As we write these newsletters, we continually see the ironic timing of so many historic events.
Yesterday, we noted the anniversary of the event, involving Iran, that provoked the worst crisis of Reagan's presidency, on November 3, 1986. Today, we write of the anniversary of the event, involving Iran, that provoked the worst crisis of Carter's presidency .
On Nov. 4, 1979, a group consisting largely of Iranian students invaded the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took more than 60 Americans captive, 52 of whom would be held hostage for 444 days. Our article chronicles the crisis, as well as Iranian mistrust of the U.S. going back to 1953. (Click here for the article in Spanish. In a separate article, we cover the History of Iranian Revolutions, going back to 1906).
Exactly one year later, on November 4, 1980, Ronald Reagan defeated Carter's re-election bid.
We 're not done with the irony. November 4, 1916 is the date of birth of Walter Cronkite, the "Most Trusted Man in America." Cronkite broke from his absolute impartiality after visiting Vietnam and declaring the war "unwinnable," leading LBJ to say "if I've lost Cronkite, I've lost America." But this one-time departure paled in comparison to the full year that Cronkite went off the impartiality rails - over the Iranian Hostage Crisis. In 1979-1980, Cronkite delivered what Washington Post writer Ellen Goodman called "the most powerful subliminal editorial in America". Each night, when he signed off on the news, Walter Cronkite said "That's the way it is, Thursday, June 12, 1980, the 222nd day of captivity for the hostages in Iran. This is Walter Cronkite, CBS News. Good night." In an Op-Ed piece that the Post re-ran after Cronkite's death, Goodman called the "the nightly Cronkite count...a flag at half-mast, a daily probe of a wound, a political statement."
Highlights from SweetSearch2Day:
Table of Contents for the Web Guide to the Civil War:
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- Overview
- General Resources
- First-Hand Accounts
- Other Primary Source Material
- Personal Records of Soldiers,
- Teaching the Civil War
- Civil War Photographs
Need we say any more?
Interview of the Day continues to develop into a must-read feature; today, it covers an interview with muckracking journalist I.F. Stone, who in 1970 told a class at the University of Berkeley, "I'd rather write-I'd rather search for the truth-and write it as I see it for a few people than write things I only half believe or half agree with for a million people. Not that I think I have the truth, I think all a man can contribute is what he thinks is the truth. Otherwise he loses his bearings if he just tells what other people think is the truth." His words about politics are pretty apt in the current environment.
NASA's Astronomy Photo of the Day shows this stunning shot from the International Space Station, of a nighttime image of the cities of New Orleans and Houston, as well as Jackson, Shreveport, Dallas and Fort Worth.
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