All language subtitles for Fiasco S01E01 Setting the Stage 1080p AMZN WEB-DL DDP5 1 H 264-FLUX (1)_track4_[eng]

[soft dramatic music]

[Leon Neyfakh]
What comes to mind

when you hear
the words Iran-Contra?

[judge] The hearing
will please come to order.

You may remember
a charismatic marine.

[camera shutters clicking]

As you all know by now,
my name is Oliver North,

lieutenant colonel,
United States Marine Corps.

Or an outcry about missiles
being sold to Iran.

[explosion]

Is it possible

that fired White House
official Oliver North

could have diverted profits
from Iran arms sales

to the Contras on his own?

Maybe you recall
the funding of a covert war

in Central America.

[all grunting]

It's a messy story

that spanned
multiple continents,

and it all started
in an office like this one.

It was this tapestry
of intrigue.

Every day
there was a surprise.

It was so outlandish.

The first I heard about it,
I really couldn't believe it.

♪

Perhaps because
of its complexity,

Iran-Contra, unlike
other presidential scandals,

barely left a mark
on our collective memory.

Watergate
was really easy-peasy

compared to this.

You didn't have to go to Iran.

You didn't have to go
to Central America.

The Sultan of Brunei
wasn't involved.

♪

It was far more sophisticated,
complex,

and frankly scarier--
far scarier than Watergate.

Why was it conducted
with such secrecy,

and why were we all
kept in the dark

for such a long period
of time?

♪

This was not low stakes.

This was high stakes
on the world stage.

I think,
if you break down

the whole scandal
piece by piece,

a single clarifying theme
comes into focus.

We did not--repeat--did not

trade weapons or anything else
for hostages.

Iran-Contra
is a story about hostages--

those who take them,
those who rescue them,

and those who become
hostages themselves.

Any kind of hostage situation
creates a huge dilemma.

It is a power game,
and the hostage taker

largely controls
the situation,

but it's also a challenge
you can't walk away from.

You better make damn sure

that you have looked
at every consequence,

looked at
every possible nuance...

♪

Because once you give in
to a ransom,

there is no stop.

♪

I'm Leon Neyfakh.

This is "Fiasco,"

the story of Iran-Contra.

[rooster crows]

While Iran-Contra is known
as Ronald Reagan's scandal,

the stage was set
years earlier

by a different president.

[upbeat music]

♪

It's a long way
from Plains, Georgia,

to Washington D.C.

The strength of a person
can be measured

by the path he takes
to travel there.

For Jimmy Carter,
that road was one of hard work

and determination.

This was the 1976
presidential campaign.

[light guitar music]

I heard he was
a peanut farmer.

♪

Jimmy Carter
entered the race

as a Washington outsider

seeking an end
to the Nixonian era

in American politics.

Hey, I'll go to your church
next Sunday, okay?

[laughter]

He was a man of faith.

He wanted to advance
a human rights agenda

across the world.

He is a genuine
moral beacon

capable of making people
believe in something.

He was the real thing.

♪

I just think
he's a very neat man.

You got me, all right.

I picture him
like one of us--

one of the working people,
one of the common people.

♪

[cheers and applause]

Jimmy Carter comes in

promising to bring America
back to its best self.

His number one campaign promise
in 1976

was "I will not lie to you."

[cheers and applause]

[all chanting]
We want Jimmy!

We want Jimmy!
We want Jimmy!

We want Jimmy!

There's a new mood
in America.

We've been shaken
by a tragic war abroad

and by scandals
and broken promises at home.

Our people are searching
for new voices

and new ideas and new leaders.

[soft dramatic music]

It was after our defeat
in the Vietnam War.

It was after
the Watergate scandal.

Jimmy Carter was elected
as a man who was supposed

to be the antithesis
of all those things.

It's now a time for healing.

We wanna have faith again.

We want to be proud again.

We just want the truth again.

It's time for the people
to run the government

and not the other way around!

[cheers and applause]

He set out to change things,

and he was a social engineer,

and one of the things
that he wanted to do

was create peace.

♪

[upbeat music]

♪

[announcer] Election night

from CBS News
Election Headquarters

in New York.

Shortly before dawn,
Jimmy Carter reached

the end of his improbable
two-year, half-million-mile

political quest
and won the presidency.

[cheers and applause]

[soft dramatic music]

Remains to be seen
whether his politics

of love and trust
and sweeping promises

could capture a country
which has had reason

to become mistrustful
of politicians.

♪

[cheers and applause]

♪

[Neyfakh] Not long into
Carter's term, it became clear

that he couldn't
just turn everything around

like his campaign ads
had promised.

♪

The country
was being battered.

There is growing concern
about the general health

of the American economy.

There were some
really big problems,

and none of them
had simple solutions.

It's a profound change
that the American economy

is undergoing,
a change with a name--

deindustrialization.

