In Their Own Words

Well let's first say why were the hostages taken to begin with? Jimmy Carter was the last holdout of all of his advisors in agreeing to let the Shah of Iran, who had fled the Khomeini Islamic radical revolution, come into the United States for cancer treatment, because he said I'm afraid that if we let him in, passengers are going to be taken and then what are you going to advise me to do? Jimmy Carter's instincts were telling him do not let the Shah in. Henry Kissinger and David Rockefeller had organized a lobbying effort to make it appear improper not to let a dying Shah, a dying ally come in. But when it became a humanitarian issue, when he was told that Shah could not be treated in Mexico, where he was, which was a lie. So Carter agrees to let him in to New York Hospital for treatment. And he called the prime minister and foreign minister, and tried to get assurance that if they understood this was only for medical treatment, not to rehabilitate him to come back and take power. And he hoped that he would get approval. And they said, well, we'll do the best we could. Khomeini used this as a way of gaining power, a way of solidifying his standing. -

Man

And just days later, hostages are seized in Iran. The hostages became pawns in an internal Iranian power game, but it was all ignited by allowing the Shah in to begin with. Good evening, the U.S. embassy in Tehran has been invaded and occupied by Iranian students. The Americans inside have been taken prisoner. The action against the embassy may or may not have been ordered by Iran's religious leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini. We all thought a few days, because the government Iran, the civilian government, said we'll work this out, don't worry. Well, they couldn't work it out. The Ayatollah said no, you won't work it out. We'll keep them right here. (crowd chanting) The actions of Iran have shocked the civilized world. United States of America will not yield to international terrorism or to blackmail. He felt he had to do everything he could to get them out, but it did in fact, personalize the crisis very much to him. And when he said to the hostage families, my first priority is to get your loved ones out, safe and sound, it also sent a message to Khomeini that there was not a threat of military force. -

Man

When the hostages were taken all the networks and specials. And to secure as quickly as possible their safe release. Only Roone Arledge, the president of ABC News, had sense enough to say, I'm going to own this story. We're going to do it every night. Every night until this is over. It was the beginning of Ted Koppel's Nightline. It was started out tonight is day one and then you'd run down the day three day, six day, a hundred, whatever it was. The program became compelling and really must-see TV. Every night, the media was reminding people of the humiliation that the United States was undergoing, but Carter kept trying diplomatically, to work it out and months went by. I don't think that Carter really recognized the power of televised news and those images, to potentially destroy an administration. President, does it seem to you that if you can not resolve this crisis soon it may cost you your renomination or re-election? The political connotations of the holding of our hostages is not a factor for me. The first mistake is letting the Shah in and the second mistake is not listening to Roseland and others who suggested that he take some kind of military action. He was worried that the hostages would be killed if he did that. We continue to pursue these specific goals if possible, to avoid bloodshed.