He counseled presidents and popes, served on corporate boards and infuriated Richard Nixon. He was one of the only friends to whom Ann Landers turned for advice. During his 35 years as president of the University of Notre Dame, Theodore Hesburgh became one of the most influential and inspiring people of the 20th century.
Direction
Creadon turns archival footage into propulsive storytelling, not homework.
Editing
Seamless weave of presidential cameos that never feels like name-dropping.
Production
Unexpectedly stylish for a priest documentary—mid-century aesthetic on point.
Director
Patrick Creadon
Maurice LaMarche
Narrator (Hesburgh)
Ted Koppel
Self
Alan K. Simpson
Self
Jimmy Carter
Self (archive footage)
Bill Clinton
Self (archive footage)
Pope John Paul II
Self (archive footage)
Pope Pius XII
Self (archive footage)
Nelson Rockefeller
Self (archive footage)
Martin Luther King Jr.
Self (archive footage)
Richard Nixon
Self (archive footage)
Ronald Reagan
Self (archive footage)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Hesburgh held the world record for most honorary degrees—124—until his death in 2015.
He was the only cleric on the Civil Rights Commission who actually walked out of a meeting when LBJ tried to water down their report.
US
