Support for Lennon

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32959, 4 July 1972, Page 19

Support for Lennon

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) LONDON, July 2. John Lennon has found an unexpected ally in his dispute with the United States Immigration Service for permission to live in AmericaLord Harlech, the former British Ambassador in Washington. The peer has written to the United States authorities defending Mr Lennon, the former Beatle. The Immigration Service opposes his application to live permanently in the United States because of a conviction for a drug offence in London in 1968.

Lord Harlech expressed doubts that Mr Lennon was guilty of the possession of marijuana although the singer pleaded guilty. He was fined SNZ36O. "Leaving aside the question of whether he was in fact guilty, which now seems to be in doubt, I know personally of a number of cases in which such a conviction has not prevented the granting by the American authorities of a visa to enter the United States,” wrote Lord Harlech. "When the musical history of our times comes to be written there is no doubt that the name of John Lennon will be given a most important place in it,” wrote Lord Harlech. He met Mr Lennon at a reception at the British Embassy in Washington in 1965 when the Beatles made! their first tour of the United States.