The War Room
Encyclopedia
The War Room is a 1993 American documentary film
about Bill Clinton's
campaign for President of the United States during the 1992 presidential election.
, filmmakers D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus requested permission from the Bill Clinton
Campaign to film its progression. The Clinton Campaign agreed, and Pennebaker and Hegedus were allowed to film Communications Director George Stephanopoulos
as well as Lead Strategist James Carville
; they were given limited access to Bill Clinton.
for that state's Democratic primary
. During the onset of the campaign, the film crew
traveled around the state with the Bill Clinton Campaign.
After the surprise Clinton second place finish in the New Hampshire primary, the crew filmed mostly in Little Rock, Arkansas
, home to the Clinton campaign's national headquarters. As the film focused in on Carville and Stephanopoulos, the film crew saw no need to travel outside of Little Rock as both were present in the city for much if not all of the primary and general election campaigns.
Though Stephanopoulos and Carville were the film's main figures, many other prominent figures in the campaign were featured, including Paul Begala
, Mandy Grunwald
, Bob Boorstin, Stan Greenberg
, Mickey Kantor
, Harold Ickes
, and Bush
deputy campaign manager Mary Matalin
, who later married Carville. Clinton campaign manager David Wilhelm
was extended an invitation to participate, but declined. Careful observers will also find a younger Rahm Emanuel
, former White House Chief of Staff
to President
Barack Obama
and Mayor of Chicago
, in some of the War Room scenes as a Finance Director for the Clinton campaign.
", the Gennifer Flowers
scandal, the New Hampshire primary upset and others as they played out inside of the Clinton 1992 Campaign.
The documentary uses many media headlines from the day, including media coverage of the election and other news stories such as Ross Perot
's presidential exit and re-entrance, among other topics.
The historical context surrounding this film is important to note because the film is intertwined with history: the access granted to the filmmakers was unprecedented and the type of campaign the Clintons were running was entirely new, especially by focusing on the new news. The War Room not only documents the campaign history as it unfolds but it makes history in its access to the campaign.
That Carville, Stephanopoulos and company ultimately succeeded at their job and won their man the presidency was a bonus for the filmmakers. It gives the film the additional relevance and potency in providing glimpses of the Clinton administration in its humble beginnings – before there ever was an administration. The film has become another document of what are now known as the Clinton years. Unlike news reports about the Clinton campaign or the internet revolution, this film has been viewed for years since its debut and will continue to be seen, transforming it into a historical retrospective.
saying to James Carville and George Stephanopoulos, "Look at Indiana, wait, wait – look at Indiana. 42-40. It doesn’t matter if we win. Those people are shit. Excuse me." Another erroneous interpretation of the clip alleged that Kantor said, "How would you like to be a worthless white nigger?".
On May 2, 2008, Kantor claimed that the footage had been doctored, and shortly thereafter, D.A. Pennebaker claimed that Kantor had actually said "Those people must be shitting in the White House." The doctored footage and false allegations against Kantor were discussed in the Return of The War Room, a 2008 sequel to The War Room.
gives it a 94% Fresh Rating. As it was only screened at few locations, Yahoo reports it earned $21,446 at the box office.
, George Clooney
, Ryan Gosling
, and the rest of The Ides of March
cast watched The War Room to “get their bearings” on their characters and life on the campaign trail.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about Bill Clinton's
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
campaign for President of the United States during the 1992 presidential election.
Background
At the start of the 1992 Democratic primariesDemocratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 1992
The 1992 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 1992 U.S. presidential election...
, filmmakers D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus requested permission from the Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
Campaign to film its progression. The Clinton Campaign agreed, and Pennebaker and Hegedus were allowed to film Communications Director George Stephanopoulos
George Stephanopoulos
George Robert Stephanopoulos is an American television journalist and a former political advisor.Stephanopoulos is most well known as the chief political correspondent for ABC News – the news division of the broadcast television network ABC – and a co-anchor of ABC News's morning news...
as well as Lead Strategist James Carville
James Carville
Chester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...
; they were given limited access to Bill Clinton.
Locations
At the start of filming, the film team was embedded with the Clinton Campaign in New HampshireNew Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
for that state's Democratic primary
New Hampshire Democratic primary, 1992
The 1992 New Hampshire Democratic primary was won by Paul Tsongas, but is known for the insurgent campaign of Bill Clinton, who managed a surprising second place finish.The Iowa caucus, the first contest of the 1992 Democratic primaries, was not contested...
