Taken Hostage: The Iran Crisis of 1979 in US Media and Popular culture
Melani McAlister
Online Poster, Spring 2002
Muslim girl at July 4th parade
�Yellow ribbons as sign of support for hostages
America Held Hostage, Nov. 4, 1979
America Held Hostage, Feb. 14, 1980
Moral Geographies
“A set of silent ethical assertions” that mark connection and separation.
Michael Shapiro, “Moral Geographies and The Ethics of Post-Sovereignty," Public Culture 6:3, 1994.
US “National Interests”
Protecting “access” to oil
Keeping the Soviets out (until the 1990s)
Strong regional allies (Arab & non-Arab Iran)
Support for Israel
Religion: Holy Lands & emotional investment
US-Iran Relations Timeline
1953: US and British agents secretly help overthrow Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossedeq, who had nationalized Iran’s oil.
1964: Ayotollah Khomeini goes into exile.
1969: Nixon Doctrine: Focus on alliances rather than direct intervention: “Vietnamization.”
1970s: Shah is major US ally in the Middle East (along with Israel and Saudi Arabia).
SAVAAK – secret military police
1979: Shah abdicates. Khomeini in power.
November 79: Embassy take-over.
Jan. 1981: Hostages released
Time, Nov. 10, 1980
“Iranian Toilet Paper”
The “Iron Sheik” An Iranian American wrestler, who in the early 1970s played an Arab,then an Iranian in the 80s, then an Arab again
Anti-Iranian protestors, summer 1980
Iran hostage family members at a press conferenceAug. 10, 1980
Family members at a meeting, Aug. 11, 1980
Iranian hostage-takers hold a press conference
Iranian Protesters Burn US Flag outside US Embassy
May 6, 1980
Iranian leaders view the wreckageof Desert One