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Tuesday, August 5, 2014

That Ray Conniff Singer and Nixon

If you watched the HBO doc Nixon on Nixon last night, or on HBO GO this week, you may have noted an incident I'd long forgotten--the night at the White House in early 1972 when a singer with the super-square Ray Conniff Singers held up a protest sign vs. the Vietnam war and gave a little speech--"Bless the Berrigans, and Bless Daniel Ellsberg"--as they were about to go into their first super-square song.  Nixon was there, for course, but so were Charles Lindbergh, Frank Borman, Lionel Hampton, Billy Graham, Bob Hope, and so on.  It was a dinner for the Reader's Digest.  Martha Mitchell said, "She ought to be torn limb from limb."  You don't learn any of this from the doc but it's all in a lengthy 1997 piece in the Wash Post.  She got booted out after that first song.  Her name now rings a bell--Carole Feraci.  And she was still alive in '97 and talked to the Post. 

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greg, is she still alive now?

kellyashcraft@yahoo.com said...

She is still alive and living in Southern California. I've known her my whole life, she's an amazing woman... still full of idealism.

Anonymous said...

I live for her. More people should be like her.

Anonymous said...

What a brave American. Please post a pic of her now.

Zoompad said...

Wow, what a beautiful lady! How dare they have a go at her for that, and what a hypocrite Billy Graham is!

kellyashcraft@yahoo.com said...

Hello! I am a friend of Carole Feraci. She wrote this statement regarding the current state of American politics and asked me to post it for her:

"I feel, once again, that it is time to make my voice heard.

All of mankind is about to be annihilated. The very people who have sworn an oath to protect the people and the planet have somehow gotten to place where they see the masses as the enemy. When we march in the streets, it is to make our voices heard. Not to do harm to anyone or anything. You keepers of the peace, please stop looking at us as the enemy. Fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters of all humanity should be allowed to at least provide for ourselves and our families. Keepers of the peace, don't look at us as the enemy. We are not. Rather, look at us as the family of the world who is being attacked by greed and evil. Don't harm the people for doing what they can to make their voices heard; it is the only way we have to relay our wishes to the powerful. Put down your weapons and gather together for righteousness. Don't let the masters keep ruining our planet, for this is what provides us with life. Don't let them take away our water and drill pipelines into our ancestors' graves. Let them rest in peace. As we now know, the energy companies are now complicit to grow their own wealth and to eventually starve the masses. It is time for everybody to wake up. Do not let another Hitler mentality take over our very existence. Let us unite under the banner of peace, love, and joy, which is our God given right. Whatever our name for Him, our God is our creator and salvation. Honor thy God with all thy might and all thy love. People of the world unite. It is time. For the forces of evil have shown themselves as never before. This is the final battle."

-Carole Feraci