June Foray was the voice of Granny — the owner of Tweety Bird — in the Looney Tunes cartoons, Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Magica De Spell in Duck Tales. She was also on Richard Nixon’s Enemies List. June was a legend in the animation business. Her career spanned more than 70 years and hundreds of roles in radio, film, television, and video games. So why did President Richard Nixon consider her his enemy? In 1973, June organized a meat boycott in response to a price freeze instituted by Nixon as part of the so-called “Nixon shock" — an economic policy shift undertaken by the president to prioritize the U.S. economic growth in terms of jobs and exchange rate stability. Evidently, that was enough to win her a trip to Nixon’s Enemies List. The list contained the names of major political opponents and was compiled by Special Counsel to the President, Chuck Colson. The list became public knowledge in 1973 when White House Counsel John Dean mentioned it during hearings with the Senate Watergate Committee. The purpose of the list was to mess with Nixon’s political enemies by means of tax audits from the IRS and other underhanded tricks. Celebrities who joined June Foray on the list include Carol Channing, Gene Hackman, Burt Lancaster, Steve McQueen, Joe Namath, and Paul Newman. In any case, June Foray outlived Nixon by more than 20 years; she died in 2017 at the age of 99.
