The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 8

A8 Wednesday, January 11, 1995 WASHINGTON The Atlanta Journal The Atlanta Constitution nT HER STORY: Rise and fall of the House historian wasfcafc Professor rose quickly, fell faster But attacks really aimed at Gingrich, ousted Georgian (says Christina Nizhtmare night Christina Brush with Washington politics; ended couple's comfortable life press, it was tne subject of a 1988 congressional hearing. She was even asked to explain it by her Kennesaw State boss. It concerned her 1986 review Jeffrey says she is not mad at Gingrich, the media, or even most Democrats. 'But I am alarmed for the country and this whole culture of politics of destruction. They aren't talking about opinions; they are destroying people." of an education course on the Holo- oniict the Irillinci hu Mavis nf ciJ million Jews during World War If? Federal funding was being; sought so the program could be distributed to junior high schools '1' lliillli, 7 I.

i hi i mimim i i iiinr around the country. Shirley Curs ry, a U.S. Education Department official who had previously been a director of the Eagle Forum, a conservative organization tied to Phyllis Schlafly, asked Jeffrey to head a three-person panel to re- view the course. Jeffrey wrote that the proy gram constituted "mass reality Jeffrey's new life in Washington began unraveling with a phone call Monday afternoon. By Jeanne Cummings WASHINGTON BUREAU Washington It took all night for the Jeffrey family to drive from Georgia to Washington in a U-Haul truck on New Year's Day to start a new chapter in their lives.

But it only took six hours Monday for other people mostly strangers to close the book and leave them trapped in a rented brick townhouse in northern Virginia with camera crews on their sidewalk. On Tuesday, Christina Jeffrey, an associate professor from Kennesaw State College, said she resigned as House historian under a growing wave of criticism for her 1986 conclusion that a Holocaust history course was flawed because it did not include the perspective of the Nazis. In a telephone interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jeffrey said she believes the criticism of her was unfair and that the real target of "vicious, mean-spirited, desperation politics" was her benefactor: House Speaker Newt Gingrich. "It's a pretty devastating thing," the 47-year-old professor said. "I know the people in Washington just shrug their shoulders and say, 'Welcome to Washington.

That's just the way it "But, you know, there's a little part of me that says it ought not to be that way," she said. "We ought to be able to come in from the hinterlands, every now and then, we peasants with our country ways." Jeffrey spent Tuesday in her Arlington, home, avoiding the media and calling friends. Her husband, Robert, shielded his wife from cameras and television crews, offering a few remarks to reporters in exchange! for a promise not to take pictures of or has-' avoidance, we can't deal with today's problems, so let's solve yesterday's." objective because it included1; neither the Nazi nor the Ku Kluxb Klan point of view. She gave the program 61, points out of 100 higher than either of her two colleagues. The; program wasn funded, although.

it has been since. Two years later, in a state-, ment to a congressional commit tee, she defended herself against accusations she was antisemitic. As a child, she visited the Nazi death camp at Dachau, she said'. By Don Metvin STAFF WRITER The Jeffreys led, by all accounts, a life as comfortable as a well-worn shoe. Until a month ago.

Both taught political science: Christina Jeffrey at Kennesaw State. College, Robert Jeffrey at Dalton College. They lived in a middle-class neighborhood about a mile from Kennesaw State. She rose early most days to swim. They schooled the two youngest children at home Chrissie, 14, her daughter from a previous marriage; and Marjorie, 4.

Marjorie played with another girl who lived on the same cul-de-sac. Then came The Call. Newt Gingrich, incoming speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, wanted Christina Jeffrey to be House historian. The opportunity must have seemed so glorious: She, an energetic educator respected by colleagues, would educate the country about the House.

Her husband would work free while researching a book on Gingrich and the transition of power. Thus began a rapid rise to prominence, followed by an even more precipitous descent Christina Jeffrey was ousted as House historian Monday evening by her friend the speaker for remarks she made eight years ago. Jeffrey had been a Gingrich supporter at least since 1993, when he taught a course called "Renewing American Civilization" at Kennesaw State. She defended his right to teach the course after other faculty members protested that it was partisan. Last year, she defended the right of GOPAC, a political action committee controlled by Gingrich, to keep secret the names of contributers.

She also conducted a survey of 400 local Georgia officials that showed 80 percent supported a Cobb County resolution condemning the "gay lifestyle." Robert Jeffrey was appointed last year to Cobb County's Community Relations Council by Commissioner Gordon Wysong, author of the resolution. Last year, he distributed Gingrich campaign literature. In December, Gingrich told Raymond Smock, the only person ever to have been House historian, to pack his bags. He had been picked from among 13 candidates in 1983. His staff thought the office was being cut to save money.

Apparently not Also in December, Gingrich asked Jeffrey to take the post. He did not announce the appointment. However excited she was, Jeffrey knew she had controversy in her past It had exploded in the Jeffrey believes today, as she did in 1986, that her remarks have been twisted to imply that she is a bigot and a Nazi sympathizer. "It's a complete distortion," she said, adding that she received a letter from the Department of Education in 1986 apologizing for the way she was treated then. She criticized the proposed Holocaust course because she felt it would be too mind-bending for high school students, she said.

In addition, she said, she still believes that it is vital to present all points of view, even those that are unpopular, when teaching history. Jeffrey said she discussed her 1986 experience with Gingrich's staff in early December, shortly after the Marietta congressman offered her the job as historian. As far as she could tell, the staff did not perceive it as a problem, and she accepted the job Dec. 15. "I would not have come up here if there had been any indication that my coming would cause problems.