♪

1979 in particular,

average incomes
begin to decline,

manufacturing jobs
in the United States

begin to really
start tailing off,

and people would say things
like, you know,

"Well, my father certainly
didn't have to put up

with this kind of crap."

And, you know,
"My steel factory just closed,

and now here I am
standing in line for gas."

♪

The oil shortage of 1979

forced Americans
to wake up before dawn

just to fill up their tanks.

[car horns blaring]

I'm all out.
Not a drop.

How about five dollars?
That's it.

[Robert MacNeil] Anger
and bewilderment are growing

as more and more Americans
cope with gasoline lines

and empty pumps.

I have to be at work at 8:00.

♪

For millions of Americans,

this may be the worst weekend
they've ever faced

for finding gasoline
to give them

the automobile freedom
they take as their due.

I'm in a line
two hours here,

and I can't get gas.

This is baloney.

♪

Carter doesn't get my vote
next year.

♪

In July of 1979,
Carter did something

politicians hardly ever do.

He admitted to the voters
that good times

were not around the corner,
and that the order of the day

wasn't hope,
but self-sacrifice.

It's clear
that the true problems

of our nation are much deeper

than gasoline lines
or energy shortages,

deeper even
than inflation or recession.

♪

It is a crisis of confidence.

♪

We can see this crisis
in the growing doubt

about the meaning
of our own lives

and in the loss
of a unity of purpose

for our nation.

♪

The erosion of our confidence
in the future

is threatening to destroy

the social
and the political fabric

of America.

His advice
to the American people

in his famous
"Crisis of Confidence" speech

was that we have
to make do with less.

We've lived too well,
and now we're paying the bill.

This is not a message
of happiness or reassurance,

but it is the truth,

and it is a warning.

♪

I still think
he's a peanut farmer,

and he don't know
how to run this country.

Believe it.

♪

Carter's hard truths
did not sit well

with everyone.

♪

Do you feel
that President Carter

has been a good leader?

♪

No, I don't.

I can't put my finger on it,

but there's just something
he doesn't have.

[upbeat gospel music]

God has something
much better for everyone.

Some Americans
wanted a different answer.

♪

And if they switched
on their TV set

on Sunday morning...

Ready.

Baptist Church
in Lynchburg, Virginia.

...there was one
waiting for them

in the form of a TV preacher
named Jerry Falwell.

Let's lead the way,
and under God,

let's turn our country around.

The sense among Americans

that things had gotten
fundamentally off track

went hand-in-hand
with the revival

of religious feeling
in the United States.

♪

If America survives
this decade,

it will be because
we experienced

a spiritual awakening.

My name is Ralph Reed,

and I was a leader
of the Christian Coalition.

[upbeat music]

I was a young person,
really lost spiritually.

I opened up the Yellow Pages,
went to "Evangelical,"

put my finger on a church,
and I walked in,

and I sat in a pew,

and the pastor turned around
to the organist,

and he said,
"Stop the music."

And he said,
"I don't know who you are.

I don't know how you got here."

He said, "But I want you
to know that today

is your day of salvation."

♪

And Jerry Falwell,
I got to know him,

and he is such
an important historic figure

because he ushered
fundamentalists

back into the mainstream
of American life,

which is something that they
had been withdrawn from

for many, many decades.

Falwell was part
of a new movement

of televangelists
who offered Americans

something precious,
a chance to be saved

without ever leaving
their couch.

[man] ♪ Jesus loves me,
this I know ♪

I want us to bow our heads
and close our eyes

across this building,
there by television set.

You know, Falwell had
"The Old Time Gospel Hour"

and was seen
by millions of people.

♪ Yes, Jesus loves me

Those of you watching
by the television set,

will you right now confess,
"Oh, God, I'm a sinner."

And then write me and ask
for a free copy of my booklet,

"How To Get Started Right."

Literally, hundreds
of millions of dollars

were being raised.

Jerry Falwell built schools.

He built a whole
social welfare system

for his church members.

You can say, "Bible."

He had a TV empire.
He had a radio empire.

♪ The Bible tells me so

♪

It was this
all-encompassing culture

in which one could kind of
live one's entire life

in this kind of bubble.

[Neyfakh] By 1979,

nearly a third of Americans
identified as evangelical.

Thank God that the parents
of these children

didn't believe in abortion,
or they wouldn't be here.

There was a view
in the late '70s

that America
was in moral decline,

and America, to us,
looked weak,

and then I think a final thing
was profound disappointment

with Jimmy Carter
and his presidency.

One of the ironies
of this entire history

was that Jimmy Carter

was the first
presidential candidate

who was a out and proud
evangelical Christian.

But, again, he was, you know,
the old-fashioned kind

of evangelical Christian
who kept his religious views

out of his policy decisions.

I see...

the political situation

and the military situation

and the economic situation
and the energy problem.

I see all of these
as crises that are pressing

this planet towards a climax.

Falwell was tapping into
a sense that America

was changing,
and that something

had already been lost.

