IOP Fellows Share Stories at Introduction

Edward Fouhy could only marvel at the freedom of the press in the United States.

As a television news executive during the Iranian hostage crisis of 1980, he decided to air a story about the Iranian secret service even after President Carter called personally to ask that the story be delayed to protect national security.

"In any other country, the building would have been destroyed and I would have been arrested," he said.

Fouhy's tale was but one of many last night at the Kennedy School of Government, as the seven new Fellows of the Institute of Politics (IOP) swapped political anecdotes and introduced the topics of their study groups to an audience of more than 150 people.

Fouhy, who will be leading a seminar on the press and its effect on the Presidential campaign, told the audience about his career as a journalist covering the Civil Rights Movement and the White House and as a television news executive.

Geraldine Ferraro, who in 1984 became the first woman to run on a major party ticket for Vice President, told the audience about how she got involved in politics, adding "I hope you don't do it the same way."

Ferraro traced her career in politics from assistant district attorney in Queens, New York, to member of Congress in the home district of Archie Bunker, the reactionary lead character of "All in the Family."

"My consituents are not Archies, but they are close," Ferraro said.

"I want to get you involved [in politics] early in life," Ferraro told her student audience, suggesting that political figures like herself could have been more successful if they had begun their careers earlier in their lives.

Former Congressman Clarence "Bud" Brown (R--Ohio), leader of a group studying the influence of technology in the world economy, described the uncanny parallels between his political career and that of his father.

Not only did the two, who have the same name, hold the same seat in Congress for a combined total of 44 years, but both lost bids for election as Republican Governor of Ohio in a time of dissatisfaction with the current Republican President. Brown's father saw his gubernatorial run fall short in 1932, while his own unsuccessful campaign came exactly 50 years later.

Heinz Kluncker, a West German labor leader and the first Jerry Wurf Fellow at the Kennedy School, told a hushed audience about his youth in Nazi Germany. With a heavy German accent, he said he never agreed with the Nazi ideology and came to bitterly hate it when his mother was tortured by the Gestapo.

"I told my mother 'I am going to run away from the German army as soon as I can, or else I'm going to take my guns, go into the Gestapo basement, and shoot anyone I can find,'" he said.

Choosing the first alternative, Kluncker escaped to the United States and returned to Germany after World War II to become an official for the Social Democratic Party and eventually president of his labor union.

The former president of the New York Urban League, Harriet Michel, will lead a study group about emerging Black leadership. She said she has constantly acted as a spokesperson for the Black viewpoint, recounting her experiences as an exchange student in Norway during the Civil Rights Movement.

The only Black person in the Norwegian town inwhich she stayed, Michel said some local residentscut off samples of her hair to examine whileothers tried to rub off the darkness of her skin.

She became the center of attention, she said,trying to explain the position of the Blacksduring the Civil Rights Movement, though she feltshe was far removed from the fray when she livedin Pennsylvania.

John Smith, Mayor of Prichard, Alabama,president of the National Conference of BlackMayors and secretary-general of the WorldConference of Mayors, said democracy would only besuccessful if people actively participated in it.

"In order to have an effective government,people must participate in government," he said.

Smith also tried to emphasize the importance oflocal government and community feeling.

"People have lost a sense of municipality," hesaid. "As mayor, I have injected the idea ofbelieving in your own community.