Carolkitty's US History : The Iran Hostage Crisis

In 1979 terror struck the United States. For our nation it would be the start of many more terrors to come. The Iran Hostage Crisis took a toll on the people of America, otherwise known as the American public. It did not matter of what political party someone was, it was a effected everyone the same, with terror and warning that this could happen again. It did, however, play a big role in the presidency of Jimmy Carter. Not only did it make fear terror, but it also made him worry, worry that he wouldn't be reelected for a second term. This fear is shown through a quote Jimmy Carter once said, " I often want to drown my troubles, but I can't get my wife to go swimming."

Before I tell about the Iran Hostage Crisis, it is important to know what an Embassy is. An embassy is a place in another country where a different country has headquarters for their ambassador. In the embassy is also the embassy staff. This is where the ambassador has position and responsibility for a mission of function. On November 4, 1979, an angry mob of 300 to 500 Iranians stormed and seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. This group of Iranians called themselves "Imam's Disciple's." They took over the Embassy and captured 66 Americans that were inside. They soon freed the women and the African Americans, so all that was left were 52 white male Americans. These men for held hostage in the Embassy for 444 days. Although this seems random, there was a reason for this Crisis. Mohammed Pahlavi was the rule of Iran called the shah. During "Operation Ajax" Iran made an agreement with the US that if the Us got oil from Iran then the US would aid Iran. Pahlavi, however, made many bad decisions in his country, like keep all of the wealth to himself instead of his people and was forced to leave. A new ruler came to power named, Ayatollah Khomeini, who hated the US. He referred to the US government as "Great Satan." Soon the ex-shah became very sick and the US, since we had already made amends with him, was hospitalized by the US government. This angered Khomeini and the other Iranians who hated the shah and the US. This caused the storm of the Embassy. The Iranians thought that the US might be planing to help the shah return back to power. What happened inside the Embassy was awful. It was a series of cruelty and a violation of diplomatic rules. The males inside under went various sorts of indignities, having loaded guns pointed at there heads, being blindfolded, being chained, and being bounded and stretched on the floor for hours at a time. The Iranians also threatened the Americans with a trail on spy charges.

Another very important part of the Iranian Hostage Crisis is the Canadian Caper. A pair of six American diplomats who were the only ones to escape the storming of the Embassy, where called "The Tehran Six."

By a joint force of the US Central Intelligence Agency and the Canadian government they were able to escape. This is why it became known as the Canadian Caper. There was a top secret memo written in the President, Jimmy Carters, daily report file, talking about the Canadian Caper. It was a report from Iranian Charge Nostratollah. He said they all of the six were home safely and happily. He also hoped that the president would remain "very strong" in dealing with the students, or the Iranians. This was a major mile stone in Carter's presidency.

For Jimmy Carter, this was the most profound crisis of his presidency. He committed himself and his time to the safe return of the hostages, but at the same time protected the interests of fellow Americans. The Cold War volume 8, says that Jimmy Carter's 1977 election was a "blow" to the shah. Carter was focused on foreign policy, but more specificity, human rights and arms reduction. Ardeshir Zahedi, how was a part of the Washington Embassy said that Carters political slogan caused confusion. This is a possible factor in the Hostage Crisis. In Iran there were many human right violations, like recession, unsanitary towns and conditions, and corruption of the royal family. Carter was not aware of all these violations, but he was impressed, or he thought he was impressed by the progress these violations had made under the shah's rule. The shah actually had Carter fooled. At the start of his presidency he was ambivalent. He was not opposed of the shah and was aware of the influence that American words and presidential polices had on Iranians and the shah. Since American influence was growing in 1977, before the Hostage Crisis was even thought of, the question was, as The Cold War Volume 8 puts it, whether the human rights in Iran or Iran's strategic plan would take priority. This question began because of the influence of the US in Iran. Since the US formed relations with the shah the influence grew into things like public and president pronouncements, private advice to shah from Carter, arms supplies policies, riots controlled, and training and upgrading the Iran military force. It soon seemed like Carter and the Shah were good friends. As things got worse in Iran with Khomeini, Carter was inclined to support the shah. In the Cold War Volume 8, Carter is quoted by saying, "Personally an through the State Department, I continued to express my support for the Shah, but at the same time we were pressing him to act forcefully on his own to resolve with his political opponents as many disputes as possible."