He began to build
not just a religious movement,

but a political one.

Right here in Washington,

this city has become
as corrupt

as any of the cities
in the Old Testament

which God destroyed,

and I think that unless we
have a fundamental change,

I think this country
will be destroyed as well.

[soft dramatic music]

[people singing Gospel music]

Jimmy Carter
wasn't just facing

a changing landscape
on the home front.

♪

[people speaking
foreign languages]

♪

In 1979, it seemed
the whole world

was going through
a transformative convulsion.

This is a day
when every nation is claiming

its own identity.

♪

That included Iran,

America's most important ally
in the Middle East.

[people singing in Farsi]

♪

In 1979, Iranians were looking

to redefine
their national identity.

For years, the country
had been caught

in the middle
of an ideological battle

between Soviet
and Western influence.

♪

[car horns blaring]

[gunshots]

After months of unrest...

[people chanting in Farsi]

...Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,
Iran's monarch,

fled the country.

[speaking Farsi]

America had been a friend
of the shah for years.

Now that Iran was
no longer under his control,

an uneasy
power vacuum prevailed,

and Jimmy Carter found himself
in a delicate position.

The situation in Iran now,
politically speaking,

is very sensitive.

We do not have any intention
of interfering

in the affairs of Iran,

the internal affairs
of their government,

and we don't want
any other country

to do it either.

[soft dramatic music]

But as 1979 drew to a close,

Carter unintentionally tripped
a live wire

when he welcomed the shah
into the United States.

Good evening.

The American embassy in Tehran
is in the hands

of Muslim students tonight.

Spurred on
by an anti-American speech

by the Ayatollah Khomeini,

they stormed the embassy,

fought the marine guards
for three hours,

overpowered them,
and took dozens

of American hostages.

♪

I'm John Limbert.

I was
a foreign service officer.

I was held hostage
for 14 months

between 1979 and 1981.

♪

It was--let's see.
It was November 4th.

It was a Sunday,
which was the first day

of our work week.

It was chilly, drizzly.

That morning, there was going
to be a big demonstration

at Tehran University.

[people signing in Farsi]

And about 10:00 or 10:30
in the morning, as I remember,

a group stopped
in front of the embassy,

started shouting slogans.

[people chanting in Farsi]

Death to America,
death to Carter.

And I can remember
being in my office

and hearing this shouting,
and it got--

Instead of marching on,
it got louder.

[people chanting in Farsi]

And then, all of a sudden,
these folks were--

people were in the compound.

My name is Alan Golacinski.

I was the regional
security officer in Tehran.

[people chanting]

Based on previous experiences
and previous successes,

I believed I could talk
these people out.

♪

I contacted the chargé

and asked for permission
to go out

and negotiate
with these people.

They grabbed me,
tied my hands behind me,

blindfold on me.

We were pretty much
out of options at this point.

♪

There's a wonderful
Iranian word...

[speaks Farsi]

Which means confusion.
[chuckles]

The students--I think
most of them

were in their early 20s.

I'm not sure
that they had thought about

this whole project
beyond the first two steps.

I mean, it was,
"We'll invade the embassy.

Well, what do we do next?

Well, we'll figure it out
when we get there."

[chuckles]

♪

♪

My name is Doyle McManus.

I've spent 40 years
as a reporter

covering
American foreign policy

and American politics.

I went into Tehran

the day after
the embassy was seized.

♪

One of the big questions
we all wondered about

was how scary
is this going to be

for American journalists.

[people chanting indistinctly]

And so
it was quite stunning,

but also a relief

to have the Iranians
waving flags

that said, "Death to America,"

put out their hands and say,
"Welcome to Iran,

and want to have
an absolutely cheerful

and generous conversation
with the individual American

on the street in front of them.

♪

The students
who had taken the embassy

saw their newfound
media spotlight

as an opportunity to appeal
to the American people.

The Iranian people
love American people

and hate
the American government.

We don't think
that American people

were in support
of all the oppression

that were going on in Iran
under the rule of the shah.

The hostage takers
really only had one demand.

They wanted the shah
back in Iran

to face the revolution
and stand trial.

Sources here say
that if the shah

will return to Iran,
he would face certain death.

While many Iranians
saw the U.S.

as harboring a criminal,

the matter was more complicated
for Carter.

In October,
President Carter learns

that the shah
is sick with cancer

and is told
that he needs urgent treatment

that he can get
only in the United States.

President Carter,
he meets his advisors

and basically says
what should he do,

and he found his advisors
pretty much united

in favor of admitting--
admitting the shah.

At the end of this meeting,
President Carter

turns to his advisors,
and he says,

"All right, I'll do it,

but tell me one thing.

What are you gonna
advise me to do

when our embassy is overrun
and our people taken hostage?"

♪

And history does not record
that there were any answers,

so I expect there was
a lot of looking at shoes.

