Iran Hostage Crisis Research Paper

Iran Hostage Crisis On November 4, 1979, an angry mob of young Islamic men took over the U.S embassy in Tehran. They took more than 60 Americans hostage. The people they held hostage were captured for about 444 days. In that time period, negotiations were disputed and attempts to escape were made. The main cause of the backlash was because President Jimmy Carter allowed The Shah, a pro-western autocrat who had been excommunicated from his country months before, get cancer treatment in the United States. The background, attempts of escaping and the aftermath are all important parts of American History. The hostage crisis in Iran had a number of causes which took place nearly half a century before it even began. Before the Americans were captured, …show more content…
On November 4, the same day the hostages were taken, 13 of them were released. The released were made up of women, African-Americans and people from other countries. The people who captured them stated that “they were already subject to the oppression of society.” Later that year, a 14th hostage was released because he developed health problems and was sent home. The hostages, although not seriously injured, were put through demeaning and scary treatment. The hostages were frequently put in front of cameras. They were also put in front of crowds. They had no clue whether they were going to be hurt, murdered or liberated. In 1980, President Carter launched Operation Eagle Claw. On the day of the mission, however, there was a big sandstorm that made several helicopters malfunction. One of the helicopters even crashed into transport during take off and killed 8 people, so Operation Eagle claw was aborted. This didn’t help the case of Carter in the election of 1980. People were so caught up with what was going on in Iran, that Carter was soon seen as someone who could not continue to do the job correctly. Also, since he kept his full attention on getting the hostages out, he did not have time to work on his campaign trial. His opponent, Ronald Reagan, took advantage of the situation. At this time period, there was also a lot of rumours, saying that Reagan’s staff negotiated with the Iranians so that the hostages would not be set free until after the election. In a landslide vote, Reagan defeated Carter. The remaining hostages were released the day that Ronald Reagan delivered his inaugural

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