"Good Time Charlie"
Charlie Wilson's War reveals the essence of the Nation's Capitol, but the real Charlie Wilson was the embodiment of money, power, glamour, secrecy, and gut patriosm.
By C. Todd Williamson, III
Real to Reel at Club Relaford
Universal Pictures’ Charlie Wilson’s War is following the formula of some of the more successful films of recent date; an all-star cast plus a plotline based on a true story.
The beauty of it all is that Charlie Wilson is a real man and the film’s storyline rarely delves off track of what really happened. Wilson, a powerful congressman from the Lone Star state of Texas, known as “the liberal fro Lufkin,” was a member of the influential Subcommittee on Defense Appropriations under the House Appropriations Committee.
This subcommittee appropriated the funds for everything defense natured from CIA Black Ops to the lights in the Pentagon. Passing what would be dubbed as “black appropriations, ” even the most covert operations needed funding.
President Reagan meeting with members of the Afghan Mujahideen (www.reagan.utexas.edu)
The story takes place in the summer of 1980 during the Soviet-Afghan War. By this time, the Cold War had been lingering on since 1946 and such a hot war, as the Soviet Afghan War was another battleground heating up the conflict between the Western and Communist powers.
With all the chips on the table at this point, Washington insiders weren’t even fully aware of what was going on in Afghanistan. In actuality, it was to be viewed as the next setting for a Cold War showdown, and with the help of others, Rep. Charlie Wilson was about to learn just how crucial the war would be to the goals and agendas of the Western superpowers.
The Soviets had invaded the Afghan border and any opportunity to stop the was seen as a potential victory for the U.S. Wilson, armed with a larger than life personality the size of his home state of Texas, was one of the last Cold Warrior Democrats. A one-time campaigner for the Kennedy-Johnson ticket in 1960, Wilson broke with military rules and ran for a seat in the Texas state legislature while still serving active duty.
His family helped him campaign as he won large support from the African American community, simultaneously as he carried out his military service. Wilson would be elected to the Texas State House at 27 years old.
He moved up to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1972 and immediately took to the nickname “Good Time Charlie” for his outrageous lifestyle and personality, which usually included dinner jackets, policy, and booze (whiskey to be exact).
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