KHJ BOSS 30, November 8, 1967

Victor Lundberg (September 2, 1923 – February 14, 1990) was an American radio personality, newscaster, and advertising executive from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He gained fleeting national fame in the late 1960s not as a singer or musician, but as the stern, spoken-word narrator of a provocative single that captured the generational tensions of the Vietnam War era. Lundberg was a familiar voice on local radio, known for his serious delivery and conservative leanings, but his brush with pop culture stardom was as unexpected as it was short-lived.

The Record: “An Open Letter to My Teenage Son”
In September 1967, while working as a newscaster at Grand Rapids’ WMAX radio station, Lundberg recorded “An Open Letter to My Teenage Son”, a 4-minute-28-second spoken-word track released as a 45 RPM single on Liberty Records. The piece was written by Robert R. Thompson (a songwriter who based it loosely on a real letter to his own 17-year-old son) and produced by Jack Tracy. Lundberg’s deep, authoritative voice overlays a dramatic instrumental rendition of the Civil War anthem “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” creating an almost sermon-like atmosphere.

The “letter” begins with a father addressing his son’s typical teenage rebellions—long hair, beards, protests against the establishment—offering measured empathy at first. Lundberg intones lines like: “If to you long hair or a beard is a symbol of independence… you have my blessing.” But it escalates into a hardline conservative lecture on patriotism, God, family values, and opposition to drugs, premarital sex, and secularism. The climax is a chilling ultimatum on the Vietnam draft: “If you burn your draft card, then burn your birth certificate at the same time. From that moment on, I have no son.”

The B-side, “My Buddy Carl” (3:46), shifts slightly to address racial prejudice through a soldier’s wartime letter, but it reinforces similar themes of duty and morality over the same instrumental.

The single exploded locally in Michigan before Liberty pushed it nationally. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #84 on November 11, 1967, then rocketed up: #58 (week of November 18), #18 (November 25), and #10 (December 2)—one of the fastest climbs in Hot 100 history at the time.

Lundberg performed it live on The Ed Sullivan Show on November 12, 1967, amplifying its visibility. Emboldened, Liberty released a full album, An Open Letter, in late 1967 with 10 tracks of similar musings—some softer —but it flopped commercially.