The Mysteries of History (April 24 Edition)
Iran Hostage Rescue Attempt Failure
1980— Iran Hostage Rescue Attempt
public domain images from wikimedia commons
The following is what I wrote about the Iran Hostage Crisis in my book Still Casting Shadows: A Shared Mosaic of U.S. History — Volume 2: 1914-2006:
On April 24th, U.S. President Jimmy Carter attempted to rescue the Amer ican hostages held in Iran by sending in a group of helicopters to storm the embassy in Teheran. A desert storm proved fatal to this attempt, though—three of the eight helicopters sent were disabled as a result of the sandstorm, and the mission had to be aborted. Eight people were killed during the failed rescue attempt.
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who had opposed the action, resigned in the aftermath. The failure also played a role in Jimmy Carter not being re elected at the end of this year.
The plan itself may have been good, but the preparation of the machinery and the personnel didn’t seem to be good enough. With three of the eight helicopters breaking down, and then one of the working helicopters colliding with a transport plane on the way out after the operation was canceled, it seems that either the helicopters were of law quality (unreliable), or the mechanical maintenance of them was slipshod. Also, due to the mid-air collision, the training of the pilots doesn’t seem to have been up to par, either.
Questions: If you were alive at the time of the Iran Hostage Crisis, do you remember it and how you felt about it? What were others saying? Does blaming all Iranians on what their government was doing help matters, or make any sense? Do you support everything the government under which you love decides to do? What is the current relationship between America and Iran?
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