Many of the threats on the entertainer were from people that were angry he was a black man who supported this Republican, white president. But this wasn’t the first time Sammy Davis Jr. would receive aggressive threats in his mail.
After he coupled up with Kim Novak in ’57 he started receiving them left and right from the mob. But no matter what came at him, the entertainer kept trying to simply live his life and push through all of the racial barriers that society had set in front of him.
The First Black Man to Sleep Over at the White House
An impressive credential to the performer's name is that he and his wife were the very first black couple to spend the night in the White House. The invite was extended by Richard Nixon, who admired everything Davis Jr. had done for civil rights.
He and the president actually wound up becoming friends, despite their differences in political parties.
Deep State Regrets
Unfortunately, Nixon’s presidency will forever be seen as tied to the Watergate scandal and his resulting resignation. Because of everything that went down when he was in office, Davis Jr. later admitted to his regret for supporting the president.
In fact, he, like many other celebrities at the time, started to receive some pretty harsh threats because of it. The threats on Davis Jr. were multi-faceted, stemming from not only his political ties but also, once again, due to his race.
Booed off the Stage -
There were loads of black people who were angry that Davis Jr. supported, and spent so much time with white people like Nixon, living what they viewed as a “white lifestyle.” In fact, they were so fed up with him that he was booed off of the stage in Chicago when he tried to perform in support of Jesse Jackson.
Needless to say, it did not go over well, and the flustered entertainer left after doing just one number. He also made sure to add that he would never again “extend myself.”
Marrying Ms. Gore
After getting so much hate from the black community, he decided that maybe they were right about some of the things he’d been doing.
This prompted him to alter his lifestyle in a few ways; one of which included marrying his new wife, Altovise Gore. The couple first met when they worked together on Golden Boy in 1964. They tied the knot several years later in 1970, and it was all love, according to Altovise.