For the Record

What really stirs the juices of the hard Left is anti-Americanism. Here’s how the Left press sees Iran. The Militant (Socialist Workers Party [Trotskyist]): “The lives of the Americans in Iran are being held hostage—by the Carter Administration, not by Iran. The world is being pushed to the brink of war— by the Carter Administration, not by Iran.” . . . Daily World (CPUSA): “The evidence is mounting that Washington and its Wall Street mentors do not want to free the U.S. hostages or end the conflict with Iran. They have shut the door to every opportunity so far offered to reach an equitable, peaceable conclusion of a situation Washington deliberately provoked in the first place.” . . . Only the Communist Party M-L (pro-Peking) worries that the Soviet Union may take advantage of the crisis to move militarily against Iran. … To the old antiwarriors and the new anti-nukers, Iran is a clarion call to battle. Hundreds turned out at a Communist-organized Vigil for Peace in New York (end war threats against Iran; try the Shah before an international tribunal; etc.), from the War Resisters’ League, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Women Strike for Peace, Mobilization for Survival (the key anti-nuke unit), and the Shad Alliance. . . . But Americans at large oppose the blackmail threat: 66 per cent favor a military strike if the hostages are hurt or brought to trial; 68 per cent don’t think the Shah should be sent back. . . . Sighted, in Corning, N.Y. by Rep. Stanley Lundine, the graffito: “Bomb Iran into the Stone Age,” and underneath it: “That would be redundant.”

New polls all over the lot show Carter moving up fast against Kennedy, even moving ahead among Democrats and Independents in one sounding (ABC-Harris). . . . Evans & Novak say three men are responsible for the turnaround: Edward M. Kennedy, the Ayatollah Khomeini, and Robert Strauss, new head of the Carter campaign. . . . Possibly a historic first: Kennedy’s sideswipe at the Shah drew a joint statement of disapproval from Bill Brock, head of the Republican National Committee, and John White, head of the Democratic National Committee. . . . Meanwhile in Teheran, Kennedy was front-paged in the newspapers. Says the accompanying story: The American people are “divided” on whether or not to return the Shah. . . . And the heavy-handedness continues. E.g., Kennedy, trying to get into the good graces of women’s lib, says Declaration of Independence should read, “All persons are created equal.” . . . Lots of guffaws when it was learned that Kennedy had signed up Mobil Oil’s vice president for public relations, Herbert Schmertz, the fellow who was responsible for all those Mobil newspaper and magazine ads. Less noted, the signing up of Tony Schwartz to create Kennedy radio commercials. Schwartz’s best known commercial: the little girl, the daisy, and the nuclear cloud during the Goldwater campaign.

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What really stirs the juices of the hard Left is anti-Americanism. Here’s how the Left press sees Iran. The Militant (Socialist Workers Party [Trotskyist]): “The lives of the Americans in Iran are being held hostage—by the Carter Administration, not by Iran. The world is being pushed to the brink of war— by the Carter Administration, not by Iran.” . . . Daily World (CPUSA): “The evidence is mounting that Washington and its Wall Street mentors do not want to free the U.S. hostages or end the conflict with Iran. They have shut the door to every opportunity so far offered to reach an equitable, peaceable conclusion of a situation Washington deliberately provoked in the first place.” . . . Only the Communist Party M-L (pro-Peking) worries that the Soviet Union may take advantage of the crisis to move militarily against Iran. … To the old antiwarriors and the new anti-nukers, Iran is a clarion call to battle. Hundreds turned out at a Communist-organized Vigil for Peace in New York (end war threats against Iran; try the Shah before an international tribunal; etc.), from the War Resisters’ League, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Women Strike for Peace, Mobilization for Survival (the key anti-nuke unit), and the Shad Alliance. . . . But Americans at large oppose the blackmail threat: 66 per cent favor a military strike if the hostages are hurt or brought to trial; 68 per cent don’t think the Shah should be sent back. . . . Sighted, in Corning, N.Y. by Rep. Stanley Lundine, the graffito: “Bomb Iran into the Stone Age,” and underneath it: “That would be redundant.”

New polls all over the lot show Carter moving up fast against Kennedy, even moving ahead among Democrats and Independents in one sounding (ABC-Harris). . . . Evans & Novak say three men are responsible for the turnaround: Edward M. Kennedy, the Ayatollah Khomeini, and Robert Strauss, new head of the Carter campaign. . . . Possibly a historic first: Kennedy’s sideswipe at the Shah drew a joint statement of disapproval from Bill Brock, head of the Republican National Committee, and John White, head of the Democratic National Committee. . . . Meanwhile in Teheran, Kennedy was front-paged in the newspapers. Says the accompanying story: The American people are “divided” on whether or not to return the Shah. . . . And the heavy-handedness continues. E.g., Kennedy, trying to get into the good graces of women’s lib, says Declaration of Independence should read, “All persons are created equal.” . . . Lots of guffaws when it was learned that Kennedy had signed up Mobil Oil’s vice president for public relations, Herbert Schmertz, the fellow who was responsible for all those Mobil newspaper and magazine ads. Less noted, the signing up of Tony Schwartz to create Kennedy radio commercials. Schwartz’s best known commercial: the little girl, the daisy, and the nuclear cloud during the Goldwater campaign.