Loading ...The third stage began in 1972. Like many neoconservatives of the same era who moved from liberal Democrat to conservative Republican, he rejected the liberalism of George McGovern and supported Richard Nixon in 1972 for President.
In the 1980s, he gave strong support to Ronald Reagan during his conservative presidency. In 1995, Heston entered his fourth stage by establishing his own political action fund-raising committee, and jumped into the internal politics of the National Rifle Association.
He gave numerous culture wars speeches and interviews upholding the conservative position, blaming media and academia for imposing affirmative action, which he saw as unfair reverse discrimination.
In January 2003, George Clooney made a controversial joke about the fact that Heston was suffering from Alzheimer’s; Clooney initially refused to apologize.[78][79][80]
While speaking at a National Board of Review event as he accepted an award on television, Clooney said: “Charlton Heston announced again today that he is suffering from Alzheimer’s”. When syndicated columnist Liz Smith asked Clooney whether he wasn’t “going too far” with his remark, he responded:
“I don’t care. Charlton Heston is the head of the National Rifle Association; he deserves whatever anyone says about him.” Heston himself commented, “It just goes to show that sometimes class does skip a generation”, apparently referring to Clooney’s aunt, singer and actress Rosemary Clooney, who was largely apolitical.
Heston further commented on the Clooney joke: “I don’t know the man – never met him, never even spoken to him, but I feel sorry for George Clooney – one day he may get Alzheimer’s disease.
I served my country in World War II. I survived that – I guess I can survive some bad words from this fellow.”[