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How June Foray became an official enemy of Richard Nixon
One might say they had beef over beef!
June Foray, beloved voice actress behind characters like Jokey Smurf and Looney Tunes' Granny, was on Richard Nixon's official list of enemies.
In an interview with the Television Academy, Foray discussed how she landed on the list: "A friend of mine called, and I had read it in the paper, that some women in either Connecticut or Massachusetts were boycotting meat because meat prices were so high. So she said, 'Why don't we start it?' so I thought, well, why not? Because I'm not much of a meat-eater anyway!"
The boycott was in response to a series of economic measures called the Nixon Shock, which included price freezes on goods. While the Nixon Shock was meant to fight inflation, it was ultimately unsuccessful in preventing the 1973 recession.
Foray and her friends founded an organization called Fight Inflation Together, also known as FIT. Individuals and groups pledged to FIT that they would abstain from meat every Tuesday and Thursday, in addition to the entire first week of every month. At the time of the boycott, Foray interviewed with the South Bend Tribune about the boycott's success. "Our phone doesn't stop ringing. It's sweeping the country...People all over the country tell us they've been wanting to do something and didn't know how."
Foray doubled down that the organization and boycott were nonpolitical; the only goal was to bring down meat prices. Within the first month of the boycott, they received 3,000 pledges and started clubs in 40 different cities. To help bring awareness to the cause, Foray posed for photos with all of the letters FIT was receiving from supporters.
While the boycott was not directed at Richard Nixon at all, Foray received a call from Michael Jackson. No, not that Michael Jackson, but the talk show host, whose show Foray appeared on. Jackson received harassing calls about Foray's appearance on his show and gave her a heads-up about it. Then Foray started receiving relentless calls starting at midnight and then lasting until seven o'clock.
After weeks of phone call harassment, Foray received a call telling her that Richard Nixon had put a cap on meat prices. Would Foray and FIT still continue with the boycott? Yes, replied Foray. "That's when all hell broke loose," Foray said, "I was called to Washington D.C. to testify before the Joint Economic Committee, which I did...Thousands of people showed up, we got fan letters and calls...Nixon was furious."
Following Foray's testimony at Congress and the media frenzy around it, Nixon put Foray on his famous Enemies List, which included congressmen, business people, attorneys, and also other entertainment figures like Paul Newman, Jane Fonda, and Barbra Streisand. "Well," Foray later recalled, "Nixon didn't like anyone who opposed him."
Now that she was on the Enemies List, Foray was audited by the IRS for ten years, but when asked if it affected her career, Foray said, "No. No, well, I think I did some commercials for one of the Hamburger places, and I didn't work for them again. But that didn't make any difference."
