On November 4, 1979, Iranian students stormed the US Embassy in Tehran taking 66 hostages. Six Americans evaded capture (as depicted in the movie "Argo"). By mid 1980, 14 of the hostages had been released for various reasons. The remaining 52 hostages were demeaned, paraded blindfolded in front of TV cameras and angry crowds, and not allowed to speak or read. They lived in constant fear and had no clue whether they would be tortured, murdered, or set free. These 52 would remain in captivity for 444 days. They returned to the appreciation of their country and a New York ticker tape parade in February 1981.
Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi, a member of Iran's royal family, secular, anti-communist, and a pro-western autocrat, had come to power in a 1953 coup engineered by the CIA and British Intelligence to protect US and British oil interests. But many times actions by a government, operating according to its own perceived best interests, can have unintended long-term consequences. The Shah ruled with a heavy hand utilizing his secret police, the SAVAK, to keep Iranian citizens under control. Over his 26 years of rule many people were tortured and murdered. By the 1970's, revolutionary fervor began to take hold. Many Iranians turned to a radical cleric, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, for new leadership. He returned to Iran in February 1979 after 14 years in exile. His revolutionary Islamist movement, with a militant disdain for western influence, promised a break from the past. In July 1979, the Shah was forced to flee to Egypt and the Ayatollah installed a militant Islamist government.
Due to the Shah's brutal record and the fear of creating additional hostilities in the Middle East toward the United States, the US government did not come to the defense of the Shah. However, for humanitarian reasons, President Carter allowed the Shah to come to the US for cancer treatment. Anti-US sentiment and Carter's decision drove the revolutionaries' anger with the United States over the edge. Revolutionaries crashed the US Embassy gates and the Iran Hostage Crisis began.
The Iranian government and Ayatollah Khomeini maintained a hard line concerning the hostages despite economic sanctions and repeated attempts at diplomacy. Intense media scrutiny (the ABC television show "Nightline" began with this event and was originally called "The Iran Crisis - America Held Hostage") and continued inability to resolve this crisis put major pressure on Jimmy Carter's presidency and the US government. In April 1980, failed attempts to negotiate the hostages release led to the approval of a military operation, Operation Eagle Claw, designed to send an elite team into the embassy compound for a daring rescue. But the operation was aborted due to a sandstorm, malfunctioning helicopters, and the crash of a helicopter on takeoff into a transport plane. Eight servicemen and one Iranian civilian were killed. This failed mission and disaster further weakened Carter's presidency.
In September 1980, sensing weakness and opportunity, Iraq invaded Iran. This development finally led to negotiations between the United States and Iran with Algiers as an intermediary. For Carter's presidency, it was too late. He lost the 1980 election in a landslide to Ronald Reagan. When the Algiers Accords were signed, the hostages were released minutes after Reagan took office in late January 1981. I was living in New York City when the hostages came home.
New York only schedules ticker tape parades for big historical events and celebrations of national pride. The hostages being freed and returning to the US after 444 days of captivity was one of those times. The nation had suffered through a series of setbacks that ate at its self esteem to include the Vietnam war and the resignation of Richard Nixon. The Cold War and arms race with the Soviet Union were still raging. In addition, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979. With intense nightly media scrutiny during the entire duration of the Iran Hostage Crisis, many in this country were losing faith in America's ability to influence world events and protect its own citizens. The election of Ronald Reagan and especially the release of the hostages gave the country a boost of optimism.
On a cold morning in early February 1981, the returned hostages paraded through lower Manhattan to a huge outpouring of national pride and tons of ticker tape cascading from every building along the route. Yellow ribbons, adopted as a symbol during the crisis to keep national focus on the release of the hostages as a priority, were everywhere. Marching bands, music, and large cheering crowds of every age group and ethnicity contributed to the excitement and spectacle only a large metropolis like New York City can provide. Appreciation and admiration for the many hostages in open convertibles was overwhelming. With the parade occurring twenty years prior to 9/11, security was fairly light. I was able to get outside the barricades and into the middle of the street with my Nikon cameras and no press pass. Things would have been much different in today's world of 2016.
Caught up in the spectacle, I encountered people of all types - young and old, first responders, media types, blue collar hard hats, street vendor opportunists selling hostage-return mementos, and even a crazy old dude running around the street dressed in an Uncle Sam uniform. And of course the object of this parade, the hostages. Barry Rosen, an embassy press attache', had famously been photographed during the crisis led through the streets of Tehran in a blindfold. I encountered and photographed him behind a pair of sunglasses sitting next to his wife in an open convertible. He looked pensive. I had the sense he was still dealing with the loss of over one year of his life under a very stressful situation. On the other hand, Kathryn Koob, an embassy cultural officer, was waving yellow ribbons and a small American flag, looking appreciative and very happy to be back on American soil. After the parade, I believe everyone there on that day went home with a feeling of pride in their country. The city of New York had a huge cleanup job ahead of it. But the cause was well worth it.
It was an incredible day - a day I will never forget, especially in light of all the international events that have happened since then. The theocratic government in Iran is currently viewed by many to be a state sponsor of terrorism and continues to be at odds with US national interests. But on that day in early February 1981, there was a palpable, renewed sense of optimism in America. I was fortunate to be part of it and am glad to be able to share this photo collection for the historical record.