Cornwall's Cynical Comfort
Although Ted Armstrong and Stanley Rader are afraid to specifically address the issues raised in the Report, one individual is to be commended for his courage-Henry Cornwall, the secretary/treasurer of the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation and director of the Worldwide Advertising Agency. He has probably done more for promotion of the Report among the ministry of the WCG than anyone else.
Cornwall published a newsletter to the WCG ministry that he called the Media File. In the second issue, dated November 1977, he opened with:
"... I was unaware that the publication Ambassador Report was going to hit the streets and create such demand on my time that I practically would have to push almost everything else aside.
"I have been advised by Dr. Robert Kuhn that Mr. Ronald Dart has advised Mr. Garner Ted Armstrong that the Ambassador Report is of no consequence and no concern to the brethren, the ministry, the Church, or to the world. I take exception to that comment... because I am on the firing line and although I have not yet heard from the ministry I know at least how vitally concerned the brethren and the world are.
"I have therefore decided in this personal to address myself to Ambassador Report and give you [the ministry] the answers.... I must mention that before I spoke with anyone I consulted with Mr. Rader.... He helped me to formulate some of the answers. . . ."
In this issue Cornwall does indeed address the Report. Not only was he kind enough to print a picture of the cover of the AR, but he also reprinted a copy of the letter we sent to all radio and television station managers giving our address and telephone number. He went on to discuss a number of articles in our publication. The following are his comments about specific articles:
BOBBY FISCHER SPEAKS OUT
"Mr. Stanley Rader is now moving on the offensive on Bobby Fischer's behalf to redress the wrongs [?] that he has suffered in the publication of comments defamatory of him [?] and the Church. Mr. Rader and Mr. Helge are donating their services [while on church salary] as they donate their services to others in need. "
ACCREDITATION
"The article on accreditation contains many defamatory and false statements.... It is Mr. Rader's opinion at this time that the College will be accredited after the next visit of the accreditation team in February now that these false issues have been eliminated." [Editor: It is now March. Is AC accredited?]
FEDERAL HANDOUT-VISTA DEL ARROYO PURCHASE
"In my opinion no one has ever seriously considered that the College would be so independent that it would not be directly or indirectly influenced by the Church. It has been stated by both Mr. Ted Armstrong and Mr. Herbert Armstrong that the Church will continue to support the College only as long as it operates in a manner consistent with the fundamental values of the Church, and the College would never accept the Vista property or any governmental help if it meant abandoning any such values even for one moment." (Editor: This is why the college is not accredited!]
PROFESSOR GOTOH
"Professor Gotoh was in fact stopped by Customs in June 1975, and it is true that at that time various items of personal jewelry and personal property... were seized.... Mr. Gotoh was never prosecuted nor convicted of any crime and his personal property was returned to him. In my opinion, the entire article can be judged in the same light.
"Moreover, Mr. Gotoh has not been employed by the Church or College for some years, although his services have been used overseas as an independent contractor....
"In light of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong's illness and a variety of other factors, Mr. Gotoh's visibility will be less and less in the future and he has already been advised of this."
HOME-BREAKING
"...you should know that Mr. Rader successfully defended the earlier [divorce and remarriage] doctrine as it existed at the time in 1968 in the highest court of the State of Ohio. Subsequently, as you all know, in 1974 the doctrine was modified in that the Church jurisdiction was narrowed."
FLEECING THE FLOCK-TITHING PAYS OFF
"...I do not mean to suggest that there would not be some argument that could be made, even in the Church, that the Armstrongs could get along without airplanes-and the airplanes should be considered in setting forth priorities for the Work-but the setting of priorities has always lain and still lies with the Armstrongs."
HOMES
"In my opinion... his [Stan Rader's] home today is worth about $3 million and cost him only $450,000. But is it not right, and shouldn't a professional with a high degree of expertise in the area of investment and finance use his knowledge for his own benefit as well as that of his clients? Shouldn't he be proud to have had the foresight to buy [from the WCG] so cheaply property that would appreciate so much?"
