This young man grew up in Trinity, Texas before heading to the United States Naval Academy, where he graduated eighth from the bottom of his class in 1956. But it was experience when he was 13 that would open his eyes to his future career.
When he was 13 his dog got into the yard of a local elected official, his next-door neighbor, city incumbent Charles Hazard. Hazard wanted to make sure that the dog wouldn't cause anymore problems so he put into motion a horrendous plan to kill the child's dog by feeding it hamburger meat with ground up glass.
This boy watched his dog die a painful death and vowed revenge. So he set Hazard's lawn on fire. But after he finished he didn't think that was good enough. So he began plotting an even bigger plan. He decided he was going to run against his neighbor Charles Hazard in that year's town election.
Because his father was a farmer this boy was eligible to get a driver permit. So he went to the town DMV and registered for one. He then made a deal with his father, if he used his allowance to buy the gas he could borrow his father's truck when he needed it. And so the boy spent the rest of the summer driving into poor areas and the local black neighborhood. Many of residents of these neighborhoods weren't registered to vote, especially the black population. So the boy began to try to register these citizens but soon discovered why most of them had never voted before. The residents of these neighborhoods didn't have the means to get to the polls. So the boy made a promise to these folks, if they registered to vote he would personally show up and drive them to the polls himself.
When election day came the boy lived up to his promise and spent all day picking up the black and poor residents and dropping them off at the polls. But whenever he would drop off a load of voters from his father's truck he would stop them and tell them the story of how Charles Hazard had killed his dog. The boy ended up driving 96 voters to the polls that day.
And all that hard work payed off. The boy ended up winning the town election at the age of 13. He defeated Charles Hazard by sixteen votes. As soon as the boy found out he won he rushed to his neighbor's door. When Charles Hazard answered the boy told him how he had been beat, and that he should think long and hard about ever crossing the boy again.
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And now, the rest of the story.
The boys instinct for politics would eventually lead him into becoming a career politician.
As an adult, the now man, stayed out of politics until he was moved to volunteer for the John Kennedy presidential campaign. In 1960, after taking 30 days' leave from the Navy, he entered his name into the race for Texas state representative from his home district. This action was against the regulations of the Navy, as service members are prohibited from holding a public office while on active duty. While back on duty, his family and friends went door to door campaigning. In 1961, at age 27, he was sworn into office in Austin, Texas.
For the next 12 years, he made his reputation in the Texas legislature as the "liberal from Lufkin," viewed with suspicion by business interests. He battled for the regulation of utilities, fought for Medicaid, tax exemptions for the elderly, the Equal Rights Amendment and a minimum wage bill. He was also one of the few prominent Texas politicians to be pro-choice on abortion.
In 1972, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Second District of Texas, taking office the following January. He was re-elected 11 times, but was not a candidate for reelection to the One Hundred Fifth Congress and resigned October 8, 1996. Upon leaving Congress, he retired to Lufkin, Texas, where he now lives.
He would become famous for his role in helping the CIA fund and arm Afghan Mujahideen in the 1980's Afghanistan - Soviet War. The man was also notorious for his personal life, particularly drinking, picking up the nickname "Good Time Charlie."
His name is Charles Nesbitt Wilson or as most of us know him "Charlie" Wilson.
While you may know about the movie out of his political career apparently the History channel has a good documentary on the real life Charlie Wilson that airs as well. Just looked it up though and no showings for the next two weeks but I'll keep an eye out to see if that changes soon.
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