Pod Insights American History Tellers The Carter Years | Crisis of Confidence | 2 About this episode In 1979, after two years in office, President Jimmy Carter faced a series of crushing challenges: a deepening energy crisis, soaring inflation, rising oil and gas prices, and unemployment. Voters’ dissatisfaction with his leadership grew. Then, dozens of Americans were taken hostage at the U. S. Embassy in Iran. Carter’s efforts to free them would consume his final year in office, and by 1980, his chances at a second term looked bleak.
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0:00 Lindsay Graham? Audible subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts.
0:24 Lindsay Graham? Imagine it's April 9, 1979. You're a public opinion pollster in Washington DC, and you've been called to the White House for breakfast with First Lady Rosalynn Carter. You got to know the Carters when you advised them during the 1976 campaign. But over the past two years, the president has become too busy to pay much attention to your polls and memos. Thankfully, though, you still have the ear of the First Lady. So over breakfast this morning, you're hoping to convince her to alert the president to his dismal approval ratings, which recently dropped to 25%, even lower than Richard Nixon's numbers during the worst of the Watergate scandal. So you put down your fork and get straight to the point. Ma'am, these latest numbers are frightening. It's clear that people are feeling alienated,
1:08 Lindsay Graham? disillusioned, and angry. They're looking for someone to blame. So they're blaming my husband. It would appear so. These problems, the long lines at gas stations, inflation, unemployment, he didn't create them, we all know that. But they are threatening the political and social fabric of the country. The problem is, the president is focusing a lot on foreign affairs, but he's ignoring the urgent pocketbook issues facing everyday Americans. People are in a funk. What do you mean, "a funk"? Well, they're losing faith. There's a level of pessimism I haven't seen before. Call it a crisis of confidence. This sounds grim. Yeah. And I know the president is an optimist, but at this rate, he's an optimist who's destined to be a one-term president. After saying this, you worry you said too much.
1:53 Lindsay Graham? But the first lady nods her head. He's been trying to run the country. He's not thinking about reelection. Well, I think he needs to start. The campaign's only a year away. Will you talk to him? I will. But I suggest you write him a memo explaining this so-called crisis of confidence. I'll make sure he reads it. Yes, ma'am, and thank you. You believe the president can seize the current crisis as an opportunity to become a transformational president, a Lincoln, or a Roosevelt. But he needs to speak directly to voters. He needs to be a healer. You stand and shake the first lady's hand. You know, ma'am, it's like Napoleon said. Glory only comes in great danger. The first lady smiles, and you're relieved.
2:35 Lindsay Graham? You sincerely hope she'll convince her husband to take decisive action and do something to save his faltering administration. His legacy and the country's future are at stake.
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4:14 Lindsay Graham? From Wondery, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is American History Tellers: Our History, Your Story.
4:35 Lindsay Graham? In 1979, after two years in office, President Jimmy Carter faced a series of crushing challenges on the home front. The deepening energy crisis, soaring inflation, rising oil and gas prices, and unemployment all led to voters' growing dissatisfaction with his leadership. His approval ratings plummeted, and his administration seemed unable to find the right message to reassure the public. So that summer, Carter gave his most famous address, an inspiring speech that took aim at the crisis of confidence that his staff had come to believe was affecting the nation. And in the wake of this speech, Carter's prospects for reelection seemed to improve. But when dozens of American diplomatic staff were seized and held hostage in Iran, Americans
5:19 Lindsay Graham? looked to the president for swift action. But he would spend the next year working to free the hostages, and if he failed, the American people would hold him to account. This is episode two of our three-part series on the Carter years: Crisis of Confidence. In early 1979, President Jimmy Carter was riding high from the success of the Camp David Accords, and he turned his attention to diplomacy in other regions of the world. He reopened diplomatic relations with China, aiming to increase trade, and he began working towards an arms treaty with the Soviet Union. The Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, or SALT II, would cap two years of work to limit
6:01 Lindsay Graham? nuclear weapons and would prove a significant foreign policy win for Carter's administration if it succeeded. But on the home front, Carter was in trouble. Beginning in the spring of 1979, Americans faced long lines at gas stations across the country, leading to mounting frustration. The top oil-producing countries had doubled the cost of crude, leading to soaring gas prices and double-digit inflation, all of which coincided with a rise in unemployment.
