PoliticsEdit
Carson opposed the
Vietnam War,
[40] and
capital punishment, favored
racial equality, and was against criminalizing extramarital sex and pornography. He avoided explicitly mentioning his views on
The Tonight Show, saying he "hates to be pinned down", as that would "hurt me as an entertainer, which is what I am."
[3] As he explained in 1970, "In my living room I would argue for liberalization of abortion laws, divorce laws, and there are times when I would like to express a view on the air. I would love to have taken on
Billy Graham. But I'm on TV five nights a week; I have nothing to gain by it and everything to lose."
[41] He also seldom invited political figures onto the
Tonight Show because he "didn't want it to become a political forum" and did not want the show used, by himself or others, to influence the opinions of the viewers.
[40]
In his book, Carson's former lawyer Henry Bushkin stated, he "was by instinct and upbringing definitely
Republican, but of an
Eisenhower sort that we don't see much of anymore.... Overall, you'd have to say he was anti-big: anti-big government, anti-big money, anti-big bullies, anti-big blowhards." Carson served as MC for
Ronald Reagan's inauguration in 1981 at the request of
Frank Sinatra.
[42]