There were no red flags," she said. But Tony Blankley, Gingrich's spokesman, said Tuesday that the staff was not aware of the 1986 incident. "Everyone I talked to was surprised about it yesterday afternoon. If we had known, we would have made the decision then that we did yesterday," Blankley said, "Those kinds of statements are unacceptable in political life, and Gingrich be sie his two daughters Chnssie, 14, and Marjorie, 4. The Jeffreys sent Marjorie to a friend's house Tuesday night.

New York Times rich's office Tuesday released a letter implying that he had fired her at 9:15 p.m. As for Jeffrey's belief that all was well, Blankley said, "That's her interpretation. I asked her for the facts and an explanation. I gave her no indication of the state of affairs." Jeffrey said she did not speak to Gingrich until nearly midnight. "He was very kind," Jeffrey said.

"He said that from his experience, we wouldn't be able to get on top of this. The press and the vicious, malicious, mean-spirited partisan people who were out to get him would just keep stirring this up and stirring it up and stirring it up. "He said there would be marches and demonstrations and fund-raising efforts to raise money to turn the House over to Democrats to get rid of anti-Semites like Christina Jeffrey. This is the kind of thing he said would happen." Jeffrey said she fought to keep her job, arguing that "it is reckless to just cut out people immediately without real concern about whether the charges are founded. And I told him you make it so easy for people opposed to you to undermine your efforts if they can get rid of every good appointee you find." In the end, however, Gingrich told her the timing wasn't right for such a battle.

"If they weren't in the middle of the "Contract With America," if they hadn't just had another media problem over Gingrich's book deal," things might have been different, she said. "Given the totality of the picture, the speaker has no choice. That was his judgment, and I serve at the pleasure of the speaker. It was a long and complicated night." The family has not decided yet if they will move back to Georgia or stay in Washington awhile. Jeffrey said she plans to write an article about her experience and her 1986 review of the Holocaust course in hopes of setting the record straight.

"We are in shock," she said. "This is the last thing we expected. We unpacked all our stuff. We have all the books on the shelf. That was just a week ago." She grew up, she said, with a.

"healthy abhorrence of Nazism." She also wrote that, when sheu was small, her father took his. Catholic wife to South Carolina. (i "We were greeted by the KKK, complete with hoods and burning crosses," she wrote. "My father found it impossible to make a living there and we moved before I was 6 years old. I have no tolerance whatsoever for the Her remarks on the review had been ironic, she said.

But that was in the past as the Jeffreys moved to Washington this month. Then, last week, her appointment became known. In succeeding days, Jeffrey was the subject of withering press' scrutiny. When the Holoi caust remark resurfaced, she was fired. Neighbors and colleagues say the Jeffreys are welcome to resume the quiet life they left earli er this month.

Even liberals say' they respect the Jeffreys. Conservatives are appalled at how quickly the Washington-meat-grinder spit Jeffrey out and-they are angry at Democrats, at the press and even at Gingrich. "I guess Newt just got in- a' pinch with all the Democrats bringing up the past" said neighbor John Marshall, whose 5-year' old daughter played with the Jeffrey's daughter. "The first thing I' did was go out and scrape off my Newt bumper sticker." lieves they are unacceptable. The historian of the House could not have uttered those words." Jeffrey said she is not mad at Gingrich, the media, or even most Democrats.

"But I am alarmed for the country and this whole culture of politics of destruction. They aren't talking about opinions; they are destroying people," she said. An outspoken conservative supporter of Gingrich, Jeffrey found herself embroiled in controversy from the moment she officially took over as House historian last week. Within days, questions were raised about her credentials she is not a professional historian and about her staunch support for Gingrich when he launched a controversial class called "Renewing American Civilization" at Kennesaw. But the bottom fell out on her Monday when Democrats and reporters discovered she was the same political scientist who in 1986 criticized a proposed history class on the Holocaust because it "gives no evidence of balance or objectivity.

The Nazi point of view, however unpopular, is still a point of view and is not presented, nor is that of the KuKluxKlan." Rep. Charles Schumer on Tuesday charged Jeffrey with "showing surprising insensitivity to antisemitism and bigotry." Things began to unravel late Monday af ternoon when Jeffrey received a recorded telephone message from The New York Times referring to the 1986 controversy. She immediately contacted Gingrich's office and informed Blankley. After meet ing with him, Jeffrey said she returned the Times' call. "As far as I knew, all was fine," she said, adding that she dropped off a copy of her updated resume as she left Gingrich's office about 6:30 p.m.

Within three hours, however, Blankley began to announce Jeffrey's ouster. Ging- Christina Jeffrey Fereora file Honors and awards IgwistiraEJefirey awuey Faction jra Manager of international trade Chamber of Commerce Birmingham, Ala. 1980-81 Director of student affairs Age: 47 Family: Husband, Robert; five children, two at home: Chrissie, 1 4, and Margorie, 4 Education University of Alabama, doctor of philosophy, 1984; dissertation: "Explaining Adoption of Foreign-Trade Zones Among Sunbelt Qties" -wHYwny oi Mabama faculty 'opment grant for travd and sposia in Thailand, 1977 Enjoyment History Associate professor of political science and public administration Kennesaw State College, Marietta, Ga. 1987-present Assistant professor of political science Troy State University, Troy, Ala. 1985-87 Assistant professor of public administration Troy State University U.S.

Air Force bases in Germany and Turkey 1984-1985 Executive secretary Ala. World Trade Association 1980-81 College of Nursing University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Ala. 1978-80 Director of international student affairs University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Ala. 1974-78 Coordinator, Parents' Program University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Ala. 1974-78 1 University of Alabama, master of arts, 1973 University of Piano, bachelor of arts, 1969 Vassar College, 1965-66 "Surely, they Democrats didn't expect Speaker Gingrich was going to find somebody of their choosing." -Christina Jeffrey.