I remember American History class in elementary school; I also remember it in high school. It seemed like we talked about the same thing every year for 12 years. We’d usually start with Mr. Columbus and finish off that first semester with the Civil War or the Industrial Revoultion. The second semester we might get through World War II… if we were lucky. Repetition is a good thing, and I’m sure I’ll never forget the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, but I never really got a grasp on recent history in America.
(And I’m not even going to mention World History. What do we know about the Tang or Ming Dynasty periods in China? Personally, not much.)
It’s really nice to be out of school and to leisurely catch up on all these events that happened in the last 50 years or so. One of these events is the Iran Hostage Crisis. I had heard of the event before, but had never learned the particulars. A friend had lent the book Guests of the Ayatollah to me a long time ago and I finally got around to finishing it. I found it fascinating!
Known as the “first battle with militant Islam”, the Iran Hostage Crisis changed the way the world looked at supposed diplomatic relations between countries. On November 4, 1979, a group of radical students calling themselves the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam’s Line stormed the US Embassy in Tehran and took captive 66 hostages. They were upset with the USA for letting in the Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, for medical attention. Because of media propaganda, they assumed all of these American diplomats were CIA spies (some of them were) and they were the ones who helped the Shah gain power years earlier. They demanded that the Shah be returned to Iran for trial under their law, etc., but the US refused.
Unexpectedly, the Ayatollah Khomeini praised the students for their efforts and took over leadership of the movement, causing a 444-day stand-off between radical, revolutionary Iran and US President Jimmy Carter.
Khomeini insisted that the hostages be called “guests” and were only staying there until Iran’s demands were met. “Prisoners” would have been a much more appropriate term. The book had wonderful first-hand accounts from the hostages about the whole ordeal. It definitely made me think about what I’d do if I were in their shoes.
After failed diplomatic routes, President Carter took military action, which also failed. It wasn’t till the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan that the hostages were finally released. Many historians claim that this one event prevented the re-election of President Carter.
And there’s still so much controversy and unknowns surrounding this event… The current president of Iran is rumored to be one of the original hostage takers. Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign is rumored to have extended the crisis to further highlight President Carter’s lack of leadership in the situation, making it more plausible for him to be elected. Even one of the hostages is said to have been working with the hostage-takers.
This is by no means extensive research, but if you’re interested, do your own! And I hope all of our current elected officials have studied these events very carefully to learn from past mistakes. History - it’s a beautiful thing.
Here’s a video serenade to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by SNL… Simply ridiculous:
Add a Comment