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U.S. History 1877-Present Videos 173 videos

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Description:

Aliens v Predator. Batman v Superman. Jimmy Carter v Iran. We saved the best one for last.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Conflicts in the Middle East weren't all great vibes for Jimmy Carter,

00:09

but they weren't all that bad either.

00:11

Kind of like the Spiderman musical from way back when.

00:13

Sure actors were injured, and, yeah, there were negative reviews,

00:16

but, hey, it was nominated for best costume design at the Tony's so that's something.

00:21

Similarly, the Middle East gave Carter some troubles, but he did...

00:24

manage to broker piece between Israel and Egypt...

00:26

with the famous Camp David Accords,

00:28

which was kinda like making cats and dogs agree to share a bowl of food.

00:32

Other than that though,

00:34

the Middle East was Carter's worst nightmare.

00:36

It all began with a coup d'etat.

00:38

Don't all good crises?

00:39

Well, the Shah of Iran, an American ally....

00:41

was overthrown by the followers of...

00:43

Ayatollah Khomeini.

00:44

The Ayatollah was a fundamentalist Shia Muslim leader...

00:48

who supported a return to the Islamic values that...

00:50

the Shah had ditched for Western ideals.

00:53

You know like chowing down on a...

00:55

capitalism deluxe burger and fries.

00:57

Long story short,

00:59

Khomeini was no bro to the U.S.

01:01

He remembered all too well the 1950s...

01:03

when the C.I.A supported the overthrow...

01:05

of Iran's democratically elected...

01:07

prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh,

01:09

"M 'n M" to his friends.

01:11

Yeah, Mossadegh was into democracy, freedom of religion, and human rights...

01:15

all things the U.S. is supposed to be down with.

01:17

But Mossadegh also wanted...

01:19

to nationalize Iranian oil,

01:21

which the U.S. and its allies like about...

01:23

as much as a kick in the face.

01:25

Well, this plan was especially unpopular with the British...

01:27

company, now called B.P.,

01:29

that controlled Iran's oil at the time.

01:31

Well, imagine Prince Charles...

01:33

making a face ten times more sour than the one he usually makes.

01:36

That's how the Brits felt about that.

01:38

Well the threat of rising oil prices was enough...

01:40

to push the C.I.A and British Intelligence...

01:43

to orchestrate a coup to toss him out of power...

01:46

and reinstate the undemocratic Shah.

01:48

So, basically, the U.S. was into making the world safe for democracy,

01:52

so long as it didn't make gas prices...

01:54

go up a lot.

01:55

Anyway, since 1953...

01:56

when the Shah returned to power,

01:58

Iran has been more or less westernizing

02:00

and was being friendly with its oil.

02:02

Khomeini set out to undo the Western...

02:04

leaning policies that had taken root in Iran...

02:06

during the Shah's rule.

02:08

That meant there weren't gonna be any more...

02:10

Iranian Big Macs.

02:11

Well the Shah was exiled from Iran,

02:13

but Carter welcomed him to the U.S....

02:15

to receive medical treatment for cancer.

02:17

All this went over about as well in Iran as if Carter had

02:21

decided to open a pork ribs joint in Tehran.

02:24

A mob stormed the American Embassy...

02:26

and took half as hostages.

02:28

Ayatollah Khomeini thought the mob's actions were just swell,

02:31

and he demanded that the U.S. return the exiles Shah

02:34

and his wealth in return for the 53 hostages.

02:37

The more than yearlong fiasco

02:39

that followed has become known as the Iran Hostage Crisis.

02:43

The militants in Iranan held daily, televised demonstrations

02:46

in front of the Embassy, burning the American Flag and President

02:49

Carter in effigy.

02:50

Well, Carter turned to the U.N., citing Iran's action...

02:53

as a violation of International Law.

02:56

Well, surprise, surprise,

02:57

Khomeini didn't respect the authority of the U.N.,

02:59

and ignored their request for a release of the hostages.

03:02

Carter then tried to wage an economic war with Iran

03:05

He froze all Iranian assets in America and tried to get

03:08

all of America's allies to join in an embargo of Iranian goods.

03:12

The thing is, Iranian supplied oil to much of the Western World,

03:15

so not all nations were willing to take a stand.

03:17

All other world leaders had to do

03:19

was take one look at Carter's approval ratings

03:21

to see what high gas prices could do.

03:23

With the American public clamoring for action,

03:25

Carter authorized a rescue mission in 1980,

03:28

but the raid was aborted when helicopters malfunctioned over the

03:31

dusty Iranian desert

03:33

and another helicopter collided with a

03:35

transport plane, killing eight Americans.

03:37

Nice job there.

03:38

After this, the American public became obsessed with

03:40

the crisis.

03:41

Nightly news coverage showed the protests outside the Embassy,

03:44

hurting Carter's image even further.

03:46

After over 400 days

03:48

as captives, the hostages were finally released

03:51

when Carter unfroze several billion dollars of Iranian assets

03:54

in the U.S. to serve as a ransom.

03:56

But there was no recovering for Carter.

03:58

When Reagan came a-knockin' in 1980,

04:00

the Peanut Farmer President

04:02

lost by a landslide.

04:04

A liberal democrat was tossed out of the White House,

04:06

peanuts and all.

04:07

The conservative 80s had arrived.

04:09

Some think the decade was great.

04:10

Some say it was awful.

04:11

But one thing everyone can agree on...

04:13

the haircuts got worse.

04:15

Yup, way, way worse.

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