6:29 Lindsay Graham? So by late April 1979, Carter's advisers warned him that America's mood was souring, and he was in danger of becoming a one-term president. Proof came from his trusted pollster, Patrick Cadell, who reported that Carter's approval rating had sunk to a dismal 25 percent. Cadell was just 29 years old and had been working for Carter since the 1976 election, and some in Carter's circle called him a prodigy and a genius, but he also earned a reputation for being quick-tempered and hard to work with, with one aide calling him "the Darth Vader of politics." Still, he had become close with First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Cadell explained to Rosalynn his view that a crisis of confidence was affecting the country. Cadell argued that Carter was losing touch with the nation, trying to solve too many
7:14 Lindsay Graham? problems abroad but not focusing enough on people's dissatisfaction with the economy. Rosalynn encouraged Cadell to write to her husband, so he drafted a 100-page memorandum, urging Carter to give a speech that directly addressed America's unrest over the gas shortage. Cadell hoped an impassioned address to the nation would inspire people and hopefully turn Carter's presidency around. But first, Carter wanted to better understand the reasons for his abysmal approval ratings. So in early July, Carter called a special summit with national leaders at Camp David. He spent 10 days listening as hundreds of political, civic, religious, and business leaders shared their views about the troubled country and what they saw as Carter's lack of leadership.
7:59 Lindsay Graham? His communications director Gerald Raftshun summed up the mood in blunt terms "You were elected to kick ass, and you haven't." Carter took these criticisms seriously and began working with his team to draft what would become the most significant speech of his presidency. On July 15, 1979, Carter delivered this 33-minute speech on television, viewed by 65 million people. Borrowing Cadell's phrase, he told the nation it was suffering from a crisis of confidence, but he vowed "to conquer the crisis of the spirit in our country," which he believed could be achieved in part by asking Americans to sacrifice and consume less. The speech was a risky public relations move. While it acknowledged the nation's suffering in recent years,
8:42 Lindsay Graham? it also seemed to place the responsibility for change back on the American people. Carter seemed to scold the American public, saying "Too many of us now worship self-indulgence and consumption", and ended with a call for a rebirth of the American spirit. Though he didn't use the word, the address to the nation would soon become known as Carter's "Malaise Speech", as it pointed to what he saw as the root cause of America's angst. But despite its heavy tone, initial reactions to the speech were positive. Carter's approval ratings climbed 11 points, though they started so low, they still only reached the high 30s. But then, just two days later, Carter shocked everyone when he arrived unannounced at a senior staff meeting and asked his entire cabinet to resign.
9:26 Lindsay Graham? He appeared to be acting in response to the advice of some of his aides, who felt that a cabinet shakeup would be a sign of vigorous leadership. Even Rosalynn had suggested that it was time for her husband to fire people who are disloyal or no good. So as a result of this demand, Carter accepted the resignations of five high-level cabinet members. When Vice President Walter Mondale learned about this purge, he was furious and began to seriously question his boss's leadership.
9:56 Lindsay Graham? Imagine it's a sweltering, hot evening in July 1979. You're President Carter's domestic affairs adviser, and you're grateful to be sitting in an air-conditioned Chinese restaurant near Capitol Hill, waiting for Vice President Walter Mondale to arrive. Mondale has been in Nashville, Tennessee, meeting with newspaper editors to stir up support for Carter's arms treaty with the Soviets. But after hearing about the recent cabinet fiasco, Mondale cut his trip short and rushed back to Washington. He asks you to meet him here at his favorite restaurant, because it's quiet and rarely crowded. After a few bites of the food, you understand why. As you put down your chopsticks, the Vice President rushes in and drops into the booth beside you. He seems agitated and despondent. What the heck is going on?
