{"id":104915,"date":"2023-06-06T17:37:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T21:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=104915"},"modified":"2023-06-13T13:43:50","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T17:43:50","slug":"jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Damaged Legacy: Jimmy Carter & the Iran Hostage Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why did Iran take American hostages in 1979? Why did it take so long to free them? What should President Carter have done differently?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biographer Jonathan Alter can’t ignore the crisis that defined much of the presidency of Jimmy Carter\u2014the Iran hostage crisis. Alter details the road to the crisis, Carter\u2019s resistance to using military force, and the final push to free the hostages just as Carter\u2019s presidency came to its end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to learn about this dark chapter in American history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Iran Hostage Crisis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For Jimmy Carter, the Iran hostage crisis unraveled any of the success he enjoyed as president. Jonathan Alter discusses the crisis in his book His Very Best<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Carter was achieving a measure of success negotiating peace between Israel and Egypt, the political situation in Iran was deteriorating faster than anyone in the US realized. The Iranian Revolution and the 444-day hostage crisis that followed would become for many people the defining historical event of Carter\u2019s presidency,<\/strong> completely dominating his last year in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini gained a following as a fierce critic of Mohammad Reza Shah, Iran\u2019s dictator since 1953, but the CIA<\/a> never saw Khomeini as a serious threat to world peace. In 1978, the Shah\u2019s health began failing, and Khomeini\u2019s supporters launched violent protests to demand the Shah\u2019s removal. Alter writes that when the Shah asked the US for aid to prop up his regime, Carter refused, believing that without a dictator, Iran would return to democratic rule. Suffering from cancer, the Shah went into exile in January 1979 to seek medical treatment abroad while Khomeini amassed power in his country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Carter\u2019s hope that Iran would become a democracy once the Shah stepped down is an example of what McMaster calls \u201cstrategic narcissism\u201d in Battlegrounds<\/em><\/a>. In particular, Carter\u2019s belief was based on a faulty assumption\u2014shared by many American policymakers\u2014that nations inevitably become capitalist democracies<\/a> as the result of a natural progression over time, though history has shown this is not always the case.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alter argues that there was nothing Carter could have done to prevent the Shah\u2019s downfall or Khomeini\u2019s rise to power, but he notes that Carter was taken aback by the strength of anti-US sentiment in Iran. So as not to stoke that anger\u2014and to protect US citizens still in Iran\u2014Carter repeatedly denied the Shah entry into the US until October 1979, when he was told that the Shah would die without treatment at an American hospital. Giving in to his humanitarian values, Carter granted the Shah temporary medical asylum. <\/strong>The Iranian response was stronger than anyone expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Shah and the Ayatollah<\/strong>

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi<\/a>, commonly referred to as the Shah, or \u201cking,\u201d succeeded his father as Iran\u2019s constitutional monarch<\/a> in 1941. He gradually amassed power over the following decades, bringing the army under his control and sidelining the country\u2019s elected government. Though he made reforms to modernize Iran<\/a>, by the time of Carter\u2019s presidency the Iranian people saw the Shah as a proxy for US and British control<\/a> of their nation.

