Terrorism: The Reagan Way

President Ronald Reagan was an amazing President, but he didn’t always come out smelling like roses. Even the best Presidents don’t always make wise decision for their country, for instance, the Iran- Contra scandal. The Iran-Contra scandal, all started in 1985 when Iran and Iraq were at war, and the United States supplied weapons to Iran, a sworn enemy. President Ronald Reagan’s administration did this in hoping that they would then release the American hostages that were being held in Lebanon by Hezbollah terrorist. Robert McFarlane, a National Security Advisory, said that “the sale of arms would not only improve U.S. relations with Iran, but might in turn lead to improved relations with Lebanon, increasing U.S. influence in the troubled Middle East” (Julie Wolf,

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”,

The United States history during 1977 to 1989 went through two presidencies and whirlwind of events happened. When President Jimmy Carter became president he wanted to lower the inflation rates to make life easier for the people of the United States. While that was his goal it got completely derailed. Near the end of Jimmy Carters presidency, a group of Iranian students took over the U.S Embassy in Tehran and took people hostage. Over the course of the 444 days the hostages where held captive while the people of the United States voted for a new president to help lead them into a new direction. The people voted for Ronald Reagan. While he was president things didn’t go as he planned as well. The issues with Iran did not calm down and escalated to something bigger. After the Iran hostage crisis, the US had another issues with Iran and it was the Iran- Contra affair. During this essay I will be talking about the book called “Taken Hostage” by David Farber and the information in the book. The book is about the time frame of Jimmy Carter’s presidency and the issues with Iran and the hostage crisis. The second half of my essay is towards President Ronald Reagan’s and the issues about the Iran- Contra affair and the lasting issues between Iran and the United states.

So we must maintain defenses of unassailable strength. Yet we seek peace; so we must strive to reduce arms on both sides." Reagan explains that he is aware of the danger

"Ronald Reagan didn't attack the people around him. He didn't demean the people around him. You know, he brought everybody together," Michael Reagan said Saturday.

In 1981, a time that was recovering and healing from the Vietnam War, Ronald Reagan was elected president and gave his first Inaugural address. Despite what many Inaugural addresses tend to do, Reagan decided to not just talk about his plans for the country, but take the country by the reins and lead it triumphantly into conservatism. Ronald Reagan’s first Inauguration address, evoked and pointed out that the United States’ greatest weapon is far from a gun, but rather “Freedom” (Woolley). Through the use of allusion and repetition, along with sudden pauses and nostalgic patriotism over words to demonstrate love for fallen heros, Reagan secured many future voters and motivated many citizens to come together and unite as Americans to reveal the hero that is within us all (Brockway).

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.

It’s debatable whether President Jimmy Carter would have won the election of 1980 if the Iranian Hostage Crisis never happened. However, even the most profound of historians know that the conflict with Iran did indeed spark the beginning of the Ronald Reagan era and put Jimmy Carter in company with only a select number of presidents to not be re-elected to a second term. President Carter’s inability to resolve the problem made him look like a weak and ineffectual leader. Perhaps the most demonstrative example of the president’s inadequacy was an ill-advised executive decision that he made in April of 1980, the same year of the election. With lagging and inauspicious diplomacy talks ongoing with Iran, Carter grew frustrated. Not backed by his most important advisors, the president made the call to

President Carter, like other presidents before him, had concentrated mostly on the Soviet Union. This was caused by the Cold War and the tensions that arose from it. Therefore the US’s main attention had been directed away from the Middle East. Since Iran was anti-communist then “the United States supported any regime that was not communist” (Bechtel 2). There was more of a reason for the president to focus on the Soviets than the Iranians, but he “did not ignore Iran during this period but it was not perceived as a hot spot ”(Farber 80). The main situation the US faced with Iran was the issue over oil and even when discussing the ownership over oil fields, there was never a moment where hostages were involved. The United States had made "innumerable pleas, resolutions, declarations, special missions, and even sanctions" to try and return the hostages safely back home (Ismail). Such extents even included sending eight helicopters to rescue the hostages. “Three out of the eight were damaged in the sandstorm, the mission was aborted”, and the death of the eight persons caused the Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance to resign even though he opposed the mission to begin with (“Iran Hostage Crisis”). The President had to be prepared to attack if any of the hostages were harmed. There were three things that were first sought out when realizing what had happened overseas in Iran. First,

Throughout Reagan’s eight years of presidency he had some traumatic events unfold. One very big moment for Reagan was the release of the 53 Americans that had been held hostage in Iran. On the issue of Communism and the Cold War Reagan once said, "Our strategy is defensive; our aim is to protect the peace by ensuring that no adversaries ever conclude they could

Many Americans were upset by how President Carter handled the situation due to his failed negotiations and failure to just send the Shah back to Iran in order to free the hostages. David Larson of the International Social Science Review states that “The Iranian Hostage Crisis defeated one president and helped to elect another” (Larson 196). Carter unable to handle the stress of an election along with trying to resolve an international crisis left him very little time to campaign which allowed Ronald Reagan to gain public approval. Larson states in his journal “by April 8th, the approval index on Iran dropped to 40 percent” (Larson 206). What this means is that by April 8th of 1980 the approval rate of how Carter was handling the crisis dropped from an original 75% to a drastic low of 40%. Ms. Shelton states from her interview that “it totally cost him the election, Americans were very unhappy with the way he chose to handle the situation” (Shelton). She also disclosed that she voted for Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election. By the end of Carters presidency his approval rate was 21% the lowest recorded rate recorded at that time for any president (Larson

     Ronald Reagan was more than a president. He was a phenomenon. Since he left office in 1989, many authors have tried to effectively identify who this man really was. He was an icon to some, and an enigma to others. He stood up to the worst economic, domestic, and international threats of the time and yet, took naps in the middle of cabinet meetings. At the height of his popularity in 1986, he had, as Time magazine put it, “found America's sweet spot. “ Reagan had ideals of what he felt America should be like, and made it his number one goal to share his unrelenting optimism with every person in the country. He pledged to bring Americans a “little good news.” and created a strong bond

This was astounding to most Americans. The same day the president is inaugurated the hostages are freed. What had the new president done that the old president had not? Some rational people will tell you that it was Carter that freed the hostages, not Reagan. There are others however that believe that the Iranians only freed them because Reagan was elected instead of Carter and had Carter been re-elected that the crisis would have gone on longer. This theory would claim that outside powers can use attacks and threats to influence elections and put in power whomever they want. Whatever the theoretical conclusions may have been what happened is that the hostages were freed and Ronald Reagan was

Ronald Regan told the people that he understood the fear of war and the pain of division and he also pledged to help overcome these burdens. Even though some believed that we should not get involved in the crisis that was occurring, by us being the most powerful nation we could not just sit by and watch these horrific events occur.

Terrorism and the United States A cloud of anthrax spores looming in the sky of San Diego California