The seizing of the U.S. Embassy happened in the wake of the Islamic Revolution, which
occurred in Iran from 1978 to 1979.
The roots of the revolution reach to at least 1953,
when the CIA engineered a coup that restored full authority to Iran's monarch, Mohammad Reza
Shah.
The coup toppled Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who
had nationalized the country's oil industry.
British and U.S. oil companies profited from the change,
and the shah received massive U.S. aid, which he used to modernize the economy
and to expand the military.
The shah's Westernization agenda improved women's rights
and raised the standard of living, though not for all Iranians.
The transition away from traditional society minimized the influence of Muslim clerics,
but they would later gain the support of secular liberals and communists in the revolution.
Political parties and representative government were also marginalized by the shah.
Dissent was squelched by SAVAK, the secret police, who spied on,
harassed, and tortured dissidents.
Nevertheless, in 1978 mass demonstrations against the shah's regime
began, sparking a cycle of protest and violence.
Many of those who took to the streets were inspired by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,
a Shiʿi cleric and scholar, who had been exiled for speaking out against the shah's reforms.
On September 8th, in Tehran, troops opened fire on demonstrators who
were protesting the imposition of martial law.
Many protestors were killed.
While the shah remained indecisive on how to respond to the protests,
the revolutionary movement grew.
In January 1979, the Shah and his family fled Iran.
By February Khomeini had returned to Iran, and the Shah's regime was effectively over.
On April 1st, Khomeini declared Iran an Islamic republic.
He was named Iran's political and religious leader for life.
Conservative social values, an Islamic dress code, and punishments prescribed by Islamic law
were reinstated.
Opposition to the revolution was suppressed.
Many Western-educated elites fled.
Against his own better judgment, U.S. President Jimmy Carter
was persuaded to allow the shah to come to the United States for cancer treatment.
Many in Iran were incensed by this news.
On November 4th, a group of Iranian students aligned with Khomeini's religious agenda
invaded the U.S. embassy.
More than 60 American hostages were seized.
More than 50 of them were held for 444 days.
Almost immediately the resulting crisis became an unrelenting obsession
for the American media.
ABC's nightly news special The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage,
the forerunner of Nightline, became the center of continued coverage.
The hostage-takers held frequent press conferences and issued public statements.
Khomeini demanded that the shah be extradited to Iran in exchange for the hostages' release.
Carter refused.
Instead, he proposed that an international committee investigate human rights
abuses under the Shah's rule and that financial claims be made against the shah in U.S. courts,
but only if the hostages were freed.
Carter's negotiations proved fruitless.
The U.S. responded by refusing to buy Iranian oil,
froze billions of dollars of Iranian assets, and led a campaign of international diplomacy
against Iran.
Diplomats from various countries tried to intervene.
Most dramatically, in January 1980 Canadian diplomats
helped six Americans who hadn't yet been captured flee Iran.
Their story was told in the Oscar-winning film Argo.
Frustrated by the failure of negotiations, Carter authorized a rescue plan.
In April 1980, a small U.S. task force landed in the Iranian desert with plans
to rescue the hostages by helicopter.
Two out of eight helicopters had been forced to turn back.
When a third broke down, the mission was aborted but not before one of the remaining
helicopters collided with a support aircraft.
Eight servicemen were killed.
PRESIDENT CARTER: The responsibility is fully my own.
In the aftermath of the attempt, we continue to hold the government of Iran
responsible for the safety and for the early release of the American hostages who
have been held so long.
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who had opposed the mission in the first place, resigned.
Carter's already damaged public image took another big hit.
Neither the shah's death on July 27th, 1980, nor the economic embargo forced Iran's hand.
Instead, it was the Iraqi invasion of Iran in September
and the subsequent Iran-Iraq war that led to a resolution of the hostage crisis.
During a visit to the United Nations, Iranian Prime Minister Raja'i
was informed that Iran could not expect support in the conflict
so long as there were still hostages.
Negotiations proceeded.
On January 20th, 1981, the hostages were officially
released, just minutes after the inauguration of Ronald Reagan, who defeated
Carter in the 1980 presidential election.
According to a conspiracy theory known as the October Surprise,
the Reagan campaign made a deal to reward Iran for holding
the hostages until after the election.
Although a congressional investigation in the 1990s
found "no credible evidence" of collusion, the theory has persisted.
In any case, Carter's inability to resolve the Iran Hostage Crisis critically
damaged his chance for a reelection.