The Senator Who Became a Pop Star
Everett Dirksen’s ‘Gallant Men’ hit Billboard’s Top 40.
Americans hear a lot these days about the blurring line between politics and entertainment, but that line started to fade long ago.
In 1967, while Congress was debating budgets and taxes, Senate Minority Leader Everett McKinley Dirksen—an Illinois Republican with a shock of silvery-white hair, a world-weary, craggy face, and a voice deeper than the lower ranges of a tuba—became the oldest person ever to make it into the Top 40 on Billboard’s record chart. He was 71 when his song “Gallant Men” made its debut at No. 33, one...