CHAPTER FOURTEEN

OCTOBER SURPRISE

"October Surprise" is the name of a scheme that corrupted the 1980 presidential elections. It included payment of bribes to enemies of the United States who were holding 52 American hostages as prisoners, seized at the American Embassy in Teheran on November 4, 1979. Shiite Muslim militants attacked and seized the Embassy in Teheran, taking the Americans hostage. The attack upon the American Embassy occurred several months after the Shah of Iran was overthrown and power seized by the Ayatollah Khomeini. The American hostages were subjected to 444 days of brutal conditions, including mock executions. If this scheme had not been carried out, the Americans would have been released months earlier.

The intent of the scheme was to alter the presidential elections to bring about the defeat of President Jimmy Carter, and to elect presidential nominee Ronald Reagan. This was accomplished by blocking the release of the American hostages, causing many Americans to be displeased with President Carter, increasing the chances that Carter would be defeated at the polls.

Months of negotiations to affect the release of these hostages went on between the government of the United States, under President Jimmy Carter, and the government of Iran. Early in 1980 the U.S. tried a military mission called Operation Desert One to free the hostages, but it failed miserably in the Iranian desert, resulting in the deaths of eight Americans. While the U.S. military was preparing another rescue try, simultaneously negotiating to obtain the hostages' release, the Reagan-Bush team sabotaged the efforts by making public the hostage-rescue plans and warning the American people that Carter was preparing to exchange arms for hostages. One effect of these tactics that were part of October Surprise was the dispersal of the American prisoners throughout Iran, making rescue all but impossible.

LOSING THE ELECTION IF THE HOSTAGES WERE FREED
The American public was becoming increasingly disenchanted with...

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