Liz Carpenter Documentary to Air on PBS

Shaking It Up: The Life & Times of Liz Carpenter, a one-hour documentary about journalist, White House aide and women’s rights leader Liz Carpenter, is set to premiere on PBS stations around the U.S. on March 1 in honor of Women’s History Month.

Produced and directed by Abby Ginzberg and Christy Carpenter, Liz’s daughter, the film takes a deep dive into Liz’s life and career as a barrier-breaking female journalist, key vice-presidential adviser to Lyndon B. Johnson, top aide to Lady Bird Johnson and political activist. She co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus and, as co-chair of ERAmerica, led the battle for state ramification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Liz orchestrated and strategized Lady Bird Johnson’s grassroots promotion of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society, including the War on Poverty and environmental programs. After her years in the White House, she co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus and actively campaigned for women candidates around the country.

Earlier, in her 20s, Liz earned a reputation as a dogged political reporter and her byline spread to other newspapers, leading to the creation of the Carpenter News Bureau with her reporter husband, Leslie Carpenter. When she was 34, Liz was elected president of the Women’s National Press Club, a platform she used to erode barriers to participation in the men-only National Press Club (NPC). She fought on behalf of women journalists to gain access to newsmaker events at the NPC.

After Lyndon B. Johnson was elected in 1960, Liz became the highest-ranking woman to work for a VP until that time. A few years later, she was the mastermind behind Lady Bird Johnson’s Whistlestop campaign tour through the South during the 1964 presidential campaign.

Shaking It Up recounts Liz’s story through new interviews with Lyndon B. Johnson’s daughters, Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb; feminist leader Gloria Steinem; journalists Dan Rather and Bill Moyers; presidential historian Douglas Brinkley; and the late U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson. It also features never-seen home movies; photos; interview clips of her on Meet the Press, The Today Show and The David Frost Show; and artifacts such as her initial handwritten draft of Lyndon B. Johnson’s first remarks given as president in the immediate aftermath of John F. Kennedy’s death.

“With Shaking It Up, our goal was to show how one pioneering ‘can-do’ woman, gutsy and blessed with boundless energy, an expansive heart and an unflappable nature, can leave a positive and indelible mark on her times,” Christy Carpenter said. “Leveraging her Texas-sized personality and legendary wit, she spent a lifetime fighting for equality and social progress.”

Ginzberg added, “What a joy to bring Liz’s colorful and impactful journey to life for audiences on public television next March. At festival and university screenings, people of all ages and genders respond enthusiastically to Liz’s unfailing optimism and find her undaunted courage highly inspirational, reminding us ‘the fight goes on, and we go on with the fight.’”