. During the onset of the campaign, the film crew
Film crew
Television crew positions are derived from those of film crew positions.A film crew is a group of people hired by a production company for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. Crew are distinguished from cast, the Actors who appear in front of the camera or provide voices for...
traveled around the state with the Bill Clinton Campaign.
After the surprise Clinton second place finish in the New Hampshire primary, the crew filmed mostly in Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
, home to the Clinton campaign's national headquarters. As the film focused in on Carville and Stephanopoulos, the film crew saw no need to travel outside of Little Rock as both were present in the city for much if not all of the primary and general election campaigns.
People
The following people were primarily documented during the film:- Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, 1992 Presidential Candidate and 42nd Governor of Arkansas - George StephanopoulosGeorge StephanopoulosGeorge Robert Stephanopoulos is an American television journalist and a former political advisor.Stephanopoulos is most well known as the chief political correspondent for ABC News – the news division of the broadcast television network ABC – and a co-anchor of ABC News's morning news...
, 1992 Bill Clinton Communications Director - James CarvilleJames CarvilleChester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...
, 1992 Bill Clinton Lead Strategist
Though Stephanopoulos and Carville were the film's main figures, many other prominent figures in the campaign were featured, including Paul Begala
Paul Begala
Paul Edward Begala is an American political consultant and political commentator. He was an adviser to President Bill Clinton. Begala was a chief strategist for the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign, which carried 33 states and made Clinton the first Democrat to win the White House in sixteen years...
, Mandy Grunwald
Mandy Grunwald
Mandy Grunwald is an American professional political consultant and media advisor for the Democratic Party.She is the daughter of the late Henry Grunwald, former editor-in-chief of Time magazine and the sister of the author Lisa Grunwald. She grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and on...
, Bob Boorstin, Stan Greenberg
Stan Greenberg
Stanley Bernard Greenberg is a leading Democratic pollster and political strategist who has advised the campaigns of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and John Kerry, as well as hundreds of other candidates and organizations in the United States and around the world, including the former Bundeskanzler ...
, Mickey Kantor
Mickey Kantor
Michael "Mickey" Kantor is an American politician and lawyer. After serving as the Clinton-Gore campaign chair in 1992, Kantor was appointed United States Trade Representative, holding that office from 1993 to 1997. He was, in 1996 and 1997, United States Secretary of Commerce.-Life and...
, Harold Ickes
Harold Ickes
Harold Ickes may refer to:*Harold L. Ickes , U.S. Secretary of the Interior in Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration*Harold M. Ickes , son of the U.S. Interior Secretary, deputy White House Chief of Staff during the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton...
, and Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
deputy campaign manager Mary Matalin
Mary Matalin
Mary Joe Matalin is an American political consultant, well known for her work with the Republican Party. She was an assistant to President George W. Bush and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney until 2003. Matalin has been chief editor of Threshold Editions, a conservative publishing imprint...
, who later married Carville. Clinton campaign manager David Wilhelm
David Wilhelm
A former campaign operative who rose to prominence as chair of the Democratic National Committee in the 1990s, today Wilhelm is an entrepreneur and impact investor devoted to building sustainable jobs and wealth in small town America....
was extended an invitation to participate, but declined. Careful observers will also find a younger Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and the 55th and current Mayor of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama...
, former White House Chief of Staff
White House Chief of Staff
The White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President.The current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...
to President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
and Mayor of Chicago
Mayor of Chicago
The Mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of Chicago, Illinois, the third largest city in the United States. He or she is charged with directing city departments and agencies, and with the advice and consent of the Chicago City Council, appoints department and agency leaders.-Appointment...
, in some of the War Room scenes as a Finance Director for the Clinton campaign.
Synopsis
The film follows Stephanopoulos and Carville at first during the New Hampshire Primary and then mostly in Little Rock, Arkansas at Clinton Campaign Headquarters. The film follows several key 1992 Campaign events such as the Clinton Campaign's attack on "Read my lips: no new taxesRead my lips: no new taxes
"Read my lips: no new taxes" is a now-famous phrase spoken by then presidential candidate George H. W. Bush at the 1988 Republican National Convention as he accepted the nomination on August 18. Written by speechwriter Peggy Noonan, the line was the most prominent sound bite from the speech...
", the Gennifer Flowers
Gennifer Flowers
Gennifer Flowers is a model and actress who allegedly had a sexual relationship with former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Prior to Bill Clinton's presidency, she also posed nude for Penthouse magazine and was an actress in two films and one TV show...
scandal, the New Hampshire primary upset and others as they played out inside of the Clinton 1992 Campaign.
