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U.S. History 1877-Present 12.10: Peanut Farmer for President 22 Views
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Description:
Aliens v Predator. Batman v Superman. Jimmy Carter v Iran. We saved the best one for last.
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.
Full Transcript
- 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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