Marius Is `Unhired' as Gore Aide

Two weeks ago, Harvard's Senior Lecturer on English Richard C. Marius was on top of the world.

Marius, who helped Vice President Al Gore '69 write at least two speeches in the past, had accepted a $70,000-per-year offer to do the job full time.

Marius, 62 got a year-long leave of absence approved by Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles, rented out his Belmont house and even started packing. Everything was in place for the bow-tie-wearing former Expository Writing director to be Gore's new chief speech writer.

Then, on July 9, Marius received a message in an early morning telephone call from Gore's communications director Lorraine Voles.

He had been "unhired."

The cause for the change of heart was the allegation, stemming from a Harvard Magazine article authored by Marius in 1992, that the writer was an anti-Semite.

In the March-April 1992 Harvard Magazine the University's alumni publication Marius authored a review of Helen Winternitz's book "A Season of Stone: Living in a Palestinian Village."

In the review, he compared the Israeli secret police to their counterparts in Nazi Germany.

"Many Israelis, the Holocaust fresh in their memory, believe that that Horror gives them the right to inflict horror on others," he wrote. "Winternitz's account of the Shin Bet, the Israeli secret police, is eerily similar to the stories of the Nazi Gestapo, the Geheimstaatspolitzei in Nazi-occupied territories in World War II--arbitrary arrests in the middle of the night, imprisonment without trial, beatings, refined tortures, murder, punishment of the families of suspects."

Marius's review was followed by a flurry of letters upbraiding him for the review and the magazine for publishing it. One alumnus wrote demanding that Marius be replaced as a reviewer for the publication.

The prospect that this review could embarrass the vice president--or alienate some of his constituents--was apparently enough to get Marius the axe.

But Marius maintained in an interview Wednesday that there is more to thestory than political caution.

He said that what happened to him is not reallya case of his past coming back to haunt him.Instead, Marius said that the incident is aparable about the personal influence of Martin H.Peretz, who was less than thrilled upon learningof Marius's appointment.

Peretz, a Harvard Social Studies lecturer whowas Gore's tutor at Harvard in the late 1960s, iswell known for his close ties to the vicepresident.

When Gore spoke at Harvard's Commencement in1994, the reception party was held at Peretz'sopulent but understated Cambridge home. And thisJune when Gore returned for his daughter Karenna'sgraduation the vice president and Peretz alsocelebrated together.

"You have to make a moral and intellectualjudgment on someone who compares Jews to Nazis,"Peretz said in a telephone interview Wednesdayfrom his summer home on Cape Cod.

"This is not a matter of someone being justpro-Palestinian, a legitimate public position.When [Gore] saw this, he had to make a decision,"Peretz said.

Peretz maintained that several staffers ingore's office had heard about the 1992 controversyover Marius' review before Peretz had gotten windof it, and that this was not a case of exercisingany kind of undue influence over a personalfriend.

But Marius said Peretz had told Gore that thespeechwriter was an anti-Semite as early as1993--the year Marius helped the then-candidatewrite a speech Gore gave in New York about theWarsaw Ghetto uprising.

"Marty Peretz first came into my view when Iwrote the speech for the Madison Square Garden in1993 about the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. It was thenthat he told Gore that I was an anti-Semite. Ithought 'this is so stupid,'" Marius recalled in atelephone interview from his summer retreat inTennessee.

"Everybody who knows me knows I'm not ananti-Semite," Marius said. "It [the allegation]galls me.... It is shocking."

Thought he said he is not angry with Peretz,Marius equated the lecturer to a Jewish version ofPat Robertson in the Wednesday Washington Postarticle that broke the story of his unhearing.

Voles, Gore's communications director, said shecould not discuss the decision.

"We consider this to be a private personnelmatter, and it's our policy not to talk aboutthose," Voles said.

Marries hiring and subsequent firing had beenrumored around Harvard during the past week. Thestory has now been reported by newspapers radiostation and wire services ranging from theAssociated Press to the Jerusalem Post.

"I thank God for Harvard's way of taking meback," said Marries, who has already cleared hisreturn through official channels in UniversityHall.

"Dr. Marius asked for and was granted leave andthen he asked for and was granted return. Hiscourses were simply unbracketed," Knowles said inan interview yesterday.

"Certainly I remember some expressed concern inthe magazine at the time. But it's not the firstand it won't be the last review in this magazineor another that will cause a flurry," Knowlessaid.

Marius a highly-visible campus figure who canbe seen reading in Memorial Church or chatting atNieman Fellow receptions said he stands by what hewrote and that he has a history of standing up forJews.

"I feel the Shin Bet is to Israel what the CIAis to America. If I could abolish it today Iwould. The crimes of the Shin Bet have beenthoroughly documented. Amnesty Internationalreports it all the time.... I stands by what Iwrote," said Marius who had been authoring thecolumn for Harvard Magazine since 1986.