The documentary uses many media headlines from the day, including media coverage of the election and other news stories such as Ross Perot
Ross Perot
Henry Ross Perot is a U.S. businessman best known for running for President of the United States in 1992 and 1996. Perot founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962, sold the company to General Motors in 1984, and founded Perot Systems in 1988...
's presidential exit and re-entrance, among other topics.
Background
There was a media revolution during the 1992 presidential campaign. The Clinton camp embraced the new news phenomenon while the rest of the country was being flooded with character, competence, and image press rather than platform and political information. The 1992 campaign exemplified the shift of United States political coverage from platform information and traditional press to what it is today: a character and celebrity focused popularity contest. Voters were getting their information from outlets such as late night talk shows, Donahue and MTV. Citizens were gaining perceived knowledge from these outlets and feeling satisfied that they had the information they needed to vote. Many argue that voters were not receiving important information about candidates’ platforms but because of their perceived knowledge, voters were not seeking additional information.The historical context surrounding this film is important to note because the film is intertwined with history: the access granted to the filmmakers was unprecedented and the type of campaign the Clintons were running was entirely new, especially by focusing on the new news. The War Room not only documents the campaign history as it unfolds but it makes history in its access to the campaign.
That Carville, Stephanopoulos and company ultimately succeeded at their job and won their man the presidency was a bonus for the filmmakers. It gives the film the additional relevance and potency in providing glimpses of the Clinton administration in its humble beginnings – before there ever was an administration. The film has become another document of what are now known as the Clinton years. Unlike news reports about the Clinton campaign or the internet revolution, this film has been viewed for years since its debut and will continue to be seen, transforming it into a historical retrospective.
2008 Democratic Primary controversy
In late April 2008, a clip from the film was released on YouTube, purporting to show former Clinton administration official (and supporter of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton) Mickey KantorMickey Kantor
Michael "Mickey" Kantor is an American politician and lawyer. After serving as the Clinton-Gore campaign chair in 1992, Kantor was appointed United States Trade Representative, holding that office from 1993 to 1997. He was, in 1996 and 1997, United States Secretary of Commerce.-Life and...
saying to James Carville and George Stephanopoulos, "Look at Indiana, wait, wait – look at Indiana. 42-40. It doesn’t matter if we win. Those people are shit. Excuse me." Another erroneous interpretation of the clip alleged that Kantor said, "How would you like to be a worthless white nigger?".
On May 2, 2008, Kantor claimed that the footage had been doctored, and shortly thereafter, D.A. Pennebaker claimed that Kantor had actually said "Those people must be shitting in the White House." The doctored footage and false allegations against Kantor were discussed in the Return of The War Room, a 2008 sequel to The War Room.
Reception
The film was generally well received by critics. Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gives it a 94% Fresh Rating. As it was only screened at few locations, Yahoo reports it earned $21,446 at the box office.
Awards
- 66th Academy Awards66th Academy AwardsThe 66th Academy Awards were presented March 21, 1994, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The show was landmark in that it featured a female African American host for the first time, Whoopi Goldberg, and represented a direct contrast in edgy style from Billy Crystal who had hosted the...
- Nominated for Best DocumentaryAcademy Award for Documentary FeatureThe Academy Award for Documentary Feature is among the most prestigious awards for documentary films.- Winners and nominees:Following the Academy's practice, films are listed below by the award year...
(1994)
- National Board of Review of Motion PicturesNational Board of Review of Motion PicturesThe National Board of Review of Motion Pictures was founded in 1909 in New York City, just 13 years after the birth of cinema, to protest New York City Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr.'s revocation of moving-picture exhibition licenses on Christmas Eve 1908. The mayor believed that the new medium...
- Won Special Recognition in Filmmaking (1996)
- Won Award for Best Documentary (1993)
Influences
According to an article in the Brisbane TimesBrisbane Times
Brisbane Times is an Internet-based news site for Brisbane and Queensland, Australia. It was launched on 7 March 2007 by then-Queensland Premier Peter Beattie....
, George Clooney
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
, Ryan Gosling
Ryan Gosling
Ryan Thomas Gosling is a Canadian actor and musician. He first came to public attention as a child star on the Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Club and went on to appear in other family entertainment programmes including Are You Afraid of the Dark? , Goosebumps , Breaker High and Young Hercules...
, and the rest of The Ides of March
The Ides of March
The Ides of March is an American rock band that had a major US and minor UK hit with the song "Vehicle" in 1970. After going on hiatus in 1973, the band returned with their original line-up in 1990 and has been active since then.-Early days:...
cast watched The War Room to “get their bearings” on their characters and life on the campaign trail.