‘Shaking It Up’ Docuseries Shines a Light on ‘Colorful Character’ of Liz Carpenter

Well-behaved women rarely make history — and that’s especially true for journalist turned political maven Liz Carpenter. The fascinating documentary, Shaking It Up: The Life & Times of Liz Carpenter, co-directed by Peabody winner Abby Ginzberg and Carpenter’s daughter Christy, being released for Women’s History Month, tells the story of the trailblazer.

In the 1960s, Carpenter served as executive assistant to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson — she wrote the famous words he read after John F. Kennedy‘s assassination — and was press secretary for Lady Bird Johnson. “She was a colorful character,” Christy says of her mother. “She had a larger-than-life personality, extremely funny and bold. She was always working, always on the move.”

Adds Ginzberg: “She was a strategist, and she thought outside the box.” One example of this was Carpenter’s push to integrate women into the male-only National Press Club.

When she began her career as a journalist, women were only allowed to sit upstairs and watch. During the Cold War, Carpenter convinced Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev to insist on the inclusion of female reporters during his speech, explains Ginzberg, “in order to bring the point home that if they don’t figure out how to make it work with us, we’re going to give you a lot of trouble.”

Christy adds: “There was no way that the National Press Club was going to give up on having Khrushchev speak, even if it meant the horror of having women sit on the floor and ask questions along with the men.”

Shaking It Up: The Life & Times of Liz Carpenter, Documentary Premiere, Monday, March 3, 10/9c, PBS (check local listings at pbs.org)