Like other awards shows this year, the Academy Awards on Sunday night will undoubtedly be a political event. And conservatives will scold entertainers for it. …
But historically, conservatives have benefited just as much as liberals, if not more, in deploying the platforms and practices of the entertainment industry for political gain. …
The right has been effective in translating entertainment into votes ever since Louis B. Mayer turned his studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, into a political tool for Republicans in the 1920s — taking pictures of Calvin Coolidge on set in 1924, raising money and delivering radio addresses for Republicans in 1928. …
But it was Richard Nixon who cemented the Republican-Hollywood connection. CONT.
Kathryn Cramer Brownell (Purdue), Washington Post