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One of our strands has focused on the issues of the 1970s. John Heintz
of Calgary has this memory and observation:
In, to my mind, the most powerful media event of the 70's, Walter
Cronkite forced President Carter to abandon his strategy for
dealing with the Iranian hostage situation. The result was an
ill-fated and fatal rescue attempt that contributed significantly
to Carter's subsequent downfall.
Carter attempted to deal with the "Hostage Crisis" an a
patient manner, avoiding inflammatory speeches or threats and
negotiating quietly. (The strategy later worked for Reagan during
the Lebanon hostage-takings). The hostage-taking was big news,
but would have moved to the back burner had not Walter Cronkite
decided to sign off his newscast every night by reporting the
number of days the Americans had been hostage (this was sometimes
accompanied by a view of the knoll on which a [Pennsylvania?]
gentlemen had dtermined to erect an American flag each day the
hostages remained in captivity). Eventually public and press
opinion was aroused sufficiently for Carter to go ahead with the
rescue attempt that failed.
The press did not treat the Lebanon hostage-taking in the
same way for Reagan, and he escaped unscathed.
John Heintz
heintz%acs.ucalgary.ca@uicvm.uic.edu
 Humanities & Social Sciences Online 
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