✦Your Birthday. Our History. Everybody's Story.✦Hosted by Addae Olamina✦A new conversation every calendar day✦Fact-checked through the Library of Congress✦Same date. Different stories.✦The past, freshly told.✦Your Birthday. Our History. Everybody's Story.✦Hosted by Addae Olamina✦A new conversation every calendar day✦Fact-checked through the Library of Congress✦Same date. Different stories.✦The past, freshly told.
IT Happened Today
Vault
Celestial ephemeris chart over deep navy
Back to all episodes
1979: Iran Hostage Crisis Begins
November 4, 1979Labor & War

1979: Iran Hostage Crisis Begins

444 days. One embassy. A crisis that changed American foreign policy forever.

Featured birthday guest

David K. Miller

From Washington, D.C.

"I was born on November 4, 1979. My father was watching the news in the hospital waiting room when the embassy was taken."

Birthday memory: My 40th birthday visiting the diplomatic museum in D.C.

Participating scholar

Ambassador Richard Cole

Former Diplomat & Middle East Specialist

Providing historical context, primary-document vetting, and intellectual substance during today's lively discussion.

Are you a historian? Apply to join an episode

Historical overview

On November 4, 1979, Iranian students seized the American Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 diplomats and citizens hostage. We explore the diplomatic maneuvers, Operation Eagle Claw, and how this crisis remade modern television journalism.

Wait… that happened today?

"Ted Koppel's iconic news broadcast 'Nightline' was created specifically to give daily updates on the hostage crisis!"

Questions explored in this episode

  • 1.What political pressures shaped President Jimmy Carter's rescue decisions?
  • 2.How did yellow ribbon campaigns unite American communities during 1979–1981?
  • 3.What lessons did future State Department protocols adopt after Tehran?

The big question

"How did Nightline and nightly news broadcasts change American public opinion during the crisis?"

Select an option to register your vote. · 1,752 listeners have weighed in.

Primary sources & archival references

State Department Foreign Relations Archive (1979)U.S. Department of State
Previous · 1908: William Howard Taft Elected PresidentNext · 1916: The Violent Everett Massacre