The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour debuted in 1967 and quickly became a counter-cultural lightning rod. Tom and Dick Smothers satirized politics and combated racism, while pushing the boundaries of what was considered permissible on network television. After harshly decrying the government’s handling of the Vietnam War, Tom Smothers penned a 1968 letter to Lyndon B. Johnson, humbly apologizing for having “overstepped” in attacking the office of the Presidency. In a show of enormous goodwill and grace, Johnson replied with an expression of his own reverence for the comedic arts.