Liz Carpenter Documentary: How She Shook Up Washington, Part 2

How did Liz Carpenter use Nikita Khrushchev to open the National Press Club to women?

When Dwight Eisenhower was president, women reporters couldn't join the all-male National Press Club or ask questions at its newsmaker luncheons. The first breakthrough, Christy Carpenter says, was a seat in the balcony above the ballroom, where women could watch but not ask. So her mother, Liz Carpenter, lobbied the speakers themselves. Through the Soviet embassy, she got Nikita Khrushchev to refuse to speak on his visit to Washington unless women were allowed. "My God, it's the middle of the Cold War," Christy says. The Press Club wanted Khrushchev, and women got in.

In Episode 246, the second of two parts, Christian talks again with Abby Ginzberg and Christy Carpenter, the co-directors of Shaking It Up: The Life and Times of Liz Carpenter. Christy tells how her mother, born in Texas five days after the adoption of the 19th Amendment, took a train to Washington at 22 with her clippings and a scrapbook under her arm and was soon covering Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt's press conferences. Abby explains why "you can't do a resume" in a portrait film, what had to be cut, and why they went looking for Liz's humor, like her advice to return all your phone calls before milking time.

They talk about getting Dan Rather, Bill Moyers and both Johnson daughters on camera, about Liz's husband Les, who Christy says was her equal in a marriage that was rare for its time, and about the long line of strong Texas women Liz came from. And Christy, who once served on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, explains how the film found its way to public television stations across the country.

WATCH THE FILM: Shaking It Up: The Life and Times of Liz Carpenter is on PBS. Learn more at lizcarpenterfilm.com.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How Liz Carpenter broke into Washington journalism at 22
• How she used Khrushchev's visit to open the National Press Club to women
• Why Abby says Liz was a feminist from the very beginning
• How Christy's family ties brought Dan Rather and Bill Moyers on camera
• What the Johnson daughters said about saying no to Liz
• Why Les Carpenter was unusual for a husband of his time
• Why a portrait film can't cover someone's whole resume
• Where to place a subject's family history in the story
• How Austin PBS and American Public Television took the film to stations nationwide

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How did women get into the National Press Club?

Christy Carpenter says women reporters were first allowed to sit in a balcony above the ballroom, where they could watch but not ask questions. Her mother, Liz Carpenter, then lobbied visiting newsmakers to refuse to speak unless women could take part. Through the Soviet embassy, she got Nikita Khrushchev to make that demand, and the Press Club, wanting him in the middle of the Cold War, let women in.

What did Liz Carpenter do in the Johnson White House?

Christy Carpenter says her mother covered Lyndon Johnson as a congressman, senator and majority leader, worked for him as vice president, and then became Lady Bird Johnson's chief of staff in the White House. As Christy recalls Lynda Johnson Robb putting it, shyness was not a word in Liz's lexicon. Abby Ginzberg says Liz managed so much of the White House choreography that there wasn't much room to say no to her.

How do you make a portrait documentary about a long life?

Abby Ginzberg says "you can't do a resume." Liz Carpenter's travels with Vice President Johnson and her years as an assistant secretary in the Department of Education didn't make the film. Instead, Abby says, you choose the themes, like Liz being a feminist from day one, and look for grace notes that reinforce the portrait, such as her humor.

How did Shaking It Up get on PBS?

Christy Carpenter took the sizzle reel to Austin PBS, which became the presenting station. The film was then distributed by American Public Television, a nonprofit that serves public television stations, for Women's History Month in March 2025. Abby says the first airings were on WNET in New York and KQED in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Christy says all 11 Texas stations carried it.

DOCUVIEW DEJA VIEW PICK

• A Double Life (2023), directed by Catherine Masud and produced by Abby Ginzberg. Abby's pick, about Steve Bingham, a lawyer who lived underground for 13 years after he was accused of bringing a gun into San Quentin, and his return to stand trial.

Christy's and Abby's other picks are in Part 1 (Episode 245). See every guest pick on the DocuView Deja View page.

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ABOUT THE GUESTS

Christy Carpenter is Liz Carpenter's daughter and the film's co-director and co-producer. A lawyer by training, she worked in early interactive media and communications, served on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and was EVP and COO of the Paley Center for Media and CEO of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute. The film's website

Abby Ginzberg is a Peabody Award-winning director and an inductee of the Silver Circle of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and has been making documentaries about race and social justice for more than 35 years. Her films include Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa and Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power, winner of the 2022 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary. Abby's bio

Start with Part 1 (Episode 245), on how Abby and Christy met, how they raised the money, and what the film's archival footage and music cost.

ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST

Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers, distributors, entertainment lawyers, actors and more, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-timers, across nearly 300 conversations. Each week brings one of two formats: a long-form conversation with the people behind films for HBO, Netflix, PBS and independent film, or The Deep Dive, where Christian takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. New episodes every week.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Liz Carpenter: Wikipedia