The World This Week – April 27, 1980 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
The hostage rescue. The attempt looked good on paper, even if it did seem like a long shot. Rescuing the 52 American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was a priority. Negotiations were at an impasse and it was looking more like something desperate needed to happen. So a raid was planned.
Facing elections and with little to show from negotiations, the Carter government ordered the State Department to sever diplomatic relations with Iran on 7 April 1980. Cyrus Vance, the United States Secretary of State, had argued against a push by National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski for a military solution to the crisis. Vance left Washington on Thursday 10 April for a long weekend vacation in Florida. On Friday 11 April, Brzezinski held a newly scheduled meeting of the National Security Council where he insisted that it was time to “lance the boil”, and Carter said it was “time for us to bring our hostages home”. It was during this Security Council meeting of 11 April, that Carter confirmed that he had authorized the mission. He did however continue to entertain the planning for a concurrent punitive air-strike, but this was finally rejected on 23 April, one day prior to the commencement of the mission. The rescue mission was code named Operation Eagle Claw.
The operation encountered many obstacles and failures and was subsequently aborted. Eight helicopters were sent to the first staging area called Desert One, but only five arrived in operational condition. One had encountered hydraulic problems, another was caught in a sand storm, and the third showed signs of a cracked rotor blade. During the operational planning, it was decided that the mission would be aborted if fewer than six helicopters remained operational upon arrival at the Desert One site, despite only four being absolutely necessary. In a move that is still discussed in military circles, the field commanders advised President Carter to abort the mission, which he did.
As the U.S. forces prepared to withdraw from Desert One, one of the remaining helicopters crashed into a transport aircraft that contained both servicemen and jet fuel. The resulting fire destroyed both aircraft and killed eight servicemen.
The failed mission was a huge embarrassment to the Carter administration and Secretary of State Vance promptly resigned. Some say he was planning it ahead of the mission, but others felt it was a direct result of the disaster which unfolded in the Iranian desert.
There was much other news to be reported for this week in 1980, but the Hostage Rescue attempt would command the headlines for days, if not weeks later. Here is The World This Week from CBS Radio for April 27, 1980.