The students were convinced

that the admission
of the shah

was part of a CIA plot
to return him to power in Iran.

[people chanting in Farsi]

They ransacked the embassy,

searching for evidence
of what exactly America

was doing in their country.

♪

♪

It seems
they really do believe

that the shah's sickness
is just a cover

and that he's in
the United States

to plot a counterrevolution
with the Americans.

♪

Once we admit the shah,

whatever explanation we give,

the signal is going to be
1953 all over again.

♪

"1953 all over again."

To understand what that means,
we have to talk

about Iran's
most precious resource.

Developed
by British interests,

Iranian oil has been
the subject of bitter dispute.

In 1953, Iran was governed

by Prime Minister
Mohammad Mosaddegh

who was fighting
to reclaim control

of Iran's oil
from the British.

But just two years
after being voted into office,

Mosaddegh was
forcibly removed from power.

[newsman] Former Premier
Mosaddegh's ruined house

is a mute testimony
to three days

of bloody rioting culminating
in a military coup.

Mosaddegh
was finally apprehended

and awaits trial for treason.

♪

There is certainly
American meddling

in 1953, there's no doubt.

[Neyfakh] What was made to look
like a popular uprising

was actually a British plot
backed by the U.S. government

to keep control of the oil.

♪

The United States,
they joined the British effort

to overthrow Mosaddegh.

[soft dramatic music]

There is actually a meeting
at the State Department.

We have the documents for it.

"So how do we get rid
of this madman now?"

So they begin to plan
to get rid of this madman.

Is that meddling?
Of course it is.

You had a million dollars
in cash

- to run the coup, right?
- That's right.

And we used about 60,000 of it.
That was all.

♪

The $60,000 paid for the CIA

to launch
a disinformation campaign

aimed at ginning up support
for the eventual military coup

against Mosaddegh.

Very competent agents
started a movement.

They led a very large
and constantly growing mob

up the avenue on which
the American embassy

was at one end,
and Mosaddegh's house

was towards
the middle of town.

With Mosaddegh
out of the way,

the British got their oil,

and the U.S.
got an ally in the shah.

♪

It is a lot more complicated

than simply saying
it was the meddling

that overthrew Mosaddegh,

but by '79,
it got some of these students

thinking that they're
doing history's work

fighting imperialism,

responding to what
they thought was the injustice

of the U.S. in 1953.

My name is Mohsen Sazegara.

I was a political activist
against shah.

The word that we used
was "shah is a U.S. puppet."

Do...music!

[upbeat music]

After the coup,
the shah launched

a massive overhaul
of Iranian society.

He called it
the White Revolution.

[laughs]

From music to Hollywood

to jeans to Pepsi-Cola,

the dominant cultural presence
was the U.S.

♪

Now my mother
and her two daughters

went to university,
were educated,

they could get
their own income.

That was a very good step.

By the 1970s,

Iran was one of the fastest
developing nations in the world.

The capital
has not just grown.

It has exploded,
and in the process,

members of the royal family
and leading businessmen

have made massive profits.

You have a shah
that was becoming

increasingly self-righteous,
increasingly authoritarian.

♪

You can't import
all the productions

of Western civilization,

but don't import the software
of Western civilization

like democracy,
like human rights.

One of our laws is
that communism is not allowed.

[soft dramatic music]

Student groups espousing
left-wing ideology

were targeted
by the shah's secret police,

the SAVAK, which was formed
with the help of the CIA

after the 1953 coup.

And if you went for
a demonstration, for instance,

they attacked us
inside the university.

Stories of the regime's
brutality and torture

of political prisoners
brought a chill

over daily life in Iran.

If, for instance,
you distribute any pamphlets,

the students knew

that they shouldn't take it
from the ground

because you could be sentenced
to six months jail,

so they put their foot
on the pamphlet on the ground

and read it
while it was on the ground.

[call to prayer plays]

♪

There was one force
that was allowed

to organize, mobilize.

That was the clergy.

And the reason the shah
allowed the clergy

is because he thought
the best way to fight communism

is religion.

This is an illusion
that Western powers held.

♪

We feel as responsible
for politic,

for economy, and for morale.

[soft dramatic music]

The clergy gained a foothold
in the shadows

of the high-rises that dotted
the new, urban landscape.

Outwardly,
progress and glitter.

Beneath the surface,
thousands of people

still live in mud huts
without running water

or sanitation.

You had peasants
who saw the affluence

in the nouveau riche class,
and their resentment increased.

♪

They had profound
religious values.

They were ill at ease
with the sight of a woman

in a miniskirt, for example,

and the clergy
were whispering in their ear

that all of this is part
of a corrupting,

Western, Israeli, Zionist,
Jewish conspiracy

to break down Islam.

[speaking Farsi]

As this anti-Western
gospel spread,

the student activists
decided to forge an alliance.

We thought
that a network of the clergy

can be helpful
to the revolution.