10:40 Lindsay Graham? Why would the President decide this was the time to ask his entire cabinet to resign? Why wasn't I consulted? I feel totally blindsided here. Mr. Mondale, honestly, we were all surprised by this. It was one of the strangest meetings I've ever been in. The President was so angry, he accused some of his cabinet of being disloyal. Well, it looks like a mass execution, total pandemonium. Was this Pat Caddell's idea? He's been poisoning that man, he and Rosalynn both. I really couldn't say. It certainly was a rash decision, though. He just undid any gains he may have gotten from that speech. Now the ship seems rudderless. And if he thinks he's gonna have the backing of the Democratic leadership, he's dreaming. We just opened the door for Ted Kennedy to run against us next year. I'm not sure I can stick around and go down with this ship. What do you mean?
11:25 Lindsay Graham? You can't just quit. Oh, I can't? I've told him time and again to focus more on the economy, that he's spending too much time on foreign affairs. It's clear he's not listening to me. I've talked my wife about it, and she agrees. If I stick with him, my entire political future is in jeopardy. But that would be a disaster. I mean, I get what you're feeling. I don't understand what he's thinking either. He seems erratic. But he needs you. You can't throw in the towel now. It'll bring down the whole administration. Oh, it's already fallen apart. He picked me as a running mate to be a liaison with the Democratic Party, but they don't trust him anymore. They've even become hostile to him. With this latest fiasco, well, so have I.
12:06 Lindsay Graham? The Vice President shakes his head in disgust and gets up to leave. You're hoping he doesn't follow through on his threat to resign. That would undermine everything he and the President have worked for and destroy any chance for a second term.
12:22 Lindsay Graham? Throughout the summer of 1979, the news kept getting worse for Jimmy Carter. In the wake of the Cabinet resignations, Vice President Walter Mondale complained that "the message the American people got was that we were falling apart." He seriously considered resigning. But after Ted Kennedy hinted he might run against Carter for the Democratic nomination in 1980, Mondale grudgingly changed his mind, deciding his role now was to prevent the Democratic Party from falling apart during an election year. At the same time, though, the economy continued to decline. Inflation hovered between 13% and 15%, and interest rates rose into the double digits. Fan mail to the White House slowed to a trickle, and Carter's poll numbers cratered.
13:05 Lindsay Graham? So in an effort to get inflation under control in August 1979, Carter decided to shake things up even more by appointing a new Chair of the Federal Reserve. He hoped that Paul Volcker, a rumpled Wall Street veteran who had served in Nixon's Treasury Department, might be able to finally solve the country's prolonged economic problems. Advisors warned Carter, though, that Volcker might take actions that could hurt the economy in the short term, which could jeopardize his chances for reelection, but Carter was willing to take the gamble. And sure enough, shortly after being confirmed, Volcker raised the federal funds rate, an aggressive move to curb inflation. Then he raised the rate two more times. This caused interest rates to soar further to 19%.
13:48 Lindsay Graham? Volcker's aggressive approach threatened to tip the economy into a full-blown recession, and the American public responded by turning against Carter. Early polls showed him trailing Ted Kennedy by a 2 to 1 margin, and then things got even worse.
