November 4, 1979: The Iran Hostage Crisis begins. Islamic militants take over the U.S. Embassy in Iran, and take 80 hostages, a number that will drop to 52. At first, the nation rallies around President Jimmy Carter, as the nation tends to rally around the President when a crisis occurs.
It helps Carter that, on this same day, CBS Reports airs "Teddy," an hourlong program focusing on Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy of Massachusetts, who is rumored to be running for President. (He confirms the rumor by announcing his candidacy 3 days later.) Ted made the huge mistake of making what turned out to be his only run for President in the 1 election between 1972 and 1996 when the incumbent President was a fellow Democrat.
He hurts himself further by taking the simple question of host and interviewer Roger Mudd, "Why do you want to be President?" and, unlike his brothers Jack in 1960 and Bobby in 1968, coming up with an answer that is neither direct nor brief.
Roger Mudd
And while both Jack and Bobby had made their announcements in the Senate Caucus Room at the Capitol, Ted literally had the home-field advantage: He was at his house in the so-called "Kennedy Compound" in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Then 47 years old, older than either of his brothers lived to be, he was seated, and apparently relaxed. He seemed prepared to answer The Question.
He even agreed to do the interview, because he thought it would help Mudd in his bid for a higher office: The choice to succeed Walter Cronkite, who had famously interviewed Jack across the compound on Labor Day 1963, as anchor of The CBS Evening News was down to Mudd and Dan Rather.
Here's how the announcements went:
Jack, January 2, 1960: "The Presidency is the most powerful office in the Free World. Through its leadership can come a more vital life for our people."
Bobby, March 16, 1968: "I run for the Presidency not merely to oppose any man, but to propose new policy. I run to seek new policies, because I believe our country is on a perilous course, and I feel obliged to do all that I can."
Ted, November 4, 1979: Well, I, uh, were I to, to make the announcement to run, the reasons I would run is because I have a great belief in this country, that it is, there's more natural resources than any nation in the world, has the greatest educated population in the world, the greatest technology of any country in the world, the greatest capacity for innovation in the world and the greatest political system in the world.
And yet, I see at the current time that most of the industrial nations of the world are exceeding us in terms of productivity, or doing better than us in terms of meeting the problems of inflation, that they're dealing with their problems of energy and their problems of unemployment.
It just seems to me that this nation can cope and deal with its problems in a way that it has in the past. We're facing complex issues and problems in this nation at this time, but we have faced similar challenges at other times and the energies and the resourcefulness of this nation, I think, should be focused on these problems in a way that brings a sense of restoration in this country by its people to, in dealing with the problems that we face, primarily the issues on the economy, the problems of inflation and the problems of energy, and I would basically feel that it's imperative for this country either move forward, but it can't stand still or otherwise it moves backward.
- MUDD: What would you do different from Carter?
- KENNEDY: Well, in which particular areas?
- MUDD: Well, just take the question of leadership.
- KENNEDY: Well, it's, on what, on, you know, you have to come to grips with the different issues that we're facing. I mean we can, we'd have to deal with each of the various questions that we're talking about, whether it's in the questions of the economy, whether it's in the areas of energy.
- All he had to do was say pretty much the same thing either of his brothers had said. Instead, he stammered, he rambled, and he sounded more like one of the George Bushes than he did like a Kennedy.
- He also seriously mishandled Mudd's question about the 1969 Chappaquiddick Incident that cast a shadow over his life and career from that moment onward.
- His campaign never really got off the ground. On February 26, 1980, in the Primary in the next-door State of New Hampshire, he got 37 percent of the vote, to Carter's 47 percent. It shattered his aura of invincibility: If a Kennedy couldn't win New Hampshire, what chance did he have nationally?
- By April 25, 1980, when the failed "Desert One" rescue attempt occurred, Carter had the Democratic nomination for a 2nd term sewed up, and people (including some Republicans crossing over) started voting for Kennedy as a protest vote, knowing he could no longer win the nomination, but the Primaries he might win could, and did, damage Carter.
Cronkite's last broadcast as anchor was on March 6, 1981. The following Monday, March 9, the new anchor was Rather. Mudd would be forgotten, except for the Ted Kennedy interview. He died in 2021.
*
November 4, 1979 was a Sunday. The baseball season was over. But the NFL held games:
* The New York Giants lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 16-14 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.
* The New York Jets beat the Green Bay Packers, 27-22 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
* The Cleveland Browns beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-19 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The New England Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills, 26-6 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.
* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Washington Redskins, 38-7 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* The Baltimore Colts beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 38-28 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 17-14 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Chicago Bears beat the Detroit Lions, 35-7 at the old Soldier Field in Chicago.
* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Minnesota Vikings, 37-7 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The San Diego Chargers beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 20-14 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Denver Broncos beat the New Orleans Saints, 10-3 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
* The Oakland Raiders beat the San Francisco 49ers, 23-10 at the Oakland Coliseum.
* And the Los Angeles Rams beat the Seattle Seahawks, 24-0 at the Kingdome in Seattle.
* The next, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Houston Oilers beat the Miami Dolphins, 9-6 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
There were 3 games played in the NBA that night:
* The New Jersey Nets beat the Kansas City Kings, 101-98 at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, New Jersey. (It's now named the Jersey Mike's Arena)
* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 114-101 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.
* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 127-124 in overtime at the Portland Memorial Coliseum. George Gervin led all scorers on the night, with 32 points.
And there were 6 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. The Rangers trailed 2-1 with 4:16 left in regulation, but they got an equalizer on the power play from Anders Hedberg at that point, a go-ahead goal from Phil Esposito with 3:07 to go, and an empty-netter at the end from Don Maloney.
* The New York Islanders played the Winnipeg Jets to a tie, 4-4 at the Winnipeg Arena.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Colisée de Québec.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-3 at the Chicago Stadium.
* And the Boston Bruins beat the Edmonton Oilers, 2-1 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.
No comments:
Post a Comment