November 4, 1979: The Iran Hostage Crisis Begins

November 4, 1979, 40 years ago: The Iran Hostage Crisis begins. Islamic militants take over the U.S. Embassy in Iran, and take 80 hostages, a number that will drop to 52. At first, the nation rallies around President Jimmy Carter, as the nation tends to rally around the President when a crisis occurs.

It helps Carter that, on this same day, CBS Reports airs "Teddy," an hourlong program focusing on Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy of Massachusetts, who is rumored to be running for President. (He confirms the rumor by announcing his candidacy 3 days later.) Ted made the huge mistake of making what turned out to be his only run for President in the 1 election between 1972 and 1996 when the incumbent President was a fellow Democrat.

He hurts himself further by taking the simple question of host and interviewer Roger Mudd, "Why do you want to be President?" and, unlike his brothers Jack in 1960 and Bobby in 1968, coming up with an answer that is neither direct nor brief; indeed, it is stammering and rambling. He also seriously mishandles Mudd's question about the 1969 Chappaquiddick Incident that cast a shadow over his life and career from that moment onward. His campaign never really gets off the ground, and not winning the Primary in neighboring New Hampshire wrecked it.

By April 25, 1980, when the failed "Desert One" rescue attempt occurred, Carter had the Democratic nomination for a 2nd term sewed up, and people (including some Republicans crossing over) started voting for Kennedy as a protest vote, knowing he could no longer win the nomination, but the Primaries he might win could, and did, damage Carter.

As the Crisis dragged on and on, with ABC News starting its late-night broadcast Nightline, and that show and Walter Cronkite on The CBS Evening News both counting the days up and up and up -- Day 50, Day 100, Day 200, Day 365, and so on -- and as the economy continued to struggle as it had begun to do in 1979, people got more and more fed up with Carter. The 1980 election was held exactly one year to the date after the Crisis began, and Carter lost very badly to Ronald Reagan.

As the great politically-themed comedian Mort Sahl put it: "Reagan won because he ran against Jimmy Carter. Had he run unopposed, he would have lost."