Howard Baskerville described in his own words the decision to join his students in the Nationalist movement as a matter of conscience. In telling his story, albeit from only the American perspective, I hope to encourage Iranian film makers to create a companion piece that will place this story in the context of your history. Perhaps we can honor this American idealist and his Iranian comrades by telling their story to a new generation. In 1976 he was an Associate Field Producer for ABC Television news based in Tokyo with assignments in Korea, traveling with the President of the United States. From1973 to 1975 he was visiting professor at the Department of Psychology, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan, presenting lectures on cross-cultural communication from both the personal and mass media dimensions.
Alarming news comes from Tabriz.
The local Nationalist Assembly is believed to intend organizing an attack upon foreigners if the Powers do not immediately intervene to save the situation. The famished mobs are restrained from rioting with the greatest difficulty. The revolutionaries under arms have supplies and will never surrender, but the provisions in the town are almost exhausted and the inhabitants find themselves between starvation on the one hand and the Shah's ruthless tribesmen on the other. Unless the representations which are expected to be made to the Shah by the British and Russian Legations tomorrow are productive of important results, it would appear as if a tragedy were inevitable in Tabriz within the next few days. TheNationalist forces in Tabriz made a determined sortie this morning, but with little result.