Operation Eagle Claw Essay

“It was raining moderately at the time. We were taken back to the compound, being pushed and hurried along the way and forced to put our hands above our heads and then marched to the Embassy residence. After arriving at the residence I had my hands tied behind my back so tightly with nylon cord that circulation was cut off.” This is an actual diary entry from an Iranian hostage, Robert Odee. The hostages were held captive for 444 days. They were held captive by Iranian students.

Iran’s newly elected prime minister, a European-educated nationalist named Muhammad Mossadegh, announced a plan to nationalize the country’s oil industry. In response to these policies, the American C.I.A. and the British intelligence service devised a secret plan

Carter decided to launch a risky military rescue mission known as Operation Eagle Claw. The operation was supposed to send an elite rescue team into the embassy compound. However, a severe desert sandstorm on the day of the mission caused several helicopters to malfunction, including one that veered into a large transport plane during takeoff. Eight American servicemen were killed in the accident, and Operation Eagle Claw was aborted. Many Historians believed that the Hostage Crisis cost Jimmy Carter his second term of presidency. President Carter’s inability to resolve the problem made him look like a weak and ineffectual leader. At the same time, his intense focus on bringing the hostages home kept him away from the campaign trail.
The hostages were freed on Jan. 20, 1981, Iran released 52 Americans who had been held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan. The hostages were placed on a plane in Tehran as Reagan delivered his inaugural address. “The voice came over the Algerian plane’s speaker:”You are now leaving Iranian air space!” What a cheer went up from the American hostages on the plane! This was the moment for which we had waited 444 days. Now we knew we were really