After the Crisis occurred the question was how Carter was going to set the Hostages free. At first the US tried to resolve things by diplomatic means through intermediaries. They asked Algerians, Syrians, Turks, Pakistan, etc to intervene on behalf of the hostages release, but they declined. Since this matter couldn't be handled in a civilised manner, Carter took things into his own hands. He stopped imports of Iranian oil to the US and froze 12 billion dollars of Iranian funds in US. The US even tried to remove the Shah from the US and relocated him to another hospital , hoping Khomeini would see they wanted the Hostages free. It got to a place where the US just kept trying to negotiate, but Khomeini still said no. Carter's presidency was overall greatly affected by this. Carter didn't use force at first but instead tried to negotiate with Khomeini, which made him unpopular with the people because they wanted a immediate fix. Carter was a victim of indecision as well. After the Carter decided to use force he came up with a rescue plan. The rescue mission was called Operation Eagle Claw. A special team called "Delta" was ordered to fly to a desert on helicopters, not far from Tehran, then they would land and go through a series of obstacles, finally reaching the Embassy and freeing the hostages. After a helicopter was accidental destroyed and men were killed the rescue mission was aborted. The fail of the the rescue mission was a second blow that contributed to his presidency and his prestige. If the mission went smooth and the hostages were rescued then he could have possible regained his trust with Americans and maybe would have been reelected. But instead the failure of this mission contributed to him not being reelected for a second term. Finally after the rescue mission failed, Khomeini came to terms with himself and wanted to negotiate. On January 19, 1981, he signed, saying he would release the hostages after 444 days. He delayed the release until January 20, 1981, at 12:30 p.m., 30 minutes after Carter was resigned and Reagan wad inaugurated.

Reagan was inaugurated thirty minutes before the hostages were released. This put Reagan in the spot light of the Americans, because in there point of view he was the one that freed the hostages, something that Carter couldn't manage to do. There were rumors that Reagan had planned with the Iran government to release the hostages on the day of the inauguration, but Reagan denied all of these to be false. The Hostage Crisis was in the background of the election. For his second time running for president Carter proved himself in able to solve a problem, which made him weak and ineffective as leader. While Carter kept trying and failing to bring the hostages home, it kept him away from focusing on the election, which gave Reagan an advantage. Reagan also agreed to never get in private affairs with Iran again. When Reagan announced that the planes were coming home, he let Carter greet them at their first stop in Germany.

It's been years since the hostages have been released, but surprisingly they are still seeking justice. I read in an article from AVL, that some of the hostages are starting a campaign for justice. Steven Lauterbach and Leland Holland, who were former hostages have a campaign to seek relief and justice. In 2012 they sent there campaign to Congress. Leland said that the thing he remembers most was being beaten with rubber hoes and phone books. These men have been seeking justice for 33 years. The people of the Iran Hostage Crisis were among the first terrorism victims, but they never received court judgement. They have tried and failed change US policies towards terrorism. The government, they said, has much more to worry about since the Crisis then for them to seek justice, but its not only for them to change the law, but because of the emotional side effects too. The movie Argo, about the Iran Hostage Crisis, came out and there was still no change. Steven Lauterbach said on the issue, "It's never completely in the past. You're always in the shadow of it, psychologically." Terry Reed, an attorney of the hostage victims, who is also mentioned in the article said that "only victims of Iran's hostage taking and terrorism have been left behind....others have gotten justice." The 9/11 victims and victims of the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon have all gotten justice.

Overall, the Hostage Crisis goes down in history as surprising and memorable. It could be classified as the first "terrorist attack on American people." It proved that terrorism could be used as a way to achieve objectives because Americans are very vulnerable. If this Crisis wouldn't of happened the course of history could of changed as well. Carter would have been elected for a second term instead of Reagan. It just goes to show that even though history is scary, sometimes it happens for a reason.