Led by the mullahs,
the Muslim priests,

the crowds assembled
and then choked

the center of the city.

That was
one of our strategies

to have a unity,

a very powerful force
against shah.

[man] And you
as a church leader

are ready to see them
start an armed struggle?

The teaching of Quran says

that when a peaceful struggle
is not useful,

then you must begin
an armed struggle--jihad.

[dramatic music]

♪

[people chanting]

Much of that coalition

wanted a democratic,
secular nation,

and it's remarkable
because the leader

of that revolution
was someone who,

if anybody had bothered
to read his writing,

stood in opposition
to all of that.

[soft dramatic music]

Waiting in the serenity
of the French countryside

was that leader,

the exiled Islamic cleric
Ruhollah Khomeini.

There are some
isolated priests

with whom I had...

to take some strong measures.

[people chanting]

Banished by the shah,
Ayatollah Khomeini

relied on a network
of followers

to distribute sermons
throughout Iran

on cassette tape.

[singing words of prayer]

A close advisor
to Ayatollah Khomeini

called me from Paris

and told me that,
"Mohsen, we need you."

♪

That was 4:00
in the afternoon.

I borrowed $200,

bought a ticket to Paris,

and I was in the plane
8:00 at night.

♪

He had a type of mysticism,

and contrary
to his public image,

he was very kind.

[newsman] Followers
of Ayatollah Khomeini

gathered outside
the small house

where he's been living
in France

and cheered the news
that the shah

had left Iran.

♪

[Neyfakh] When the shah fled
from Iran in January of 1979,

Khomeini made his move.

♪

Flanked by Western reporters,

he boarded a flight
home to Iran.

I was in charge
of media relationship.

250 journalists wanted
to get on the aeroplane.

We had to tell 100
of them that, "Sorry,

we can't have you."

[indistinct speech]

♪

[people shouting indistinctly]

[newsman] With the hesitant
steps of a man of 79,

he walks onto Iranian soil
for the first time

since the shah forced him
to leave the country

16 years ago.

♪

[people speaking Farsi]

[newsman] Khomeini's arrival in
Tehran was everything and more

than had been expected.

His followers,
millions of them,

fought and screamed
as they scrambled

onto the motor van

that carried him
through the city.

[people chanting in Farsi]

We believed--

which I think
it was not wrong--

that the absolute majority
of the country,

they support
Ayatollah Khomeini

and are with the revolution.

♪

[people chanting]

It's extraordinary
how so many people can believe

that this frail, old priest

holds all the answers
to Iran's problems.

[people chanting in Farsi]

[Neyfakh]
Khomeini was back in Iran,

and his first speech
made his intentions clear.

[applause]

Nine months later,

when the students
took the embassy,

Khomeini's power grab
was all but complete.

♪

That hostage taking,

you can think
about that as a turn point.

It ended
to a totalitarian regime

and a regime
that doesn't respect

any international regulation
and convention.

[shouting in Farsi]

♪

It was, like, I don't know,
4:00 in the morning

or something like that.

I got up groggy
and put on the first clothes

that came to hand.

Ended up
in the operations center

in the State Department.

It had speakers
on a long table,

and each of those speakers
was connected

to a phone inside the embassy,

and we had
conversations back--

"Can you hear anything?"

And then one by one,
the phones suddenly went dead.

♪

That day was
when the first thoughts began

to percolate about ways
to bring pressure on Iran.

No one should underestimate
the resolve

of the American government
and the American people

in this matter.

Carter refused
to hand over the shah,

instead imposing
a raft of sanctions...

I am ordering
that we discontinue

the purchasing
of any oil from Iran.

...as part of an all-out
diplomatic offensive.

The message
the U.S. government

wants to convey is that,
while you're trying

to blackmail us by holding
our citizens hostage,

we're going
to stand our ground.

But Iran's
revolutionary leader

was not just hardnosed.

He had changed the rules
of the game entirely.

Many people thought
he would be the figurehead,

but he had no intention
of being a figurehead.

He was more brutal
than all of them.

As one official here
put it rather gloomily,

you can't expect moderation
from a fanatic,

so it's possible that,
for as long as the shah

remains in this country,

the Americans will remain
as hostages in Iran.

I received a care package
from home,

and it had some books in it--

things like
"Brothers Karamazov,"

"War and Peace,"
"Middlemarch."

Average length about 900 pages.

It was clear someone
was sending me a message

that I was gonna have
plenty of time

to read these books.
[chuckles]

What was supposed to be
a quick stunt

turned into weeks,
then months.

[newsman] Every day,
reporters and cameramen

assemble at the gates.

Thousands of words
are written,

but facts
about the hostages are few.

The rise
of the hostage crisis

coincided
with structural shifts

in how the TV news business
was run,

creating good guys
and bad guys

and a melodramatic arc.

[announcer] The Iran Crisis:
America Held Hostage.

[Neyfakh] ABC News even
launched a nightly program

that made regulars
of hostage families.

