me,” the two songs he had sung to Kennedy 12 years before.
Coincidence? We’ll never know. At show’s end, and after the applause had faded, a reporter asked Frank why he had chosen the songs he sang, Sinatra snapped back, “How else could I put a program together?” and moved quickly away. [2]
Guess we’ll never know. And no, he didn’t sing these two songs for President Reagan, even though he performed twice for the septuagenarian president.
- Kathryn Cramer Brownell, Showbiz Politics: Hollywood in American Life (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2014), 178–81. This book chronicles the relationships between Hollywood insiders and presidential candidates from the 1920s to the end of the twentieth century. Be prepared for some surprises. Republicans at times have been more adept at exploiting the “Glittering Robes of Entertainment” than Democrats.
- Edward Allan Faine, The Best Gig in Town: Jazz Artists at the White House, 1969–1974 (Takoma Park: IM Press, 2015), 141–64.
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