Iran Hostage Crisis Research Paper

Superior Essays
“On April 25, 1980, American television viewers watched in horror as a Shiite Muslim holy man, the Ayatollah held up the forearm and charred skull of a dead American soldier. The soldier had been sent with other U.S. troops to Tehran, Iran, on a mission to rescue sixty-six Americans being held hostage in the United States embassy known as ‘Operation Eagle Claw’ ” (Sarri, 1). On November 4, 1979, 3,000 Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took more than sixty Americans hostage. In October 1979, President Carter allowed the exiled leader, Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, to enter the U.S. for treatment of advanced malignant lymphoma. Carter relented on humanitarian grounds. “He went around the room, and most of us said ‘Let him …show more content…
The tension stemmed from a progressively deep struggle over oil. Almost since their finding, American and British businesses had control over the majority of Iran’s petroleum. In 1951, the new Prime Minister, Muhammad Mossadegh, had ideas to nationalize the country’s oil manufacturing business. As money in foreign aid was transacted for the return of eighty percent of Iran’s oil assets to the British and Americans; many Iranians extremely begrudged what they saw as American intrusion in their country’s personal …show more content…
President Carter’s incompetence to resolve the situation made him look like a pathetic and ineffectual leader. Republican candidate, former governor of California Ronald Reagan, took benefit of Carter’s complications. On Election Day, one year and two days after the hostage predicament commenced, Ronald Reagan conquered Jimmy Carter in an outstanding victory. President Carter and Secretary of Stateg, Edmund S. Muskie, suffered to their last day in office (An End to the Hostage Crisis, history.state.gov, 1). Many historians believe that hostage crisis caused Jimmy Carter a second term as president (Iran Hostage Crisis, history.com, 1). On January 21, 1981, a period of time had gone by after Ronald Reagan gave his inaugural address; the detainees were allowed to go home after been in imprisonment for four hundred and forty-four

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