We know it today
as "Nightline."

Every morning,
Dotty Morefield

writes to her husband Richard,
now a hostage.

With us now
is Mrs. Morefield.

Ted Koppel became Ted Koppel
as a result of all of this.

The media gave
each of the 53 Americans

being held at the embassy
a face and a story.

21-year-old James Lopez

is one of
the Iranian hostages.

He knows that we're thinking
about him all the time.

Weeping mothers
were a constant feature,

and, you know,
the media celebrated

what it called the rebirth
of American patriotism.

What's on your mind
this Christmas Eve?

The situation in Iran
right now--

I wish the hostages
were back in here

in this country
celebrating Christmas

with their relatives.

[all singing "Silent Night"]

In December,
the American news networks

received a tape
from the Iranian students

showing the hostages
participating

in a bizarre
Christmas celebration.

One thing
you learn very quickly

in a situation like this
is nothing's gonna make sense.

All the Americans
here at the embassy

have made
a special Christmas card

to Imam Khomeini.

A Christmas wish
especially for you.

They ask us
to sing Christmas carols,

which nobody wanted to do,
and the whole thing

was so staged
and obviously a show.

[soft dramatic music]

The students wanted to use it

for their own purposes
to say,

"Look how nice we are."

The sentimental
news coverage

the hostage crisis
was receiving in America

also gave the revolutionaries
an opening

to once again
address the world.

I asked myself,
"What had the shah done?"

My thinking
started to turn around.

My eyes and mind were starting
to awake to the truth.

The students,
they were very naive.

They thought that Americans--
at least some Americans--

would sympathize
with what they were doing.

How much longer
can you go on doing this?

We are ready to go on
until martyrdom.

[man]
Hermitage, Pennsylvania--

a flag for every day
the hostages have been held.

It would have been
a great moment

to really, like,
explore the history

of our dealings with Iran
and how high-handed

and arrogant we were

in our treatment
of the country,

but we didn't seize
that opportunity,

so we--a lot
of the coverage gave in

to a kind of
nationalistic jingoism

without any kind
of stocktaking of the policies

that had gotten us
to this point.

Down with Khomeini!
He's a murderer!

He's a jerk!

[newswoman]
Yesterday in Houston,

anti-Iranian demonstrators

burned a flag in front
of the Iranian consulate.

That demonstration
symbolizes what appears to be

growing
anti-Iranian sentiment.

[newsman] Impatience
has turned to bitterness.

I don't see any reason
in this world

for us to have to stand by
twiddling our thumbs.

I feel we should show force.

Let's take
some drastic action.

I mean real drastic.

Pressure on President Carter
increased

with each passing day

the hostages
remained in captivity.

Do you have any plan
to resolve this?

Do you plan to bring
any more pressures on Iran?

♪

We have done everything
we possibly could

in the last four months
to try to preserve

in every way the health
and the lives of those hostages

and to work for their freedom.

I don't know
when they'll be released.

♪

By April of 1980,

Carter felt he had no choice
but to respond with force.

Diplomacy had failed,
and so he ordered

a covert mission
to rescue the hostages.

♪

It would turn out to be
the greatest blunder

of Carter's presidency.

♪

Good morning, everyone.

I'm Tom Brokaw,
and we're starting

at this early hour today
because of major developments

in Iran.

Eight American servicemen
were killed

apparently in the crash
of a helicopter

with a C-130 cargo plane
in Iran

during a secret
United States mission

to rescue the hostages.

♪

My name's Jim Schaefer,

major, United States
Marine Corps CH-53 pilot

and a member
of the Iranian rescue attempt.

♪

It was just a loud thud.

After that, I don't remember
much of anything.

Waking up, and I know
the aircraft was on fire.

♪

So...

This is the core
of the tragedy--

the entire rotor assembly

of one of
the American helicopters

that were involved
in the rescue attempt.

[speaking Farsi]

♪

The molten aluminum
marked the intense heat

of the blaze which followed,

so intense that no American
could get near

to drag clear the bodies
in the wreckage.

♪

It's just a horrible feeling
of failure,

of letting our country down,
of letting the people,

our troops down.

It was really, really, really
a dark place.

♪

[singing in Farsi]

News of the crash
ricocheted across Iran.

[newsman]
Word of the mission itself

came as many thousands
of people were attending

Friday prayers
at Tehran University.

They heard it on their radios,

and then there was
an announcement

via the speaker.

♪

[Neyfakh]
That was a miracle.

That was divine support

to Islamic revolution.

I mean, the propaganda
was that

it was by the order of God.

♪

I was able
to steal a newspaper.

Not a lot of details,
but it was enough to know

that there had been
a rescue attempt,

that it had failed.

After the raid,
we were scattered

around the country.

♪

And I ended up
at Evin Prison,

which is, like,

one of the worst prisons
in the world,

and I was way, way underground

in a very small cell,

and so I decide, okay,
I'm gonna take my own life.