14:06 Lindsay Graham? During the summer of 1979, reports of turmoil in Iran were becoming harder to ignore in American newspapers. For months, a revolution in the country was escalating. The deposed leader of Iran, Mohammad Reza Polabi, had long been an important US ally in the region. Two years earlier, Carter had visited Tehran and made a televised toast to Shah Polabi, praising his leadership, saying he had created "an island of stability in one of the more troubled areas of the world." But for many Iranians, the Shah's brutal crackdowns on dissent made him a reviled figure, and they resented America's backing of the Shah's rule. But by January of 1979,
14:46 Lindsay Graham? the Shah was battling cancer, and as a result, had become a distracted and ineffective leader. He fled the country and was soon replaced by fiery cleric Ayatollah Khomeini, who had been living in exile. Then in October of 1979, Carter granted the deposed Shah asylum in the US and allowed him to come to New York for cancer treatment. Reformists in Iran, led by Khomeini, were outraged. Protesters filled the streets of Tehran, many chanting anti-American slogans and demanding the Shah's return. Fearing that the Shah would be executed if he was sent home, Carter refused. And then, on November 2nd, 1979, the Ayatollah stirred things further, stating, "It is incumbent upon students to expand their attack on America and Israel."
15:31 Lindsay Graham? Two days later, on a drizzly Sunday morning, hundreds of Iranian students and protesters marched from Tehran University to the US Embassy. This crowd easily breached the embassy's front gates and stormed inside. Protesters routed up 66 Americans, blindfolded them, and took them captive. President Carter was at Camp David with his family when he received the early morning call with the news. At first, his aides reassured him that the crisis would be over in a few hours, but it soon became clear that these American hostages would not be released quickly, and in fact, their lives were in grave danger.
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17:05 Lindsay Graham? On November 4th, 1979, just hours after the news broke that Americans had been taken hostage in Iran, President Jimmy Carter's inner circle had to turn their attention to another political concern. That evening, the national program 60 Minutes aired an interview with Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, Carter's most formidable challenger for the Democratic Party's nomination. Carter's team knew that the president was in a vulnerable position with low poll numbers and a struggling economy, and Kennedy had been generating excitement. They worried that the senator from the popular political family dynasty could be a serious threat. But in his interview on 60 Minutes, Kennedy came across as bumbling and unfocused. When he was asked why he wanted to become president, Kennedy paused and delivered a
17:49 Lindsay Graham? rambling and lengthy response that failed to make the case for his candidacy. After Kennedy's poor performance, Carter breathed a sigh of relief. He now believed that he'd have no problem beating Kennedy for the Democratic nomination, and a month later, he formally announced his decision to run for reelection. But Carter was still faced with the hostage crisis in Iran. Iran was an important player in the Middle East, the world's second-largest oil exporter, and strategically located between the Soviet Union and the Persian Gulf. With an energy crisis at home, Carter knew he had to tread carefully. Nevertheless, in the weeks after the takeover of the American Embassy, Carter initially struck a defiant tone, refusing Iran's request to exchange the hostages for the Shah, Iran's deposed leader.
18:34 Lindsay Graham? Then he went further: America stopped buying oil from Iran, Carter deported Iranians who had been demonstrating in America, and he froze more than $1 billion in Iranian assets held in US banks. Americans initially responded well to Carter's tough stance against Iran's demands. His approval rating more than doubled, from 30% to over 60%. But the crisis dragged on without resolution. Behind closed doors, Carter began exploring military options, like placing mines in Iranian harbors or bombing an Iranian refinery. Even Rosalynn grew impatient and encouraged her husband to "do something, do something." But Carter still hesitated, worried that the revolution's leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, might respond by executing the hostages.
19:17 Lindsay Graham? And it didn't help Carter's image when ABC News launched a nightly broadcast devoted exclusively to the hostage crisis. Ted Koppel hosted the show, which was initially called "America Held Hostage," but later renamed Nightline. Night after night, it broadcast images of angry mobs of Iranians shouting anti-American slogans and burning US flags. To many Americans, it seemed that the world was in chaos. And making matters worse, on Christmas Day, 1979, the Soviet Union launched a surprise invasion of civil war-torn Afghanistan, hoping to prevent Afghanistan from being taken over by Islamic fundamentalists and at the same time, from aligning with the United States.
