A grim-faced President Jimmy Carter, seated at desk in Oval Office on April 25, 1980, following the aborted U.S. rescue effort to get the American hostages out of Iran. The infamous hostage crisis, which began on November 4, 1979, and lasted 444 days, was an open political wound for Carter, who went on to lose his reelection bid to Reagan. 3/And of course both the Carter and the Reagan teams were aware of this. Only when they sat down with the first Arab leader did Mr. Barnes learn what Mr. Connally was up to, he said. Mr. Connally said, “‘Look, Ronald Reagan’s going to be elected president and you need to get the word to Iran that they’re going to make a better deal with Reagan than they are Carter,’” Mr. Barnes recalled.

Source: New York Times March 19, 2023 15:51 UTC