These days, Iran is once again in the news thanks to the unusual efforts of our current President and his aggressive top staff. I asked Google, Will Trump start a war in Iran? This link covers pros and cons of this question and has lively comments by readers. These current events have reminded me of an interesting period of my earlier life.
The Washington Post article below describes activities by my boss, Frank Shaffer-Corona, at the DC Board of Education. This unusual sequence of events was triggered when Iranian activists invaded the US Embassy in Iran and took 66 hostages. When Frank discovered there were 3 Latino hostages he decided to act. I have edited the Washington Post article below to outline BOE opinions of Frank's activities. I then follow with what actually happened in our own BOE office in early 1980.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1980/02/07/shaffer-corona-phones-iran-bills-school-board/00d6de34-56a0-496f-a3cd-d40c411d9184/?utm_term=.e3106ce9c1d6
Shaffer-Corona Phones Iran, Bills School Board
By Judith Valente, February 7, 1980
*D.C. school board member Frank Shaffer-Corona has been making telephone calls at
Board expense to the Iranians holding American hostages in Tehran in an apparent effort
to mediate the standoff personally, board President R. Calvin Lockridge disclosed last
*D.C. school board member Frank Shaffer-Corona has been making telephone calls at
Board expense to the Iranians holding American hostages in Tehran in an apparent effort
to mediate the standoff personally, board President R. Calvin Lockridge disclosed last
night. Lockridge and other board members said they are not only angered that the calls
are being billed to the school board, but greatly concerned that Shaffer-Corona's attempts
at long distance diplomacy might be jeopardizing U.S. attempts to negotiate the hostages'
release. His efforts were also of concern *Accor to board member Carol L. Schwartz, she and other members confronted Shaffer-Corona two weeks ago about the Tehran calls, and he acknowledged at that time that he had made them. “I think it's appalling," Schwartz said last night of the calls. She said she told Shaffer-Corona: "your politics are your business . . . I just don't think that we should be paying for it. "Your poli[TEXT OMITTED FROM SOURCE] pear to be concentrated on trying to win the release of only two Chicanos and an American Indian being held at the embassy. Shaffer-Corona, who is of part-Mexican ancestry, refers to himself here as a leader of the Latino community and commonly identifies himself in official correspondence as "the first Chicano elected to statewide office on the East Coast."In a letter addressed to the Ayatollah Khomeini that he delivered to the Iranian Embassy here last December, Shaffer-Corona says that "Chicanos have lived under the yoke of U.S. imperialism," and Iranians and Chicanos "as fellow victims of U.S. greed and racism . . . must stand together."
*Board members said they became aware that Shaffer-Corona was making the calls when a phone company telephone operator called [BOE] Superintendent Vincent Reed to ask if it were permissible for Shaffer-Corona to be calling Tehran. Reed told the operator that he had no power to stop board members from telephoning wherever they wish. *Board sources said Shaffer-Corona has telephoned the embassy in Tehran at least three times in the last two weeks and each time spoken for about 30 minutes. One source said that Shaffer-Corona allowed him to listen to a tape recording of one of the calls during which Shaffer-Corona told the Iranians that the hostage-taking incident is much like a "backgammon game." The Iranian on the other end of the line merely replied, "We want the shah! We want the shah!" the source said. *In a memo to Schwartz, board counsel James E. Brown advised that while Shaffer-Corona's calls to Tehran do not "rise to the level of criminal culpability," the board could instruct the telephone company that it will not pay for certain calls, or it could initiate civil action to "recover funds allegedly expended in an improper manner." *A State Department spokesman said last night that he personally had helped Shaffer-Corona telephone Tehran "five or six times" after [State] department officials had given the board member permission to try to contact the embassy there shortly before Christmas. Recently, the spokesman said, the State Department has asked Shaffer-Corona to stop placing calls to the embassy, "because it is getting to be a rather sensitive time." The spokesman said he did not think the State Department would be willing to pay for the calls.
