Iranian Hostage Crisis 1979-1981

Brief:

A consequence of the earlier overthrow of Mohammad Mossadegh. During the Iranian Revolution during which the American backed Shah of Iran was ousted about 300-500 students overran the American embassy in Tehran taking citizens and diplomats inside hostage. Originally 66 hostages were taken, but after releasing women and African Americans, only 55 hostages were left. The people were angry that the oppressive shah was able to receive asylum in the United States, where he had come for medical treatment. 

The most well known things about this crisis is Jimmy Carter's failure to retrieve the hostages. After trying and failing to get the hostages out through diplomacy, they resulted to a hastily planned military extraction attempt called Eagle Claw. Eagle Claw was hastily planned and a military disaster. Tehran, which is in the middle of the desert was harder to reach than expected and there was difficulty in helicopter communication and navigation resulting in the destruction of a few of the helicopters. The Iranians later paraded this military failure on television providing a great deal of embarrassment to the United States. 

Jimmy Carter's presidency may have ultimately ended because of his failure to end the hostage situation. In what is speculated to have been an arrangement by the Reagan Administration, the hostages were released a few hours after Carter's departure from office.

Analysis:

Something had to be done to get the men out of Tehran, but Eagle Claw was not the right answer. More research should have been done before the operation was carried out. The embarrassment to the United States military was beginning to pile on and it created more of the a need for the United States to "prove its mettle." 

The fact is that this situation was entirely of the United States's own making. The fact is that if the United States had not overthrown Mohammed Mossadegh, then this whole situation could have been avoided. 

Bottom Line:

Though it was a bad situation, it would have been worse if the hostages had died. The government did what it thought it had to do but it failed. If allegations of Reagan making a deal with the Iranians not to release the hostages until after Carter left office are true, that is despicable.