![]() Though Carter understood it was a politically volatile decision, he permitted the shah to come, based on a long alliance and "humanitarian principle." American diplomats in Iran met with the prime minister of the Ayatollah’s government to test reaction to the president’s decision. However, with the help of a CIA-supported coup, the monarch’s power was restored.5 Now Carter understood that if he allowed the deposed shah to come to the United States., Khomeini’s government would interpret the move as another example of the West’s arrogant interference in Iran’s affairs. Many Iranians remembered a time in 1953 when the prime minister of Iran had challenged the authority of the shah, who in turn, fled the country. Up until this crisis, few Americans seemed aware of the deep resentments that many Iranian people continued to harbor toward the United States, a country they considered a symbol of Western intrusion into their society.4 Part of the problem stemmed from the desire of the shah, in October 1979, to come to New York City for cancer treatment. Gary Sick, who was on the National Security staff, recalled a meeting in which Vice President Walter Mondale asked the Central Intelligence Agency director Stansfield Turner, "What the hell is an ‘Ayatollah’ anyway." Turner said he wasn’t sure he knew.3 In the beginning, the Carter administration made some effort to establish a relationship with the new government, but by late 1979 it seemed futile. government about the political implications of this fundamentalist regime. There was little informed understanding in the U.S. In January 1979, the shah fled into exile, and the theocratic regime of Khomeini took power. The stability of the country, though, was being threatened by a religious fanatic, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who did not like the shah’s efforts to modernize and Westernize a fiercely religious, fundamentalist society. By 1979, however, when Carter had been in office three years, the shah was in trouble, reaping the harvest of years of brutal and unpopular policies, including the use of secret police that controlled dissent with arbitrary arrests and torture.2 It was clear that the shah had lost the support of his people, but the president hoped a coalition of the moderate opponents might be formed. The United States had an enormous stake in keeping it stable and independent. Iran was important because it provided oil to the industrial West and separated the Soviet Union from the Persian Gulf and the oil states. For that long, the United States had provided political support and, more recently, massive military assistance to the government of the shah of Iran. The beginnings of this crisis preceded Jimmy Carter’s term by almost thirty years. ![]() He was close, very close, and as he said, "At stake were the lives of 52 precious human beings who had been imprisoned in Iran for 444 days–and almost 12 billion dollars of Iranian assets." 1 As the clock ticked the time away, Carter tried to resolve a crisis that had almost destroyed his presidency. In just hours this president would leave it for good, and a new leader, Ronald Reagan, would move in. In the face of this hatred, we must come together and stand in solidarity with the Jewish community in Texas and across the country.Jimmy Carter would say later, "No matter who was with me, we watched the big grandfather clock by the door." Time was running out, for it was Tuesday, January 20, 1981. These attacks must be forcefully condemned as the targeted acts of hatred and violence that they are. ![]() “Yesterday’s hostage situation is an unfortunate reminder of the antisemitism that persists in the United States and around the world, and the risk of attack that synagogues face. ![]() I would also like to thank the incredible state, local, and federal law enforcement agents – including the FBI negotiators – who resolved the situation and likely saved the lives of the individuals taken hostage yesterday. I extend my thoughts and support to the individuals who had to endure that traumatic experience in their place of worship. ![]() “Nearly 12 hours after a gunman entered Congregation Beth Israel and took four people hostage during their morning service, the hostages were safely rescued and returned to their families. SEATTLE, WA – Representative Adam Smith (D-Wash.) today issued the following statement in response to the hostage situation that took place at a synagogue in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas on Saturday. ![]()
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