FRANK AND THE PRESIDENT’S INAUGURAL GALAS.
By Mahnuel Muñoz
Frank always liked politics. His mother was an active Democrat, and Sinatra grew up surrounded by a progressive ideological environment that led him, when he was already famous, to support his favorite candidates and express his opinions openly, which caused him many problems, especially in the early years, when Hollywood was extremely conservative in its ideas. US Senator Joseph McCarthy, obsessed with the communist threat, drew up a blacklist of artists and celebrities suspected of belonging to the Communist Party or sympathizing with its ideas; Many of those included on the infamous list had their lives and his career ruined. Frank Sinatra was one of the names. If you are interested in the topic of the blacklist and you don’t know about it, I can go into it in depth another day. Tell me and it will be enough.
Fast forward to the 1960s. When Joseph Kennedy entered the political scene, Frank did not hesitate to join his cause. During JFK’s campaign for the presidency, Frank worked tirelessly to support and seek more support for the cause among his colleagues and friends. An invaluable help was that of Peter Lawford, the actor and member of the “Rat Pack” who was married to Kennedy’s sister Patricia. The future president was an admirer of the exciting and glamorous nightlife world of Hollywood and Las Vegas and he certainly enjoyed a few nights of total debauchery with Sinatra and his court.
It is not strange then that, when JFK won the election, he turned to Frank to produce the Inauguration Gala in 1961.
Sinatra dedicated months exclusively to preparing the ceremony. In contrast to what is happening to Donald Trump today, the most flowery of show business wanted to be there to show their support for the President: from Harry Belafonte to Nelson Riddle, from Leonard Bernstein to Betty Davis, including Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Mahalia Jackson, Gene Kelly, Janet Leigh and of course Sinatra, crowning a long and golden etcetera…
Years passed and Frank Sinatra turned towards more conservative political ideas, for a complex series of reasons whose analysis may be the subject of another post. In the 1970s he supported Nixon and sang for him. He provided help to Ronald Reagan when he left the film and television sets to become governor and later president. In 1981 he produced the Reagan Inauguration Gala and featured legends such as Dean Martin, Johnny Carson, Charlton Heston and Bob Hope.
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