Twenty nine years ago today, April 25th, 1980, in the Iranian desert, a US military operation to rescue hostages taken in a raid of the US Embassy by Iranian students was aborted by President Carter and gave rise to the GOP and the conservative movement lead by Ronald Reagan.
Those of you born after this date please look into Operation Eagle Claw, its official operative name, more commonly referred to as the Iranian Hostage Rescue Attempt. I think its one of the most important events in US history, certainly post WW II. Had the attempt succeeded in rescuing the US hostages and returning them to safety in the US prior to the presidential election of that year, President Carter would have likely succeeded in his bid for reelection and Reagan and the conservative movement would have been put to bed, likely for a very long time.
Operation Eagle Claw, instead, failed miserably in the desert due to a number of unforeseen circumstances that befell the military forces called forth by Carter. Seen as inept, Carter fell under the GOP noise machine to an articulate actor and former governor from California.
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