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"The brothers’ challenges to President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration and comments on other political issues became sharper. Battles with the network censors became more frequent. The brothers took their dispute to the press and became national symbols of countercultural resistance. A little more than two years after the show’s debut, CBS fired Tom and Dick Smothers and canceled their still-successful show."
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| Tom, left, and Dick Smothers on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.” Gosh, they look like just real Americans, but don't let that fool youCBS, via Getty Images |
But here's what happened at the end.
"Lyndon Johnson, too, had been enraged by the Smotherses’ barbs. But when he announced on March 31, 1968, that he would not seek re-election, the dynamic between the president and the brothers shifted substantially.
Tom Smothers recalled being so stunned by Johnson’s TV address that he wrote him a letter, saying that he disagreed with him on the Vietnam War, but was impressed by his other accomplishments and wanted to thank him.
Johnson responded with a letter that Dick read on the last episode.
“It is part of the price of leadership of this great and free nation,” Johnson wrote, “to be the target of clever satirists. You have given the gift of laughter to our people. May we never grow so somber or self-important that we fail to appreciate the humor in our lives.”
I grew up watching The Smothers Brothers. Their satire was subtle and tasteful. They did not make vulgar statements about Johnson's family. They didn't verbally attack the President of the United States. Hopefully you are not proposing that Johnson was above criticism. Oh,and don't discount the pressure that was applied to CBS. They canceled a very successful weekly show. Why?
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