The Shah\u2019s rival, Rouhollah Khomeini<\/a>, was a popular religious leader, or \u201cayatollah<\/a>,\u201d who opposed the Shah\u2019s measures to liberalize Iranian society, such as giving non-Muslims and women the right to vote<\/a>. In 1963, Khomeini was imprisoned for speaking against the Shah, triggering anti-government demonstrations<\/a>. Khomeini was later exiled from the country, but that didn\u2019t silence his criticism of the Shah. While Alter writes that the intelligence community was blind to Khomeini and the rise of his followers, declassified documents from US staff in Iran show that officials there knew about Khomeini\u2019s growing Islamist movement<\/a>, but their warnings went unnoticed by their Washington superiors. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Hostages Are Taken<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Islamist groups within Iran believed the Shah\u2019s presence in the US was part of a scheme to return the Shah to power. On November 4, 1979, under Khomeini\u2019s direct approval, Iranian students stormed the US embassy in Tehran looking for evidence of a plot against Iran,<\/strong> taking the staff as prisoners in what was meant to be a short occupation. A rescue was unfeasible since Tehran was so far from US military forces. More than that, Carter feared that any attack would result in hostage deaths while dragging the US into another war. Carter placed sanctions on Iranian oil, froze Iranian bank accounts within the US, and made one attempt at a military rescue that failed because of the US military\u2019s inability to coordinate between branches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Despite Carter\u2019s sanctions\u2019 failure to achieve a swift release of the hostages, his actions set a template for negotiation<\/a> that\u2019s been followed by successive US presidents in dealing with conflicts with Iran. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan banned Iranian imports<\/a> in response to attacks in the Persian Gulf, whereas President Bill Clinton did the same in 1995<\/a> to discourage Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons technology<\/a>. In 2018, President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions that had been previously lifted as part of the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal<\/a>. According to the US State Department, sanctions have proved an effective tool<\/a> for curbing Iran\u2019s military strength and its funding of terrorism in neighboring countries<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within Iran, Khomeini used his control of the crisis to establish himself as the head of a constitutional theocracy while not allowing hostage negotiations to take place unless the Shah was returned to stand trial for alleged crimes against the Iranian people. Once it was clear that Carter wasn\u2019t going to retaliate, Khomeini knew he could hold the hostages indefinitely. <\/strong>At home, the hostage crisis brought the American people together while painting Carter as an ineffective leader. Alter states that this was also the US public\u2019s first introduction to radical Islam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Beyond painting Carter\u2019s presidency in a negative light, the hostage crisis affected the attitudes of an entire generation of US citizens. Dramatic images of Muslim revolutionaries chanting \u201cDeath to America\u201d<\/a> solidified a perception in the American mind equating Islam with terrorism and violence. Analysis of the public response to the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal<\/a> suggests that Americans who reached adulthood before or during the hostage crisis were unsupportive of any favorable dealings with Iran<\/a> even four decades later, while younger generations who weren\u2019t closely aware of the crisis were more in favor of a peaceful resolution to their contemporary conflict.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hostage Crisis Ends<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Carter devoted nearly all his focus to resolving the hostage situation, attempting to negotiate through other countries as intermediaries instead of campaigning hard for reelection. Even the Shah\u2019s death in June 1980 didn\u2019t bring about the hostages’ release. Instead, Alter suggests that two other factors caused Khomeini to finally relent. One was Iraq\u2019s invasion of Iran under the command of Saddam Hussein\u2014suddenly, Iran needed access to the funds that were frozen in US bank accounts. The second factor was a fear that Carter\u2019s electoral opponent, Ronald Reagan, wouldn\u2019t share Carter\u2019s hesitation to use military force if he won the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: New accusations regarding the hostages\u2019 release came to light in early 2023, after Alter had written his biography of Carter. Retired legislator Ben Barnes<\/a> told The New York Times<\/em> that in 1980 he accompanied former Texas governor John Connally<\/a> on a trip to the Middle East, during which Barnes alleges that Connally sabotaged Carter\u2019s negotiations<\/a> by telling Arab leaders that the hostages shouldn\u2019t be released until after the presidential election. Barnes claims that Connally sent a message to Iran that Reagan would offer more favorable terms for the hostages\u2019 freedom than Carter would.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to Carter\u2019s divided attention, the state of the economy, and the crisis in Iran, Reagan won a landslide victory. Nevertheless, Carter\u2019s work wasn\u2019t finished. In the final days of his presidency, Carter, at last, brokered a deal for the hostages\u2019 freedom,<\/strong> though Khomeini delayed their release until Reagan took the oath of office. President Reagan announced the end of the crisis while Carter and Mondale flew to Germany to greet the freed captives in person. Although the public had turned against Carter, Alter reiterates that the president had kept the US out of war throughout all four years of his term, a feat unmatched by any following president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: While the Iran hostage crisis was unusual in its extended duration and the way that it dominated global attention, it wasn\u2019t by any means the last such situation. During the Lebanese Civil War<\/a> from 1975-1990, over 100 foreign nationals were kidnapped and held hostage<\/a>, either for ransom or political concessions, especially after Israel\u2019s invasion of southern Lebanon in 1982. In 1986, President Reagan was accused of sending weapons to Iran<\/a> in exchange for American captives in Lebanon. Though Reagan denied involvement in any \u201carms for hostages\u201d deal<\/a>, the scandal tainted the remainder of his presidency, though not to the extent that the Iranian crisis damaged Carter\u2019s.