It is interesting to note Rader's own defense of his life-style as reported in the Pasadena Star News on October 29, 1977:
"Rader maintains that the church members know how and where their leaders live, and that the mansions which house Garner Ted Armstrong, Herbert Armstrong, Rader himself, and other ministers of the church, are owned by the church, and represented no personal amassing of wealth.
" 'Why not ask the archbishop of the Catholic church in Los Angeles how he lives,' Rader said. 'What some people call luxurious, other people don't.'"
To Rader's dismay Rev. Joseph Pollard immediately informed the Star News of the Los Angeles Archbishop's life-style in a letter to the editor published November 5, 1977:
"Stanley Rader . . . seems to defend the fact that he and other officials of these institutions live in mansions.... The Archbishop, Cardinal Manning, lives in a three-room apartment at the Priests' House on Second and Main in the Skid Row area. His life-style, like his living quarters, is a model of Christian simplicity and a witnessing to Gospel values which his clergy and people admire and appreciate."
Now let's return to Comwall's comments on Ambassador Report:
SPYING IN THE NAME OF GOD
"There has been some question about use of the computer to 'spy' and 'keep tab' on members. You should know better than anyone that until very recently there would be no truth in such an allegation at all because policy was exactly the opposite, and although policy is still exactly the same in respect to brethren there was a slight change with respect to the ministry when it was discovered in an indirect manner almost by accident that some ministers were not tithing." [Editor: The computer cannot "accidentally" reveal a minister's tithing record. It must be specifically programmed to do so.]
IN BED WITH TED
"...about Mr. Garner Ted Armstrong, as that concern related to alleged events of 1971-72 or earlier, [this] was addressed by the Church in 1972 in accordance with official Church policy and in accordance with official administrative procedure. These matters were officially regarded by the Church as closed as of December 1973, when Mr. Garner Ted Armstrong was restored to all of his offices after his return in June 1972 from a six-month leave of absence."
Despite Mr. Rader's alleged approval of Cornwall's comments in the Media File, Garner Ted wasn't so appreciative. In a December 8, 1977, letter to the ministry, GTA made these comments:
"I was quite disturbed over the nature of the second so-called 'Media Report,' [sic] since I had told Henry very frankly I was dissatisfied with the entire idea, and mentioned to him that it had been without any prior consideration on my part, and totally without authorization....
"I am positive Mr. Cornwall will comply with my wishes as set forth in my letter, but should he not, and intend to persist in the publication of the so-called 'Media Report' [sic] for any purposes of his own; then I am instructing all of you pastors and/or associate pastors of churches to return any future mailings from the Worldwide Advertising Agency....
"It is not for the Worldwide Advertising Agency, in an agency/client relationship, headed by a non-baptised, nonmember of the Worldwide Church of God to address itself to the most hypersensitive issues involving recent scurrilous attacks against the leadership in the church, church policies, church doctrines, and Ambassador College....
"Personally, I could not help but be incensed at the second edition, most specifically, since, to me, it seemed to only unwittingly recreate unnecessary redundancy, and even proliferation of scurrilous material in an attempt to answer or defend against such material and ... tends to keep the 'pot stirred up,' and therefore to give cynical comfort to the enemies of the church and the college."
To Cornwall, GTA had this to say in a December 8, 1977, letter:
"As you know, I expressed casual disappointment and disagreement with your so-called 'Media Report,' [sic] following its initial number.... With the publication of the second number, I now feel it incumbent upon me to explain to you what must be ironclad policy.
"I request and require that you cease publication and distribution of the 'Media Report' forthwith....
"In order to satisfy your new found need to issue media reports... I will require that your office provide me with a monthly brief on any and all pertinent data which you feel would be significant and of use to me...."
Needless to say, after the publication of Cornwall's third Media File, Garner Ted Armstrong was outraged and fired Cornwall and terminated the Worldwide Advertising Agency's contract. A recent issue of the Worldwide News shows the appointment of Dick Janik of Ed Libov Assoc., Inc. in Cornwall's old position.
