Quest for Power: Sketches of the American New Right (1983)

Overview

Documentary chronicling the emergence of the religious New Right in the early Eighties, when, buoyed by the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan as President, conservative politicians and organizations launched nationwide attacks on communism, homosexuality, feminism, abortion, pornography and liberal politicians. By profiling such influential figures as religious broadcaster and Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell, anti-Equal Rights Amendment activist Phyllis Schlafly, conservative Senator Jesse Helms, right-wing direct-mail fundraiser Richard Viguerie, and John LeBoutillier (R-NY), a representative of the new conservative breed of congressmen, the video offers a provocative portrait of the roots of a powerful force in contemporary American politics