The 1970s were a crucial time in American history for developing and maintaining relations with other countries, specifically Iran. There were many factors that led to the crisis at the United States Embassy in Iran. These factors were caused by the United States president of the time, Jimmy Carter, who worsened relations with Iran through his foreign policy. As president, Jimmy Carter worsened relations between the United States and Iran because of his support of the Shah, his foreign policies leading up to the Iran Hostage Crisis, and his actions taken as president during the Iran Hostage Crisis.
The Iran Hostage Crisis, which began in November of 1979 and lasted until January of 1981, was the beginning of conflicts between the United
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Because of the extreme origin of the crisis, many began to question Carter’s support of the Shah, his foreign policies, and the crisis itself.
When Carter was beginning his presidential campaign, Muhammad Reza Shah Puhlavi resented Carter for his human rights campaign, but once Carter was elected, the alliance between the United States and Iran grew and Carter constantly gave his support for the Shah. Beginning with Vance, the Secretary of State while Carter served as president, who took a trip to Tehran to visit with the Shah, Carter became loyal and supportive to the Shah. In this meeting neither liberalization nor human rights were discussed and only the discussion of weapons’ sales was brought up. Though Vance did not discuss those two things, they were the two things in which Carter ran on, yet they were the Shah’s largest concerns. The Shah’s fears were soothed at this meeting but the Iranian people’s fears were not, because they were afraid of the liberalization that they believed would accompany the alliance with the United States.1 At the next meeting held between the Shah and Carter, Carter briefly discussed human rights. However once the Shah told him that nothing could be done to help the human rights of his country, Carter did nothing to push the Shah. The American people also began to notice the disconnect between what Carter ran on, and his actual policies. This shows Carter’s unrelenting support of the Shah, because he is
The Hostage Crisis in the late 1970s was considered one of Carter’s biggest failures. More than 60 members of the United States Embassy were taken hostage in Tehran. Their capturers were mere Iranian Students who were able to keep them captive for 444 days ("Jimmy Carter", 2016). This event portrayed President Carter as inept (“Jimmy Carter”, 2009). He did not negotiate their release and the rescue attempt the government tried failed. A group of student had held American citizens for over a year and nothing much was done about it. This was one of the most undermining events of Carter’s Presidential career and an embarrassment to America (Fink, 2002). Carter’s private negotiations with Panama about the canal led to more mistrust of the American citizens. They thought he was going to simply give it away without thinking about the consequences for America. Once again he lost more respect and distrust from his country (“Jimmy Carter”,
In January 1979, Iranians opposed to the Shah’s rule invaded the American embassy in Tehran and held a group of 52 American diplomats and other hostages for 444 days. The Shah left Iran and the victorious Ayatollah Khomeini returned that February. Of the approximately 90 people inside the embassy, 52 remained in captivity until the end of the crisis. The reputation of the Ayatollah Khomeini and the hostage taking was further enhanced with the failure of a hostage rescue attempt that cost lives. The Ayatollah Khomeini set forth several demands to be met prior to the release of the hostages. The US had options of their own; however, the risk to the hostages required the utmost consideration. In order to secure their freedom, outgoing
On David Farber 's book Taken Hostage, Farber informs us about the Iran Hostage Crisis and America 's First Encounter with Radical Islam. This book tells us how the United States and Iran got into conflict, leading to the Iranians holding American Embassy members hostage as revenge for them feeling betrayed by the United States. It also informs us about other events that occurred in a decade that caused the United States many problems. Farber talked about all the events that lead to the Iranian Hostage Crisis. November 4, 1979, seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran and the hostage of four hundred and forty four days following, were the first steps leading up to the perpetual War on Terror. Farber believes the failure from American policymakers and more specifically from President Carter, to identify the severity of the crisis made for the prolonged crisis. The sheer ineptitude of Carter administration was the cost of the US to lose it’s way economically, culturally, politically and even military. Carter struggled to respond to the impulses of Islamic fundamentalism within the prevailing Cold War paradigm. They saw the real battle as against secular modernism and they recognized that the US was the major force spreading this cultural and political belief throughout the world. The media misrepresentations of the struggle and mass media manipulation of Americans played on the peoples emotions. Although Carter was popular at the beginning of his presidency, this began
The American public was so captivated by the Iran Hostage Crisis because they were blindsided by this radical action and their knowledge of America’s involvement in Iran was limited. The media played a major role in influencing their emotions and they already had trouble trusting the American government. This unknown involvement began in 1943 when President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin met in Tehran to discuss how to remove the British and Soviet military forces from Iran because Iran wanted to be its own nation. The United States aided the young Shah, the ruler of Iran, and his government with military weapons and loans. Over time, Prime Minister Mossadegh, of Iran, gained more and more power until he was the true ruler of Iran and the Shah was just a figurehead. The United States, fearing the spread of communism, devised a secret plan for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), to over throw Prime Minister Mossadegh.
This was considered his biggest foreign policy crisis, and damaged his presidency, as he was considered to handle the situation inappropriately. Carter also made attempts to improve relations with the Soviet Union, but instead exacerbated the situation, and Carter’s commitment to human rights divided the United States and the Soviet Union further. Matters worsened when Carter tried to pass SALT II, limiting weapons further then set by SALT I.
