Heston had an appeal to Idahoans that went beyond just movies -- he influenced its politics as well

Charlton Heston played one of his most effective cameo roles in Idaho - and it wasn't in a film.

Heston...was a critical figure in Idaho's Right to Work law, approved by voters in 1986 after the most expensive ballot-measure campaign in state history.

"It really did get people's attention," said Lorna Auld, co-chairwoman of the campaign. "His voice was so memorable and for him to stand there like Moses and say, 'This is what I believe,' was good for us and good for Idaho."

...Gary Glenn, who ran the Right to Work campaign, said a post-election poll found Heston the most influential figure on either side of a $3.8 million campaign.

Glenn said Heston "deserves much of the credit for the fact that today, no Idahoan can be discriminated against and fired merely for choosing not to join or financially support a private labor organization."

Right to Work prohibits...unions and employers from agreeing to collect dues as a condition of employment.

...There's no disagreement Heston boosted Right to Work forces. He appeared...in Boise 17 days before the election, and a 30-minute excerpt of his visit played on TV across Idaho. ...(T)he referendum backing Right to Work passed 54 percent to 46 percent.

...(H)is longtime spokesman, Bill Powers...is a graduate of Capital High and (Boise State) and worked for the Idaho GOP and the NRA. It was Powers, speaking on behalf of the Heston family, who announced the Oscar-winner's death to the world Sunday.

...Powers said Heston wasn't just a celebrity dabbling in politics. Public life was a critical piece of a complex personality. "I really believe he was destined to fulfill iconic roles, on screen, in the political scene and in the cultural scene of this country."

From an Email..

No forgiving Charlton Heston

Brian Fitzpatrick - Guest Columnist - 4/8/2008 2:15:00 PM

My grandfather was a college football star who even played for the NFL champs back in 1928, so I was looking forward to seeing George Clooney’s new 1920s football movie, Leatherheads, this weekend. That’s before I found out how Clooney, like many lefties in Hollywood and the news media, had treated the late Charlton Heston.

Clooney’s offense took place a few years back. According to Life Site News, “For his conservative stands, however, Heston was attacked and reviled by his Hollywood colleagues. In 2003 actor and leftist political activist George Clooney joked about Heston’s illness [Alzheimer’s disease], and, after Heston criticized him for the remark, he retorted, ‘I don’t care. Charlton Heston is the head of the National Rifle Association. He deserves whatever anyone says about him.’”

Making fun of somebody with Alzheimer’s disease and feeling no remorse is about as low as it gets, but it isn’t all that surprising in this case. To Clooney, Heston’s embrace of conservative orthodoxy on the Second Amendment made him worse than persona non grata. He became subhuman, not even deserving of the most basic courtesies.

George Clooney can only dream of rivaling Charlton Heston’s life accomplishments. Let’s leave aside the leading roles in some of the greatest movies ever made, the acting laurels and the celebrity, and look at the man:

• Married to his college sweetheart, Lydia, for 64 years.
• Beloved father of two successful children, one a Hollywood director.
• Unabashed Christian and church attender.
• First among his peers; president of the Screen Actors Guild a record six times.
• Served his country in World War II as a B-25 crewman.
• Campaigner for civil rights; protested as early as 1961, long before it became popular, and marched on Washington alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Protector of the unborn; provided the introduction for Dr. Bernard Nathanson’s great pro-life film, Silent Scream.
• Champion of public decency; shamed Time Warner into dropping rapper Ice-T’s contract because of his song celebrating the murder of police officers.
• Defender of individual liberty; president of the National Rifle Association.

Ask Heston which of his accomplishments he treasured most, and he’d probably point to this tribute from his family: “Charlton Heston was seen by the world as larger than life.... We knew him as an adoring husband, a kind and devoted father, and a gentle grandfather with an infectious sense of humor. He served these far greater roles with tremendous faith, courage and dignity.”

Sadly, many in the liberal news media wear ideological blinders that render them incapable of appreciating the entirety of Charlton Heston. In spite of Heston’s admirable private life, sterling character and spectacular career, some journalists could only see Heston waving a musket in the air at the 2000 NRA convention and growling, “Out of my cold, dead hands.” They saw Heston’s pro-gun stance as beyond the pale, as if it were morally reprehensible to stand up for the constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Heston’s death this past Saturday has allowed them to express hostility similar in kind, if not in tone or degree, to Clooney.

• ABC’s Barbara Walters: “He is very controversial or was because of his support of NRA.”
• ABC’s Dan Harris: “As president of the National Rifle Association, he became one of the most polarizing figures in American politics.”
• CBS’s Russ Mitchell: “Once the quintessential big screen hero, in his later years he drew as much attention for his controversial politics.”
• AP’s David Germain: a “fierce gun-rights advocate.”

Not “principled” or “passionate.” Just “fierce.” Charlton Heston was “polarizing” and “controversial” because he refused to toe the line of political correctness.

Heston began his public activism as a liberal, backing Adlai Stevenson in 1956 and Kennedy in 1960. In 1963 he marched with Martin Luther King, Jr., but he supported Barry Goldwater in 1964, Nixon in 1972, and Reagan in 1980. The apparent transformation was mostly superficial, though, a question of party labels. USA Today didn’t quite get it right: “Heston, like Reagan, claimed the Democratic Party left him while his values remained the same — a personal sea change that by the Reagan ’80s had turned Heston into one of the most prominently public Republicans.”

What “personal sea change?” Though he grew on some issues (notably, the Second Amendment), Heston’s core values, his support for individual liberties from civil rights to life to self-defense, were consistent throughout. “Liberalism” changed, not Charlton Heston.

I met Heston once, in an elevator on the way to a gathering of Hollywood conservatives.

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