20:00 Lindsay Graham? For Carter, this invasion ended any hope of ratifying the Strategic Armed Limitation Treaty, which Carter believed would make important strides in limiting the threat of nuclear war and was still awaiting Senate approval. He confided to Rosalind, "There goes salt too." Rosalind later recalled she'd never seen her husband as upset as he was in the final days of 1979, after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Initially unsure how to respond, Carter decided to impose an embargo on grain exports to the Soviet Union, even though aides warned it could hurt American farmers in the Midwest. But to his relief, US farmers supported the embargo, and that gave Carter enough of a boost to beat Ted Kennedy in the Iowa caucuses held in January of the New Year.
20:43 Lindsay Graham? But heading into 1980, the US economic situation continued to deteriorate, with inflation still high and unemployment at 7%. On January 23rd, 1980, Carter gave his fourth State of the Union address. He focused on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which he called "the most serious threat to world peace since World War II." Carter issued a warning to the Soviets, telling them to pull out within a month or face the consequences, one of which was a proposed boycott of the Summer Olympic Games scheduled to be held in Moscow that June. Congress backed this boycott idea, and most voters seemed to favor it. But the International Olympic Committee did not, and neither did angry American athletes who fell caught in a game of global politics.
21:31 Lindsay Graham? Imagine it's March 21st, 1980. You're a member of the US Olympic volleyball team, and today you're joining more than 100 other American athletes in the East Room of the White House. President Jimmy Carter has just left the room after pledging to go ahead with the boycott of the Summer Games in Moscow. That's left you devastated and angry. You turn to an athlete beside you. She looks as upset as you feel. You can see tears welling in her eyes. You put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you OK? I didn't think he'd seriously go through with it. I thought he was bluffing." "Yeah, so did I. I kept thinking he'd change his mind, or the Soviets would agree to pull out, or maybe they'd move the Games to a new location." "Me too. I was sure the President, or Congress, or someone would find a way to save the Summer Games."
22:16 Lindsay Graham? "Your training, just gone." "It's not just the training. I've been dreaming about the Olympics since I was a kid." "Yeah, so what are we supposed to do? Just give it all up?" "I don't know. My coach has been telling me to look ahead to the 84 Games in LA. But I still need to finish college. I can't afford to train for four more years. This was my shot." "I'm afraid this was mine, too."
22:39 Lindsay Graham? You liked Jimmy Carter. You voted for him. And part of you understands Carter's argument. He has to stand up to the Soviets the way the world should have stood up to Hitler before the 1936 Games in Berlin. But you're so mad at Carter now, you can't imagine ever forgiving him for letting down the country and dashing your Olympic dreams.
23:01 Lindsay Graham? In early 1980, Jimmy Carter stood by his decision not to send US teams to the Olympics in Moscow while Soviet troops remained in Afghanistan. He was determined to deny the Soviets a public relations victory in hosting the Games, believing that to do so might help the world forget that the Soviets had sent 85,000 troops to invade another country. And at first, many Americans supported the boycott, nearly two out of three, according to one Gallup poll. But Carter's hard-line stance kicked off weeks of messy debate, public posturing, and legal battles. Caught in the middle were the more than 450 Olympic athletes who would be unable to compete. Carter tried to salvage the Games by lobbying the International Olympic Committee to move them to an alternate site,
23:44 Lindsay Graham? such as Greece, or postpone or cancel them. But these efforts failed. In the end, Carter was left trying to minimize the political impact by winning over athletes with a series of high-profile White House gatherings. In one such meeting, he told a group of athletes, "I understand how you feel, and I thought about it a lot as we approached this moment, knowing what the Olympics mean to you, to know that you would be disappointed." He concluded that, "It's not a pleasant time for me." But the athletes weren't consoled. They felt betrayed, and it didn't help when Carter threatened to revoke the passports of any athletes who tried to compete for another country or under a neutral banner. In his diary, Carter wrote that the Olympics boycott would be "the most severe blow to
24:25 Lindsay Graham? the Soviets," but he also rightly predicted, "It would cause me the most trouble." Carter would later call it "one of my most difficult decisions." But in addition to the Olympic boycott, Carter imposed other economic sanctions on the Soviets. He also secretly approved a CIA program, Operation Cyclone, to arm the Mujahideen, a group of Islamist guerrillas fighting against the Soviets in Afghanistan, who he considered "freedom fighters." But by late March, the Soviets were still refusing to pull out of Afghanistan. Eighty mostly smaller countries decided to participate in the Games, but 65 other nations joined the United States in their Olympic boycott. In the meantime, Carter had been winning Democratic primaries and was poised to easily win his party's nomination.
