The Iranian Hostage Crisis

Men and women screaming, gunfire, sounds of breaking glass, and the furious exchanges of the Persian dialect disrupted the calm office setting. Sixty Americans crammed into a small office room not knowing what was happening, we (the sixty Americans) were being bombarded with hateful slurs of “American Die, American Die,” and suddenly we (the sixty Americans) were blindfolded. A fear and panic rose inside of us. Imagine this is you on November 4, 1979 when Islamic Revolutionaries kidnapped sixty American Embassy workers. The 444 day Iranian Hostage Crisis was one of the most important turning points of the twentieth century, because of its impact the office of president, specifically Carter, Regan and Bush and how it shaped and molded future
Ever since oil was discovered in Iran in 1908, it had attracted interest from the west including the United States. In 1953, the U.S. became involved and worked to place a new ruler in power in Iran—Reza Shah Pahlavi. From this time forward, the U.S. supplied Iran with military equipment and oil flowed to the U.S. In 1963, the people of Iran became increasingly anti-western, because Shah sent all of the religious leaders including Ruhollah Khomeini into exile in Iraq. President Carter continued to ignore the signs of instability and revolution under the Shah. On January 16, 1979, the Shah feared for his life so he fled to Egypt, and Khomeini returned. “President Carter inherited an impossible situation and he and his advisors made the worst of it”.
Carter’s administration was seen as the route of all of the problems in the Middle East, and Reagan’s administration was seen as the savior of the problems in the Middle East. Reagan’s presidency had a peace proposal for the Middle East called the Reagan plan; this was U.S. policy for peace in the Middle East. It brought peace to Lebanon, Beirut, and most Middle Eastern capitals. He believed that the Middle Eastern problems “ran back to the dawn of history. In our modern day, conflict has taken its brutal toll there. In the age of nuclear challenge and economic interdependence, such conflicts are a threat to all the people of the world—to call a halt to conflict, hatred, and prejudice”. (2) Reagan asked for the support of the American people. Peace did not last long. Shortly after Reagan left office and his vice president George H. Bush assumed the presidency, in August of 1990, the U.S. increased actions in the Persian Gulf, which became known as the Persian Gulf War. (3) This began the long conflict of intervention in the Middle East that would lead to our current involvement with ISIS.

The 444 day hostage crisis was a definite turning point in American history not only did it lead to the dissolution of Middle Eastern relations that would continue into the 21st century, it saw the degradation of President Carter and the heroism of Reagan, leaving a terrible mess for future presidents such as Bush 1 and 3, Clinton