Tom and Dick Smothers had previously done a 32-episode sitcom when fifty years ago they launched a new show in prime time on Sunday night. It was February 5, 1967, and the new show was titled "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour."  The brothers captured high viewer ratings—something the network wanted. But they didn't like the controversy that came with it. As the show took on political issues with jokes and satire, the CBS censors got busy. The late 60s provided a good supply of material for social commentary. Lyndon Johnson was President and the U.S. was fighting in Vietnam.

On April 4, 1969, the network fired the brothers even while the show was getting good ratings. As I read The Smothers Brothers: Laughing at Hard Truths, I thought about current media challenges. What voices will be seen as anti-establishment? I thought about the upcoming White House Correspondence Dinner and the man now living in the White House. Jeff Mason, president of the White House Correspondents' Association is already having to respond to questions. His February 2 post reads as follows: "To our members: We've received some queries about the 2017 White House Correspondents' Dinner, which will be the first since the new administration took office. The White House Correspondents' Association will hold its annual dinner on April 29 at the Washington Hilton. This year, as we do every year, we will celebrate the First Amendment and the role an independent press plays in a healthy republic. We will also reward some of the finest political reporting of the past year while using our scholarship program to highlight and support up-and-coming journalists who are the future of our profession. In the meantime, the WHCA will pursue its core mission of advocating for journalists' ability to ask questions of government officials, push for transparency from the presidency, and help Americans hold the powerful to account. This is a responsibility that we have taken seriously for more than 100 years and will continue to uphold."

At the conclusion of "The Smothers Brothers: Laughing at Hard Truths" published in the NY Times, David Bianculli quotes from a letter Lyndon Johnson sent to Dick Smothers.

“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.”

The character displayed by LBJ in his letter to Dick Smothers is not something Donald Trump has given any indication he might be able to replicate.