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A singer, actress and media personality, Parton’s appeal went beyond her larger-than-life image.
Dolly Parton sold 100 million records and won every award a musical artist can receive: 10 Grammys, various lifetime achievement awards, induction into both the Country Music and Rock and Roll halls of fame. She earned the U.S. government’s National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honors. But she also won something more important than awards: the admiration of a broad spectrum of fans and a role in American culture that transcended music.
My Free Expression colleague Kyle Smith described Parton as, “The last universally beloved American, from gay guys in San Francisco to NASCAR bros in Florida.” And President Trump issued a Truth Social post no one could disagree with: “There has never been anyone like her, and never will.” He ordered American flags lowered to half-staff for a week.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the Wall Street Journal
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James B. Meigs is a senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. He is the former editor of Popular Mechanics, where he helped reposition that century-old brand to become a major voice on technological issues.