Fifty-eight years ago tonight, Ed Sullivan introduced a musical artist for what he expected would be a cover of Tennessee Ernie Ford’s “Sixteen Tons.” Instead he got: “Bo Diddley.”

Ed Kilgore

Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.