25:10 Lindsay Graham? So he tried to stay focused on his reelection campaign, but another unresolved problem was keeping him up at night. Americans were still being held hostage in Iran, and although Iran had agreed to release 13 hostages a few weeks after their capture, more than 50 still remained in captivity. Carter was desperate to see them released, later saying, "No matter what else happened, it was always there, painful, because I was failing to accomplish what seemed to be a simple task." So President Carter decided to finally listen to his wife Rosalynn and other advisers, and take bold action to bring the hostages home.
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27:51 Lindsay Graham? In the spring of 1980, as the Iran hostage crisis neared its fourth month, Americans began tying yellow ribbons around trees, a gesture to symbolize that the hostages had not been forgotten. On the campaign trail, Jimmy Carter was often asked by voters and reporters when he would bring the hostages home. It was becoming obvious to everyone that his failure to do so was becoming the dominant theme of his administration and his reelection campaign. But negotiations with authorities in Iran and other attempted backdoor deals kept falling apart, sometimes at the last minute. Brief flickers of hope were quickly followed by frustration. Carter complained at one point, “Our patience is beginning to look like cowardice.”
28:32 Lindsay Graham? Senator Ted Kennedy seized the opportunity and began criticizing Carter’s handling of the ongoing crisis and Carter’s relationship with the deposed Shah, who was at the time in a military hospital in San Antonio, Texas. Kennedy claimed the Shah had stolen billions from his own country and that Carter should never have let Iran’s former leader into the United States. But Kennedy’s comments backfired when George H.W. Bush, the former CIA director who was running for the Republican nomination, warned that his criticisms would put the hostages’ lives at risk. So despite the attention that Kennedy’s comments attracted, by that point, Carter’s election team was more focused on the threat posed by his probable Republican opponent,
29:13 Lindsay Graham? Ronald Reagan, the popular Hollywood actor and former governor of California. However, early polls showed Carter ahead of both Reagan and Kennedy, which convinced Carter it was safe to cut back on campaigning, to stay in Washington. He was absorbed by the lingering hostage crisis and the Soviets’ ongoing occupation of Afghanistan, which had now stretched into its sixth month. That conflict had escalated as civilians fought back and Soviet soldiers killed protesters in major cities. As one aide put it, “There seems to be two White Houses, one that is taking care of business as usual, and one which is working on Iran and Afghanistan.” For Carter, it felt like one crisis after another. Rosalynn agreed, saying, "They never stop coming, big ones and small ones, potential disasters
29:58 Lindsay Graham? and mere annoyances." But some of the disasters were self-inflicted. In early March, Carter announced a new round of anti-inflation budget cuts, some of which would affect social programs in New York. Rosalynn was furious that he'd made this announcement just before the New York primaries. So he lost to Kennedy in New York by 18 points, and Kennedy went on to win Pennsylvania, too, giving new life to Kennedy's campaign. It was a surprising blow to Carter's seemingly insurmountable lead. And in early April, polls showed for the first time that the public had begun to disapprove of Carter's handling of the hostage crisis. Pressure was mounting to take more decisive action. So on April 7, 1980, Carter announced new economic sanctions against Iran.