This is what I'm gonna do
because this is metal,

and I played football
when I was younger and that,

so I'm just gonna crash my head
into that door.

And then I thought about it,
and I said,

"Oh...that's real bright.

You're not gonna die.

You're just gonna
put yourself..."

[chuckles]

"You're gonna make
yourself irrelevant."

I'd like to send a message
to the American people

and the people of the world.

I'd like to thank
all of them for the support

that they have shown for us.

There were sort of
really mixed emotions.

Two things--one was,
of course, great sadness

that brave people had died...

in the attempt to get us out.

The other, of course,
was great pride

that, no,
we were not forgotten.

Our rescue team knew
and I knew

that the operation
was certain to be difficult,

and it was certain
to be dangerous.

To the families of those
who died and who were wounded,

I want to express
the admiration I feel

for the courage
of their loved ones

and the sorrow
that I feel personally

for their sacrifice.

It was my decision to attempt
the rescue operation.

♪

The responsibility
is fully my own.

To say, "Look,
this was my decision,

and I take
full responsibility for it,"

was a very hard thing
for him to do.

It's a hard thing
for any president to do,

and especially
a president who's involved

in a very difficult
reelection campaign.

♪

[newswoman] When Dorothea
Morefield heard the news,

she did not know
what to make of it.

Mrs. Morefield
kept switching channels

looking for more information
on what happened.

They're Americans.

They went in
to try and get them out,

and I feel so badly.

Do you think that it
will endanger Richard?

I'm scared to death.

It was yet one more image
of American humiliation

to visit our television screens
every night.

Are you concerned now
about the hostages?

Very much so.

I heard on the radio
this morning

the mother of Rosen,
and she was crying bitterly

and said that the president
was all wrong.

After the abortive
rescue effort in Iran,

one lady said, "My God,
can't we do anything right?"

♪

Carter's failed mission
was red meat

for televangelist
Jerry Falwell

and his budding
political coalition

of evangelicals.

By this point,

Falwell had given
this coalition a name--

the Moral Majority.

We are not preempted

from going into
the political arena

and fighting the battle there.

As a matter of fact,
we're obligated to do it.

♪

[newsman] Mixing politics
with religion is a turnaround

for this evangelist,
and he defends it vigorously.

If America's worth saving,

then the preachers
need to fearlessly

declare the issues

no matter how unpopular
they may be.

♪

Evangelical
political involvement,

it is ultimately a witness
of two things--

our desire to serve others,
including those less fortunate,

and our desire to share
our love for our God.

Just pass
the envelopes out, please.

Print your name and address.

Make your checks payable
to Moral Majority.

Make them as generous
as you can, please.

By 1980, Jimmy Carter
is the enemy

for a lot of these people.

And I know people
have been telling me

that Jimmy Carter's
doing his best,

and that's our problem.

♪

[Neyfakh]
To the nation's evangelicals,

Ronald Reagan was a politician
who spoke their language.

[dancers chanting]

Even though he was divorced
and he came out of Hollywood,

there was great identification
with him rhetorically,

and he welcomed them.

[cheers and applause]

He, at this time,
is standing firmly

for those moral issues that we
are very concerned about.

And when it came
to the hostage crisis,

Reagan's point of view
was simple.

I don't understand
why 52 Americans

have been held hostage
for almost a year now.

[cheers and applause]

Strong-arm Iran
and get the hostages back.

It was absolutely
at the center

of his political
and moral imagination

that America rescued
its hostages.

We've endured
this humiliation

for just lacking one week
of a year now.

So, you know,
if you wanted to vote

for a hawk, you know,
you might as well

vote for the guy
who promised you

a 30% tax cut
over the guy who tells you

you're gonna have
to make do with less.

♪

This country
needs a new administration

with a renewed dedication
to the dream of an America,

an administration that will
give that dream new life.

We will
make America great again.

[cheers and applause]

The greatness of America
as a city set upon a hill

that would be a moral example
to the rest of the world

that the rest of the world
would want to emulate--

particularly for evangelicals,

that was a very powerful view
of America.

Inside this little packet
is an Old Glory flag pin.

Now, if you're ashamed
of America, don't wear it.

Go on over and join Khomeini.

You might say it was
a marriage made in heaven.

Heyo.
[chuckles]

Religious America
is awakening

perhaps just in time
for our country's sake.

[bombastic band music]

♪

Just to bring you up to date
on the presidential race,

it is looking very good
for Ronald Reagan at this time.

It's a tremendous landslide.

Unanticipated, unexpected.

The hostage thing came in
in a sneaky way,

and it just collapsed
for Carter.

And all of this arrived
on top of inflation,

unemployment, and so on--

all of the problems
we know about.

And roughly 25%

of all voters told pollsters

they were regular viewers
of Christian television.

Carter only won six states.

It was a wipeout.

