Fifty-six years ago tonight the great singer Nat "King" Cole sang at the GOP convention in the Cow Palace in San Francisco, which re-nominated Ike and Nixon. Four years later, however, he backed JFK and sang for Democrats after that. It might have been a natural progression but it's interesting that Cole was criticized in that period by no less than Thurgood Marshall for not being activist enough--especially after he was physically attacked ns injures, in a possible kidnap attempt, in Birmingham, Ala., but three members of the local white power Citizens Council. He never performed again in the South. Here's Nat in '56:
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