30:43 Lindsay Graham? He also expelled Iranian diplomats and called on US allies in Europe to support his efforts to pressure Iran into releasing the hostages. But behind the scenes, he was considering an even more aggressive plan. One night, as he and Rosalynn were sitting on the Truman balcony on the second floor of the White House, he confided in her that a rescue mission had been proposed, and he was leaning toward approving it. He called it "the hardest decision I've made in my life." Rosalynn encouraged him to take a chance on the mission, so days later, Carter met with military leaders to finalize plans for a risky rescue operation dubbed "Operation Eagle Claw." Carter knew that if the mission was not successful, it could bring his presidency to its knees.
31:29 Lindsay Graham? Imagine it's April 16, 1980. You're the commander of the US Army's elite Delta Force unit, and you're sitting in the White House Situation Room, waiting to meet with the President. As Carter enters, everyone in the room rises. You salute the President, who's dressed in jeans and a sweater, and looks more like Mr. Rogers than Commander in Chief. Carter motions for everyone to sit and nods for you to begin your briefing on Operation Eagle Claw. Mr. President, I'd like to walk you through the mission details. Please do. Well, sir, the mission starts with eight helicopters landing at a site we call Desert One, fifty miles outside Tehran. Our men will wait till dark, then travel into the city by truck. They'll scale the east wall of the embassy and blow a hole in it so we can extract the hostages.
32:14 Lindsay Graham? How many casualties do you anticipate? Honestly, we don't know. We'll do our very best to keep everyone safe, but there's always the possibility that some of our Delta Force could be wounded or hostages. We just can't know for sure. And the Iranians? My men are trained to fire on anyone carrying a weapon, and we will shoot to kill, sir. You see several people's eyes widen with concern, but the president just nods his head. Well, I understand. Whatever it takes to get the hostages home. What do you need from us, Colonel? We only need one thing, sir: information. We still have very little intelligence. We don't even know where all the hostages are being held. Some may have been moved from the embassy. You see the president grimace at this, so you quickly shift the focus back to the potential success of the mission.
32:58 Lindsay Graham? But when we do reach the folks being held hostage, I want to make it clear that we're the good guys, so I'd like your permission to use your name to tell them the President of the United States has sent us. Carter shakes his head and gives a soft laugh. I'm not sure that'll help. Many of them are sure to be upset with me, but sure, go ahead. Our plan is to evacuate them to a nearby soccer stadium, and once we get them safely there, we'll count heads and make sure we have everyone. The president still looks nervous. You know he wouldn't be authorizing this mission if he felt like he had any other choice. Okay, well, get over there and bring our people home. But, but one more thing. If there are casualties on our side, bring back the bodies, will you?
33:43 Lindsay Graham? It's clear that the president is torn by authorizing this rescue mission. Honestly, you didn't think he'd have the guts to do it, but he has, and he's shown extraordinary concern for the fate of the hostages. You know this mission is a risky one for the hostages, for your men, and for the president.