are being billed to the school board, but greatly concerned that Shaffer-Corona's attempts
at long distance diplomacy might be jeopardizing U.S. attempts to negotiate the hostages'
release. His efforts were also of concern *Accor to board member Carol L. Schwartz, she and other members confronted Shaffer-Corona two weeks ago about the Tehran calls, and he acknowledged at that time that he had made them. “I think it's appalling," Schwartz said last night of the calls. She said she told Shaffer-Corona: "your politics are your business . . . I just don't think that we should be paying for it. "Your poli[TEXT OMITTED FROM SOURCE] pear to be concentrated on trying to win the release of only two Chicanos and an American Indian being held at the embassy. Shaffer-Corona, who is of part-Mexican ancestry, refers to himself here as a leader of the Latino community and commonly identifies himself in official correspondence as "the first Chicano elected to statewide office on the East Coast."In a letter addressed to the Ayatollah Khomeini that he delivered to the Iranian Embassy here last December, Shaffer-Corona says that "Chicanos have lived under the yoke of U.S. imperialism," and Iranians and Chicanos "as fellow victims of U.S. greed and racism . . . must stand together."
*Board members said they became aware that Shaffer-Corona was making the calls when a phone company telephone operator called [BOE] Superintendent Vincent Reed to ask if it were permissible for Shaffer-Corona to be calling Tehran. Reed told the operator that he had no power to stop board members from telephoning wherever they wish. *Board sources said Shaffer-Corona has telephoned the embassy in Tehran at least three times in the last two weeks and each time spoken for about 30 minutes. One source said that Shaffer-Corona allowed him to listen to a tape recording of one of the calls during which Shaffer-Corona told the Iranians that the hostage-taking incident is much like a "backgammon game." The Iranian on the other end of the line merely replied, "We want the shah! We want the shah!" the source said. *In a memo to Schwartz, board counsel James E. Brown advised that while Shaffer-Corona's calls to Tehran do not "rise to the level of criminal culpability," the board could instruct the telephone company that it will not pay for certain calls, or it could initiate civil action to "recover funds allegedly expended in an improper manner." *A State Department spokesman said last night that he personally had helped Shaffer-Corona telephone Tehran "five or six times" after [State] department officials had given the board member permission to try to contact the embassy there shortly before Christmas. Recently, the spokesman said, the State Department has asked Shaffer-Corona to stop placing calls to the embassy, "because it is getting to be a rather sensitive time." The spokesman said he did not think the State Department would be willing to pay for the calls.
My 3 years spent working for At Large DC Board of Education member, Frank Shaffer-Corona was one of the more interesting experiences in my life. Interesting in the sense of the Chinese curse, "May you be born in interesting times." For a few weeks I had been doing volunteer work in his office using my Spanish language skills. Then his current Administrative Assistant quit, the third AA to quit that year. He offered me the job and I signed up for what would be 3 difficult and fascinating years. This post covers his efforts to influence the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979-81 in a positive direction. I was basically a worried bystander hoping that his actions made sense and might do some good.
Frank was the oldest of 8 children born in a spread of 11 years. Being the oldest son with that many children not much younger than himself had sharpened his skills of domination and control. It had not done so much to grow his diplomatic skill. His father was a Spanish teacher at West Point and his mother was a Mexican citizen. He had strongly expressed feelings about injustice to Mexican Americans (Chicanos), Mexicans, African Americans, other persons of color, and the poor and dispossessed. He was not shy or diplomatic about expressing these feelings publicly or in correspondence. Nor expressing his feelings toward people who did not possess these enlightened views.
On Nov. 4, 1979, the 444 day ordeal of the American Embassy personnel in Tehran began when several thousand angry Iranians invaded our Embassy and took 66 people hostage. Iranian anger had been growing since 1953 when our CIA and British intelligence had overthrown Iran's elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. In 1951 the PM had nationalized the US and British oil interests in Iran. The Shah who took Mossadegh's place was most cooperative on oil matters, but developed a very nasty secret police, SAVAK. He also made our military companies richer by spending large amounts of Iranian money on weapons rather than the people's needs.
In July 1979, revolutionaries forced the Shah out of his government and he fled to Egypt. Ayatollah Khomeini installed a militant Islamist government. The Shah developed deadly cancer and President Carter admitted him to the US for advanced medical treatment on humanitarian grounds. This infuriated the Iranians, and an important demand by the hostage holders was return of the Shah to Iran for trial.