[cheers and applause]

I promised you four years ago

that I would never lie to you,

so I can't stand here tonight
and say it doesn't hurt.

[cheers and applause]

♪

In all the days and months
when I have served you

and served this country,

you've readily given me
your shoulders,

your faith, and your prayers.

No man could ask any more
of his friends.

♪

He wasn't a showman,

but he really
gave the American people

full value for their election.

Jimmy Carter actually asked
the American people to think

and to take
their job seriously,

and a lot of people
really do appreciate that

and understand it,

and I think a lot
of other people really don't.

♪

Do the Carter people feel
that they could have

done it differently?

Any one single thing
they should have done better.

John, they point constantly
to this hostage situation.

Even after his loss,
Carter continued

to negotiate for the hostages,

but Iran continued
to deny him a resolution

right up until
the very last minute

of his presidency.

♪

[announcer]
Live from Washington D.C.,

NBC News
covers the inauguration

of Ronald Reagan.

♪

Well, the night before,
oh, about 10:00,

11:00 at night,
they came in,

and they said,
"We're letting you go."

♪

[phone rings]

♪

That day, I was
in the Oval Office.

Both planes
at the end of the runway.

And then we started
to get notices

the hostages were moving.

We'll let you know
when to take off.

What is--that's close.

We were sitting in a room.

These guys exploded
in there saying,

"Get your stuff.
Let's go."

They took off our blindfolds,
and we walked

towards the airplane.

♪

We do think
that the hostages

will be leaving Tehran Airport
before long.

The idea that the release
would come

within minutes of Ronald Reagan
raising his right hand

is to be believed
in fiction only.

Reagan arrived on the steps
of the White House,

and Carter went down,
got in the car with him.

So at that point
I left and went down

to the operations center
in the basement,

and I followed the situation.

[upbeat band music]

[soft dramatic music]

Were people talking about
the hostages down there?

Someone said
that they were airborne.

Mr. President,
are the hostages out?

Can't say yet.

Not yet.
They've cheated him.

They've cheated him
right down to the end.

♪

Reverend Falwell,
what does this day mean to you?

I think this is a day with
a real supernatural meaning.

I--the hostages'
potential release,

a new president,
a new administration.

Perhaps God
may give to this country

a new beginning.

[applause]

♪

Raise your right hand
and repeat after me.

I, Ronald Reagan,
do solemnly swear...

I, Ronald Reagan, do
solemnly swear...

...that I will faithfully
execute the office

of president
of the United States.

...that I will
faithfully execute

the office of president
of the United States.

- So help you God.
- So help me God.

Minutes after Reagan
raised his right hand,

the plane
carrying the hostages

left the ground in Tehran.

♪

The stands are filled.

The weather is easy.

- The hostages are free.
- Hooray!

Looks as though
President Reagan

has been spared the requirement
of dealing on the hostages.

Spared for now.

♪

Reagan was allowed
to bask in this victory

that the hostages had returned
safe and sound by and large.

♪

[newsman] And the cheering
begins even before we see

the first
of the returning Americans.

[cheers and applause]

This is one of the first
national experiences

that America's had in years
in which everybody feels good.

How are you?
Nice to see you.

I didn't know
what I was coming back to.

I thought, "Wow, boy,

are we gonna be
in some trouble."

And, of course, we were
just treated like gold.

John Limbert believes
that wholesale condemnation

of the Iranian people
is wrong.

I do say they're people
of talent,

ability, great kindness,
great hospitality.

That's what I thought before.
I still think so.

♪

Seven days
after taking office...

[bombastic brass fanfare]

...Reagan welcomed
the hostages home

with a patriotic celebration
fit for American heroes.

♪

You come home to a people
who for 444 days

suffered the pain
of your imprisonment,

prayed for your safety,
and most importantly

shared your determination

that the spirit
of free men and women

is not a fit subject
for barter.

[applause]

Now, I'll not be
so foolish as to say,

"Forget what
you've been through."

You never will.

But turn the page
and look ahead.

♪

To me,
that's Reaganism to a T--

the idea that history

is not something
to learn from,

that we don't
transcend our traumas

by facing them unflinchingly,

but that we kind of create
this sort of fantasy America

in which
there are no problems,

except for problems
that are kind of visited

upon America from,
you know, forces

that are not really
American at all.

[soft dramatic music]

Let terrorists be aware

that when the rules
of international behavior

are violated,
our policy will be one

of swift
and effective retribution.

♪

And then five years later,
it comes up again.

And that's how we get back
to Iran-Contra...

♪

...when Ronald Reagan
found himself

enveloped in a hostage crisis
of his own.

[dramatic rock music]

Reagan had reached
the White House

in part by attacking
his opponent's approach

to the same exact problem.

In doing so,
the new president

had painted himself
into a corner,

a hostage of his own making.

And maybe
that's the Greek tragedy--

that you cannot
escape your fate.

[judge] The hearing
will please come to order.

♪