Politics: The Cowboy, The Gipper & Michelangelo

As anyone of my generation, or especially the generation preceding, can tell you, John Wayne was the most popular cowboy star of all time. In his day, the western was the de facto leader of all the film genres, loved by nearly everyone. The film studios churned-out "B" westerns weekly, with the likes of singing cowboys Roy Rogers or Gene Autry, and many "A" pics, like High Noon or Shane became bone fide classics.

The "horse operas" that Wayne inhabited depicted a simple world with no shades of gray, much like the world that President Dubya sees today. There were good guys and bad guys. Nobody had mixed agendas and everyone knew which side they were on. The bad guys all wore black hats and were pure evil, with nothing on their minds but breaking the law and making life miserable for the good folks, who all wore white hats. The outlaws would always terrorize the good, like some axis of evil, until John Wayne would organize a coalition of the willing to liberate them from their tyranny.

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John Wayne In The Green Berets

In a sense, John Wayne was also a political activist, although I'm certain he would deny such a label. He was not afraid to use his position as a much loved cowboy star to speak-up on important political issues of the day. In 1968, for example, as public support for President Johnson's war in Vietnam was waning, he co-directed and stared in The Green Berets, a film that Wayne hoped would make our adventure in southeast Asia popular again. The movie failed in it's mission, although it was a success at the box office.

Among the crown that participated in the movement against the Vietnam war, it became popular to berate Wayne as a supposed fascist or to call him a dupe for the "establishment." Because of his politics, many in my crowd would refuse to watch a John Wayne film, even on television. But never did I hear anyone say that he had no right to use his position as a film star to promote his political ideas.

Ronald Reagan, of course, was another film star who dabbled in politics. His acting career was unexceptional by any standard, with most people from my generation remembering him mostly as one of the hosts of television's Death Valley Days, although later Knute Rockne: All American would become his most well known film.

Everybody knows Reagan's story. In 1947, then again in 1959, he was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild, where he developed the political savvy to eventually ad lib his way into two terms as California's governor by defeating incumbent Edmund G. Brown. In 1980, he went on to defeat another incumbent, US President Jimmy Carter, to become one of the most popular presidents of the twentieth century.

As popular as he might have been, however, he was not universally liked. Among my crowd, in fact, he was pretty much hated, mostly for his war mongering and his position on drug testing. However, in all of my discussions on Reagan, I've never heard anyone say that he had no right to parlay his position as a screen star into a political career.

Then there's Charlton Heston, a film actor who has become so identified with the National Rifle Association that in many people's minds he is the NRA. To opponents of gun control legislation he is a hero, sort of a modern-day Paul Revere and Patrick Henry rolled-up into a warrior for every American's right to own a gun. Like Wayne and Reagan, he is much hated by many on the left, but I have never heard anyone say that he has no right to use his position as a film star to become a spokesperson for the gun lobby.

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Susan Sarandon

Now there is a new breed of political activist in Hollywood, a group that has come out of the antiwar experience of the Vietnam years to voice opposition to our military action in Iraq. Actors like Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Martin Sheen and others have been voicing their conviction that this war is both wrong and beneath us. There are many who applaud them for taking a stance on this issue. A greater number hate them for speaking their mind. And many times I have heard it said that they have absolutely no right to use their stardom to speak their minds on this subject.

All Americans have a constitutional right to speak out, pro or con, on any political issue. Although I disagree with them, I greatly admire the likes of John Wayne, Ronald Reagan and Charlton Heston for having the courage of their convictions. Likewise, I admire Sarandon, Robbins and Sheen for taking the chance on losing box office revenue or ratings in order to voice their opinions, just as I admire Robin Williams for taking time out of his schedule to entertain our troops overseas.

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