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why did Iran take American hostages in 1979? Why did it take so long to free them? What should President Carter have done differently? Biographer Jonathan Alter can’t ignore the crisis that defined much of the presidency of Jimmy Carter\u2014the Iran hostage crisis. Alter details the road to the crisis, Carter\u2019s resistance to using military force, and the final push to free the hostages just as Carter\u2019s presidency came to its end. Read on to learn about this dark chapter in American history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":104921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,33,275],"tags":[1054],"class_list":["post-104915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-people","category-politics","tag-his-very-best","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nDamaged Legacy: Jimmy Carter & the Iran Hostage Crisis - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Iran hostage crisis unraveled any of the success Jimmy Carter enjoyed as president. Learn about this dark chapter in American history.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Damaged Legacy: Jimmy Carter & the Iran Hostage Crisis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Iran hostage crisis unraveled any of the success Jimmy Carter enjoyed as president. Learn about this dark chapter in American history.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-06T21:37:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-13T17:43:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/iran-globe-map.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"Damaged Legacy: Jimmy Carter & the Iran Hostage Crisis\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-06T21:37:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-13T17:43:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/\"},\"wordCount\":1504,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/iran-globe-map.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"His Very Best\"],\"articleSection\":[\"History\",\"People\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/\",\"name\":\"Damaged Legacy: Jimmy Carter & the Iran Hostage Crisis - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/iran-globe-map.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-06T21:37:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-13T17:43:50+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Iran hostage crisis unraveled any of the success Jimmy Carter enjoyed as president. Learn about this dark chapter in American history.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/iran-globe-map.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/iran-globe-map.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Damaged Legacy: Jimmy Carter & the Iran Hostage Crisis\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.\",\"sameAs\":[\"rina@shortform.com\"],\"award\":[\"Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)\",\"Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)\",\"Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)\",\"Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"History\",\"Theology\",\"Government\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Senior SEO Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Damaged Legacy: Jimmy Carter & the Iran Hostage Crisis - Shortform Books","description":"The Iran hostage crisis unraveled any of the success Jimmy Carter enjoyed as president. Learn about this dark chapter in American history.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Damaged Legacy: Jimmy Carter & the Iran Hostage Crisis","og_description":"The Iran hostage crisis unraveled any of the success Jimmy Carter enjoyed as president. Learn about this dark chapter in American history.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2023-06-06T21:37:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-13T17:43:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/iran-globe-map.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Whitworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Whitworth","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13"},"headline":"Damaged Legacy: Jimmy Carter & the Iran Hostage Crisis","datePublished":"2023-06-06T21:37:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-13T17:43:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/"},"wordCount":1504,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/iran-globe-map.jpg","keywords":["His Very Best"],"articleSection":["History","People","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/","name":"Damaged Legacy: Jimmy Carter & the Iran Hostage Crisis - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/iran-globe-map.jpg","datePublished":"2023-06-06T21:37:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-13T17:43:50+00:00","description":"The Iran hostage crisis unraveled any of the success Jimmy Carter enjoyed as president. Learn about this dark chapter in American history.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/iran-globe-map.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/iran-globe-map.jpg","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jimmy-carter-iran-hostage-crisis\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Damaged Legacy: Jimmy Carter & the Iran Hostage Crisis"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13","name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Whitworth"},"description":"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.","sameAs":["rina@shortform.com"],"award":["Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)","Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)","Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)","Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)"],"knowsAbout":["History","Theology","Government"],"jobTitle":"Senior SEO Writer","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/iran-globe-map.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104915"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104973,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104915\/revisions\/104973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}