Marius also defended himself by citing a 1974book he wrote about the Protestant reformer MartinLuther. In the book, he castigated scholars forfailing to acknowledge Luther's anti-Semitism.

"Luther scholars were mad at me, but I said itwas a crime to ignore it," Marius said.

Marius said he has no regrets, despite the lostopportunity.

"I always wanted to write [Gore's] inauguraladdress in 2001, but I wouldn't feel right writingfor him anymore, but maybe in time we'll see," hesaid." I'll probably still vote for him, though."

"My conscience is absolutely clear. I'm sorryto be misread by people but what I've said all mylife is down there in black and white.... I feelvery peaceful about the whole thing," he said.Crimson File PhotoAL GORE '69 is shown above deliveringHarvard's 1994 Commencement address.

He said that what happened to him is not reallya case of his past coming back to haunt him.Instead, Marius said that the incident is aparable about the personal influence of Martin H.Peretz, who was less than thrilled upon learningof Marius's appointment.

Peretz, a Harvard Social Studies lecturer whowas Gore's tutor at Harvard in the late 1960s, iswell known for his close ties to the vicepresident.

When Gore spoke at Harvard's Commencement in1994, the reception party was held at Peretz'sopulent but understated Cambridge home. And thisJune when Gore returned for his daughter Karenna'sgraduation the vice president and Peretz alsocelebrated together.

"You have to make a moral and intellectualjudgment on someone who compares Jews to Nazis,"Peretz said in a telephone interview Wednesdayfrom his summer home on Cape Cod.

"This is not a matter of someone being justpro-Palestinian, a legitimate public position.When [Gore] saw this, he had to make a decision,"Peretz said.

Peretz maintained that several staffers ingore's office had heard about the 1992 controversyover Marius' review before Peretz had gotten windof it, and that this was not a case of exercisingany kind of undue influence over a personalfriend.

But Marius said Peretz had told Gore that thespeechwriter was an anti-Semite as early as1993--the year Marius helped the then-candidatewrite a speech Gore gave in New York about theWarsaw Ghetto uprising.

"Marty Peretz first came into my view when Iwrote the speech for the Madison Square Garden in1993 about the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. It was thenthat he told Gore that I was an anti-Semite. Ithought 'this is so stupid,'" Marius recalled in atelephone interview from his summer retreat inTennessee.

"Everybody who knows me knows I'm not ananti-Semite," Marius said. "It [the allegation]galls me.... It is shocking."

Thought he said he is not angry with Peretz,Marius equated the lecturer to a Jewish version ofPat Robertson in the Wednesday Washington Postarticle that broke the story of his unhearing.

Voles, Gore's communications director, said shecould not discuss the decision.

"We consider this to be a private personnelmatter, and it's our policy not to talk aboutthose," Voles said.

Marries hiring and subsequent firing had beenrumored around Harvard during the past week. Thestory has now been reported by newspapers radiostation and wire services ranging from theAssociated Press to the Jerusalem Post.

"I thank God for Harvard's way of taking meback," said Marries, who has already cleared hisreturn through official channels in UniversityHall.

"Dr. Marius asked for and was granted leave andthen he asked for and was granted return. Hiscourses were simply unbracketed," Knowles said inan interview yesterday.

"Certainly I remember some expressed concern inthe magazine at the time. But it's not the firstand it won't be the last review in this magazineor another that will cause a flurry," Knowlessaid.

Marius a highly-visible campus figure who canbe seen reading in Memorial Church or chatting atNieman Fellow receptions said he stands by what hewrote and that he has a history of standing up forJews.

"I feel the Shin Bet is to Israel what the CIAis to America. If I could abolish it today Iwould. The crimes of the Shin Bet have beenthoroughly documented. Amnesty Internationalreports it all the time.... I stands by what Iwrote," said Marius who had been authoring thecolumn for Harvard Magazine since 1986.

Marius also defended himself by citing a 1974book he wrote about the Protestant reformer MartinLuther. In the book, he castigated scholars forfailing to acknowledge Luther's anti-Semitism.

"Luther scholars were mad at me, but I said itwas a crime to ignore it," Marius said.

Marius said he has no regrets, despite the lostopportunity.

"I always wanted to write [Gore's] inauguraladdress in 2001, but I wouldn't feel right writingfor him anymore, but maybe in time we'll see," hesaid." I'll probably still vote for him, though."

"My conscience is absolutely clear. I'm sorryto be misread by people but what I've said all mylife is down there in black and white.... I feelvery peaceful about the whole thing," he said.Crimson File PhotoAL GORE '69 is shown above deliveringHarvard's 1994 Commencement address.