Dec. 18, 1957
It’s hard to believe a column by the late Art Buchwald ever made anyone angry. In fact, it’s hard to imagine that he ever accelerated anybody’s pulse even modestly.
But he hit a nerve in the Eisenhower administration with this satiric item about the president’s visit to the NATO conference in Paris. I mean, Art Buchwald, controversial? Are you serious?
To me, this reads like any other Buchwald column in all his innocuous, nonthreatening glory. But Press Secretary James C. Hagerty was furious. No wonder America was stunned by Vaughn Meader’s "The First Family." I wonder what these men would make of today’s political commentary.
Read below for Art Buchwald’s incendiary political satire:
ladailymirror.com 
Hagerty never got the treatment from Don Imus.
Then again no 1950’s media personality would even think of doing to Eisenhower what Don Imus did to Clinton while Clinton was in the White House. Imus is an extreme example. How about the way Will Rogers goofed on Calvin Coolidge?
Personally, I think the conformity and general sheepishness of the media during the 1950’s could be attributed to the Red baiting of the McCarthy Era. Is there anything today that could compare to the blacklist during the 1950’s? If I was to compare the post 9-11 atmosphere in this country to the McCarthy Era, I would say the McCarthy Era was far worst because it was more far reaching and insidious.
Then again, something like what Buchwald wrote might have gotten him thrown in prison or worst in Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia or Mao’s China for a few examples. Even sly and subtle satire could be a dangerous thing under certain regimes.
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