34:03 Lindsay Graham? In mid-April of 1980, Carter approved Operation Eagle Claw, a complicated rescue mission involving more than 100 personnel from the US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and the CIA. The mission would be led by Delta Force, the Army's elite special operations unit, created less than three years earlier by Army Colonel Charles Beckwith. Ever since November 4, 1979, when student protesters had overrun the US Embassy in Tehran, most of the hostages had been held inside the embassy, while three others were held in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building. US officials had warned Carter that the trickiest part of the operation would be getting into Tehran undetected, and then locating all the hostages. The risky operation called for an assault force of 118 troops,
34:47 Lindsay Graham? delivered by Air Force planes from the neighboring country of Oman to a remote site in the Iranian desert. From there, the troops would rendezvous with eight transport helicopters launched off the USS Nimitz in the Gulf of Oman. These helicopters would deliver the assault force to a hilly location just outside the city of Tehran. The next night, the troops would drive by truck into Tehran, liberate the hostages, and lead them to a nearby soccer stadium where they'd be rescued by helicopters. Most of Carter's team felt confident in the mission's prospects. The lone holdout was his Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. On April 21, 1980, three days before the planned mission, he submitted his resignation in protest. Carter accepted it,
35:30 Lindsay Graham? but insisted that the announcement be made after the mission was over. Colonel Beckwith had long believed that this mission could be accomplished with six helicopters, but ordered eight to be assigned to the job to be safe. And on April 24, 1980, as the mission got underway, a series of mishaps compromised Beckwith's plans right from the start. One of the helicopters encountered hydraulic problems, another was caught in a sandstorm, and a third showed signs of a cracked rotor blade. With three of his eight helicopters out of commission, Beckwith reluctantly recommended the mission be canceled. Carter agreed to abort the mission, but just then, one of the helicopters crashed into a transport plane that contained servicemen and jet fuel. The resulting fire destroyed both aircraft
36:15 Lindsay Graham? and killed the eight servicemen aboard. Carter received word of this disaster at six o'clock that night. He was devastated and convinced it would cost him the election. At the time, Rosalynn had been campaigning in Texas, so Carter called and gave her a vague summary of what happened. He couldn't go into detail, but he said, "The news is bad." At seven the next morning, Carter addressed the nation and described the failed mission, saying, "It was my decision to attempt the rescue operation. It was my decision to cancel it. The responsibility is fully my own." Three days later, he met with Colonel Beckwith at a CIA camp in Virginia. The two men embraced and wept together. Beckwith said, "Mr. President, I am sorry we let you down."
37:00 Lindsay Graham? But Iran's leader Ayatollah Khomeini gloated, proclaiming the incursion had been stopped by an act of God, foiling the US mission in order to protect Iran and its new Islamist government. The hostages were still stranded, and now there seemed to be no hope of bringing them home anytime soon. Carter's entire presidency seemed doomed, and it wouldn't be the last crisis he faced during his final year in office.
37:26 Lindsay Graham? From Wondery, this is episode two of The Carter Years from American History Tellers. On the next episode, Jimmy Carter faces a punishing final year at the White House before embarking on an ambitious post-presidency that reshapes the role of American presidents in the world.
37:45 Lindsay Graham? American History Tellers is only possible because of listeners like you, so thank you. And don't miss an episode. Be sure to follow American History Tellers on Audible or wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. And to find out more about me, including my other podcasts, my live show, the history tours I'm arranging, and all sorts of other things, go to historyishuman.com. That's historyishuman.com.
38:20 Lindsay Graham? If you'd like to learn more about Jimmy Carter's presidency, we recommend "The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter by Kai Bird, his very best "Jimmy Carter: A Life" by Jonathan Alter, and Carter's 1995 memoir, "Keeping Faith." "American History Tellers" is hosted, edited, and produced by me, Lindsay Graham, for Airship. Audio editing by Christian Paraga, sound design by Molly Bach, supervising sound designer Matthew Filler, music by Lindsay Graham. This episode is written by Neil Thompson, edited by Dorian Marina, produced by Alita Rozansky, managing producer Desi Vlelock, senior managing producer Callum Pluse, senior producer Andy Herman, executive producers are Jenny Lauer Beckman, Marsha Louis, and Aaron O'Flaherty for "Wondering."
39:11 Speaker 09 There are books that change how you see the world, and there are books that change how you see yourself. In a new podcast series, "A Great Book with Barack Obama," President Obama sits down with a series of surprising and sharp guests to explore six books that have shaped his life and perspective on the world. From "Song of Solomon" and "The Fire Next Time", to "All the Pretty Horses" and "Gilead", the president is joined by guests like Tom Hanks and Ta-Nehisi Coates to reflect on how these timeless stories shaped his thinking on everything from fatherhood to leadership, and discover together what they tell us about the world we live in and the world we want to create. Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes
39:56 Speaker 09 of "A Great Book with Barack Obama" ad-free right now, plus access each audiobook discussed in the series. Download the Audible app today.
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