Charton Heston TV ad for Right to Work law (VANITY)

Gary Glenn ^ | April 6, 2008 | Gary Glenn

[AFA-Michigan]

Charlton Heston in a TV ad supporting voter approval of a state Right to Work law on Idaho's 1986 general election ballot:

"I've played men like Tom Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Lincoln, all of them heroes defending American freedom. There are Americans still carrying on that fight in Idaho, where citizens want the Right to Work without being forced to join a union. Now, as a former union president, I believe Americans should be free to choose. We're all watching, Idaho. Strike a blow for freedom. Vote YES on Referendum One."

[AFA-Michigan]

Mr. Heston saw this script for the first time about fifteen minutes before filming. He took the original, edited it, then sat and stared at it without moving for about ten minutes. Then he wandered through the woods next to his tennis court, practicing the script, waving his arms in wide gestures, then...when the director said, "Action!" his projection was so powerful that it was as if the sun came out from behind the clouds. I remember my mouth fell open, and a woman standing close by literally started crying.

The Right to Work proposal passed 54-46 despite being outspent $3 million to $1 million in a state of only a million people, and a post-election poll found that Charlton Heston had had more impact on voters than any other personality on either side of the campaign.

Salute and God's blessings to an American hero, icon, and freedom fighter!

[Last Dakotan]

That National Right to Work wasn’t one of the first items on the agenda when the Republicans took control of Congress spoke volumes about their impending failure.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

You nailed it.

[ConservativeDude]

and a woman standing close by literally started crying”

Glad you had that experience, wow!

I get choked up when I see Moses lift that musket above his head. He is irreplaceable.

[niobe527]

Dear lord, but I will miss him.

[AFA-Michigan]

I’ve missed him for the last five years or so. Like Reagan, he was “gone” long before his body gave out. So sad that those two men in particular, in their later years, had little if any knowledge or remembrance of how greatly and positively they impacted their fellow man.

My oldest son, born several months after that campaign, now 20, is named Heston.

So Mr. H is a big deal in our house. My 10 year old insisted today that we watch The Ten Commandments, which we did. And we oooed and ahhhed this time just like the previous 50 times we’ve watched The Ten or Ben Hur.

The closing line by Moses: “Go and preach liberty throughout the land, and to all the inhabitants thereof.”

Amen, and amen.