November 4, 1979, seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran and the hostage of four hundred and forty-four days following, were the first steps leading up to the perpetual War on Terror. In the book Taken Hostage by David Farber informs about the Iran Hostage Crisis and the First Encounter with Radical Islam. United States and Iran got into conflict, leading to the Iranians holding American Embassy members hostage as revenge for them feeling betrayed by the United States. It also informs us about other events that occurred in a decade that caused the United States many problems. Farber believes the failure of American policymakers and more specifically from President Carter, to identify the severity of the crisis made for the prolonged crisis. The sheer ineptitude of the Carter administration was the cost of the US to lose it’s way economically, culturally, politically and even military. Carter struggled to respond to the impulses of Islamic fundamentalism within the prevailing Cold War paradigm. They saw the real problem as against modernism and they knew that the US was the major force spreading this belief throughout the world. The media misrepresentations of the struggle and mass media manipulation of Americans played on the peoples emotions. Although Carter was popular at the beginning of his presidency, this began to change when he was unable to solve economic problems and was unsuccessful in negotiating the release of the American hostages in Iran.
The book “Taken Hostage” by David Farber the book starts off giving some background information about the state and the economic state that the United States was in before the hostage crisis took place. In 1970’s
The United Sates presidential election of 1980 included Democrat Jimmy Carter and Republican opponent Ronald Reagan. From the beginning of the election Reagan knew he had a great chance in winning the election and becoming the 40th president of the United Sates when he found out who he was running against. Back in 1976, Jimmy Carter was brought into the White House and His domestic policies failed to resonate with the American public and his standing as an international leader was badly damaged by the Iranian hostage drama that began in 1979
Jimmy Carter took office in January 1977 after he overcame his opponent, Gerald Ford, in a close election. Soon after taking office, President Jimmy Carter set a goal to create jobs for the unemployed. President Carter also tried to make the government more useful and efficient by continuing the reforming of the regulatory system that had started during the time of the Nixon Administration. “Jimmy Carter’s plan did bring down the rate of unemployment, but he increased the cost-of-living stimulated by huge oil price hikes in the Middle East that soon dominated the Administration’s domestic agenda.” As Jimmy Carters relationship with Iran grew quickly, the shah of Iran came into communication with Jimmy Carter and he had accepted to protect
The Iranian hostage crisis was one of the most dramatic events in a series of problems that took place during President Jimmy Carter’s term. The crisis, beginning in November of 1979, received the most coverage of any major event since World War II. It was one of many problems faced in light of the United State’s complex relationship with Iran. The effects on both the US and Iran were astronomical, especially politically as well as economically and socially. It took a heavy toll on American relations with the Middle East and changed the way we engage in foreign affairs. In light of this crisis, Iran started an international war that we are still fighting thirty-two years later.
During this time, the people of this time became stricken with unprecedented gasoline and energy shortages and lost their jobs. Despite the previous political issues between Iran and the United States intelligence came up with plans to rescue 52 Americans from the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran. The Americans were taken by Iranian radicals in the attempt to enforce the patriotism and the release of assets. This not only caused economic hardship, military, and presidential conflict between the United States and Iran. It also brought forth the leadership of calling rescue mission by Jimmy Carter and the legacy Jimmy Carter and the legacy of the military officials fearlessness of negotiation and a surge of patriotism throughout the United States the legacy Jimmy Carter and the legacy of the military officials fearlessness of negotiation and a surge of patriotism throughout the United
Carter’s biggest failure was indeed the Iranian Hostage Crisis that lasted up until the preceding president’s first day in office. In November 1979, Islamic militants who were supporters of the Ayatollah took-over the American Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans
During the election of 1980 most Americans eyes were fixed on two presidents. Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Most Americans hearts were fixed on one issue. The Iranian hostage crisis. Jimmy Carter, the current president, had tried without success to end the crisis diplomatically. Ronald Reagan, an actor turned politician, had very little experience in a political position. Carter was not fit to handle the current crisis. His attempts to free the hostages had gone poorly both diplomatically and through use of force. Ronald Reagan was not very well known as a politician, he was known as an actor and many people believed that he would just act in office instead of being the
The American government is known to promote democratic values throughout the world. Though the ideals America was fighting for during the Cold War, the government still managed to participate in the overthrow of democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammed Mossadegh. Mossadegh threatened to nationalize Iran’s oil in 1951 and later gained the support of the Iranian government. The British companies had many investments in Iranian oil. It is with the approval of nationalization that the economies of both British and Iran were ultimately harmed. The British government requested the help of the US so that they could perform a coup to overthrow Mossadegh. With suspicions of Mossadegh supporting communism, and being supported by the Tudeh Party, the United States government was willing to sacrifice their democratic ideologies and credibility in the region for the insurance of an anti-communist leader. This would prove to cause problems that still resonate in today’s political and military negotiations in this region.
This paper will begin by providing background information on the Iranian Hostage Crises, then shifts to the different viewpoints taken by the divisions of the executive branch. This will provide the different policy options and supporting actors. The final part of the paper will focus on the foreign policy outcome.