ACCURACY Although the hostages were freed less than an hour after Mr. Reagan was sworn in as president, the complex deal that led to their release was brokered by President Jimmy Carter’s administration. The hostages were released because the United States agreed to return nearly $8 billion in frozen assets to Iran, most of which Iran used to pay off foreign creditors. Some suggest that the Iranians continued to hold the hostages until Mr. Reagan was sworn in as a final affront to Mr. Carter; others say that there were logistical reasons for the delay. And while the advertisement seems to invoke Mr. Reagan as an example of standing up to terrorists, some members of his administration later went on to sell arms to Iran as ransom for hostages held in Lebanon, and to divert the profits to rebels fighting the Marxists in Nicaragua, contrary to official government policy.

SCORECARD With this commercial, Mr. Giuliani, who is now competing heavily in New Hampshire, is bringing the conversation around to terrorism, a signature issue for a man who was brought to national prominence by the Sept. 11 attacks. At the same time, he is casting his peace-through-strength vision of foreign policy as a continuation of the policies of President Reagan, whom he often invokes on the trail. In invoking the Iranian hostage crisis, he may be trying to call the current Iranian threat, which he speaks about frequently, to mind. But Mr. Giuliani’s muscular approach toward Iran may have been complicated by Monday’s release of a National Intelligence Estimate that said Iran had halted its covert program to develop nuclear weapons four years ago.

MICHAEL COOPER