On Nov. 17, 1979, 13 hostages were released. They were mostly women, African-Americans and non-US citizens. Khomeini argued they were already subject to "the oppression of American society." In midsummer 1980 a very sick hostage was also sent home leaving 52 hostages to suffer miserable conditions, rough treatment, and death threats. When President Reagan was inaugurated on Jan. 21, 1981, the hostages were released hours later.
Upon hearing that our African Americans were being released Frank immediately became involved in efforts to also have any Chicanos or other Latinos released. He considered that their oppression was similar to what Khomeini had argued. He told me his theory that Backgammon was Iran's national game, and Frank as a skilled player of that game could develop a successful negotiating strategy. I don't know that game, but Frank said releasing the African Americans was like a certain game move. He believed that getting the Ayatollah to release the Latino hostages (there were 3) would be another positive move. Then other potential "victims" of US injustice could be identified and released, slowly but steadily removing hostages from captivity. The treatment of Chinese and Irish immigrants comes to mind
On Dec. 12, 1979 he released a Press Release on his visit to the Iranian Embassy. The same day he also wrote a letter to Ayatollah Khomeini. This and documentation of Chicano mistreatment in the US were to be forwarded by the Iranian Embassy to Iran. These items are the second and third exhibits at this site. Other items further down also refer to this period. There are also various newspaper clippings referring to his activities during this period--a total of 34 pages.
The Press Release points out that "Mr . Shaffer-Corona serves as the Washington Representative and spokesperson of La Raza Unida Party, whose National Chairman is Juan Jose Pena of New Mexico, and whose Secretary of International Relations is Jose Angel Gutierrez of Texas. He serves that same role for the Alianza de Pueblos Libres headed by Reies Lopez Tijerina." Given the Ayatollah's reasoning for releasing blacks and women, he presented the Embassy with information and documents showing that Latinos have suffered similar discrimination and mistreatment. Mr. Juan Jose Pena had initiated a similar request to the Iranians some three weeks earlier.
Frank must have typed the Press Release and Ayatollah letter on his old typewriter at home. This is the first time I have seen them, and I was unaware they existed before researching this article. However, once the State Department gave him permission to talk directly with the hostage holders in the American Embassy in Iran I did listen to his side of several conversations at the office. I was struck then with the historic significance of what I was hearing. Soon other Board of Education members complained that he was using BOE phones to make expensive long distance calls. His rationale was that this mess could precipitate a war with Iran. Anything he could do to prevent such a war would save the lives of graduating DC students, and prevent money being wasted on warfare that could better be used to fund education.
We were surprised and disappointed when after a few weeks the State Department cut off the phone link with the US Embassy in Iran and the hostage holders. It had taken a while for the packet of information regarding grievances of Latinos to reach the hostage holders and they were just beginning to consider Frank's requests. Shortly after that, President Carter at an election campaign speech in the middle west announced significant results pending thanks to his administration's efforts. Frank told me that based on his most recent conversations with hostage holders this was simply NOT true. And certainly nothing significant was reported after that speech.
On April 24, 1980, a daring rescue was attempted and aborted. I and others speculated that such a spectacular failure must have been planned to look as if something was being done. An alternate theory was sabotage by people hoping for a Ronald Reagan win in the coming election. Eight rescue helicopters were to rendezvous at a desert staging area. Their engines were not provided with sand filters, 2 did not make it to the first staging area, a third failed at that site and the decision was made to abort. During withdrawal a 4th helicopter hit a support aircraft. Eight service members were killed. What a tragedy, and what a crime if someone deliberately planned for failure of the mission.
July 27, 1980, the Shah died of cancer in the US. Still the hostages were not returned. In mid August, Iran had a new government, and on Sept. 22nd Iraq invaded Iran and began an eight year war that caused several million casualties. The hostages were released the day Reagan took office. In 1986 Reagan received help from Iran to assist obtaining release of 7 hostages in Lebanon from terrorists. This despite US policy to not negotiate with terrorists. Then we sold Iran 1,500 missiles for $30 million. Subsequently more than half of this payment to us could not be found and this whole business morphed into the Iran Contra scandal. I was happy to not be involved with that event.
Frank was not reelected to the BOE, and I lost my job. However, I had learned a lot which came in handy during my future political life. I was recently told that Frank died a few years ago. He was six years younger than myself.
