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In this 1982 photo, Richard Richards (center) of Ogden is with President Ronald Reagan (right) when he visited Weber County. File

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In this 1970 photo, Richard Richards, of Ogden (right) is seen with Michigan Gov. George Romney. Richards was working on campaigns for the Republican Party. file

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In this 1970 photo, Richard Richards of Ogden is seen with U.S. President Richard Nixon. Richards was involved in campaigns for the Republican Party. File

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Dick Richards always had the same answer when it came to defining ethics. 

“It’s simply doing the right thing,” he said.

That quote is from the new film, “Richard Richards: A Conversation on Ethics,” that will premiere Friday, Feb. 26, at Peery’s Egyptian Theater in Ogden.

The film, directed by Issac Goeckeritz, plays at 7 p.m. Afterward, at a reception, DVDs of the film will be sold as well as copies of Richards’ 2006 memoir, “Climbing the Political Ladder: One Rung at a Time.” Thirteen months ago, Richards died at age 82. 

The top rung of the ladder for Richards was top person in the national Republican Party. The son of a sign painter, a graduate of Weber College who became a lawyer, he served as national chairman for two years during Ronald Reagan’s term. Two decades earlier, as chairman of the Utah state Republican Party, he oversaw Utah’s transition from a state where Democrats won most elections to what Utah is today — perhaps the most Republican state in the nation.

• RELATED: Richard Richards, friend to Reagan, dead at 82

Gene Sessions, a professor at Weber State University and chairman of the Richard Richards Institute for Ethics at Weber State University, recalls his first close contact with Richards. About 10 years ago, Richards moved into his LDS ward. Speaking in church, Richards candidly informed the congregation, “I’m coming here to die, so don’t learn to like me.” 

But he lived another 10 years, and many people learned to like Richard Richards, Sessions said. “He was just exactly what you want everyone else to be,” Sessions explained, a man who believed what a person says should dictate his actions. 

“He was constantly disappointed by what he saw in the political world,” Sessions said. His friend would have been disgusted by Donald Trump’s candidacy, Sessions maintains. Also, the lack of integrity demonstrated by both Bill and Hillary Clinton disappointed Richards, added Sessions. Richards devoted the last decade of his life with the institute for ethics named after him. Scholarships for high school students, awards for ethics in business with chambers of commerce, guest speakers, coursework, conferences, all are part of the institute’s work.

The film, which tracks Richards’ career in politics, opens with his misgivings about the campaign tactics of former President Richard Nixon. Asked to join the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) prior to the 1972 election, Richards said no and in fact moved away from Washington D.C. for a while, preferring to run campaigns from Utah. One politician Richards felt comfortable with was Ronald Reagan. As the film notes, Richards was the first state Republican Party chairman to endorse Reagan and moved Utah’s 14 delegates to him in Reagan’s unsuccessful 1976 bid. In 1980, Richards oversaw 19 states during the campaign, and delivered 18 for Reagan on election night. A grateful president later asked Richards to head the national party.

Amy Hartvigsen, Richards’ daughter, and also a board member at the Richards Institute, only visited Reagan twice with her father as a teenager, but has fond memories. “He had a lot of charm and charisma,” she said, adding that Reagan’s memory was amazing, particularly for names of people he might have only met once. People who talked with Reagan “were amazed and awestruck” in his presence, she added.

The documentary recounts Richards’ organization skills, and a strategy program, “Neighbor to Neighbor,” that elicited strong performances from party members, bottom to top, and produced large get-out-the-vote number in an era before the Internet. 

Sessions said he believes the current candidate who Richards may be closest to in honesty and candor is Bernie Sanders, a Democratic socialist. They would not agree on politics, but Sessions sees similarities in their personalities.

Richards lived long enough to participate in the documentary. “I think he would have loved it,” Hartvigsen said. It’s fun to see his friends and colleagues from that era,” she added. Former Sen. Jake Garn and former U.S. Rep. James Hansen are among those sharing memories of Richards.

Tickets are $5 and are available at SmithsTix (just type Richard Richards in search). If seats are still available, tickets will be sold at the theater.

dgibson@standard.net