On Nov. 17, 1979, 13 hostages were released. They were mostly women, African-Americans and non-US citizens. Khomeini argued they were already subject to "the oppression of American society." In midsummer 1980 a very sick hostage was also sent home leaving 52 hostages to suffer miserable conditions, rough treatment, and death threats. When President Reagan was inaugurated on Jan. 21, 1981, the hostages were released hours later.
Upon hearing that our African Americans were being released Frank immediately became involved in efforts to also have any Chicanos or other Latinos released. He considered that their oppression was similar to what Khomeini had argued. He told me his theory that Backgammon was Iran's national game, and Frank as a skilled player of that game could develop a successful negotiating strategy. I don't know that game, but Frank said releasing the African Americans was like a certain game move. He believed that getting the Ayatollah to release the Latino hostages (there were 3) would be another positive move. Then other potential "victims" of US injustice could be identified and released, slowly but steadily removing hostages from captivity. The treatment of Chinese and Irish immigrants comes to mind
On Dec. 12, 1979 he released a Press Release on his visit to the Iranian Embassy. The same day he also wrote a letter to Ayatollah Khomeini. This and documentation of Chicano mistreatment in the US were to be forwarded by the Iranian Embassy to Iran. These items are the second and third exhibits at this site. Other items further down also refer to this period. There are also various newspaper clippings referring to his activities during this period--a total of 34 pages.
The Press Release points out that "Mr . Shaffer-Corona serves as the Washington Representative and spokesperson of La Raza Unida Party, whose National Chairman is Juan Jose Pena of New Mexico, and whose Secretary of International Relations is Jose Angel Gutierrez of Texas. He serves that same role for the Alianza de Pueblos Libres headed by Reies Lopez Tijerina." Given the Ayatollah's reasoning for releasing blacks and women, he presented the Embassy with information and documents showing that Latinos have suffered similar discrimination and mistreatment. Mr. Juan Jose Pena had initiated a similar request to the Iranians some three weeks earlier.
Frank must have typed the Press Release and Ayatollah letter on his old typewriter at home. This is the first time I have seen them, and I was unaware they existed before researching this article. However, once the State Department gave him permission to talk directly with the hostage holders in the American Embassy in Iran I did listen to his side of several conversations at the office. I was struck then with the historic significance of what I was hearing. Soon other Board of Education members complained that he was using BOE phones to make expensive long distance calls. His rationale was that this mess could precipitate a war with Iran. Anything he could do to prevent such a war would save the lives of graduating DC students, and prevent money being wasted on warfare that could better be used to fund education.
We were surprised and disappointed when after a few weeks the State Department cut off the phone link with the US Embassy in Iran and the hostage holders. It had taken a while for the packet of information regarding grievances of Latinos to reach the hostage holders and they were just beginning to consider Frank's requests. Shortly after that, President Carter at an election campaign speech in the middle west announced significant results pending thanks to his administration's efforts. Frank told me that based on his most recent conversations with hostage holders this was simply NOT true. And certainly nothing significant was reported after that speech.
On April 24, 1980, a daring rescue was attempted and aborted. I and others speculated that such a spectacular failure must have been planned to look as if something was being done. An alternate theory was sabotage by people hoping for a Ronald Reagan win in the coming election. Eight rescue helicopters were to rendezvous at a desert staging area. Their engines were not provided with sand filters, 2 did not make it to the first staging area, a third failed at that site and the decision was made to abort. During withdrawal a 4th helicopter hit a support aircraft. Eight service members were killed. What a tragedy, and what a crime if someone deliberately planned for failure of the mission.
July 27, 1980, the Shah died of cancer in the US. Still the hostages were not returned. In mid August, Iran had a new government, and on Sept. 22nd Iraq invaded Iran and began an eight year war that caused several million casualties. The hostages were released the day Reagan took office. In 1986 Reagan received help from Iran to assist obtaining release of 7 hostages in Lebanon from terrorists. This despite US policy to not negotiate with terrorists. Then we sold Iran 1,500 missiles for $30 million. Subsequently more than half of this payment to us could not be found and this whole business morphed into the Iran Contra scandal. I was happy to not be involved with that event.
Frank was not reelected to the BOE, and I lost my job. However, I had learned a lot which came in handy during my future political life. I was recently told that Frank died a few years ago. He was six years younger than myself.
