Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Jimmy Carter and the tragedy of foreign policy
- 2 Locating the argument: a review of the existing literature
- 3 The origins of the crisis
- 4 The waiting game
- 5 Days of decision: the hostage rescue mission
- 6 Hostages to history
- 7 Some alternative explanations: non-analogical accounts of the Iran decision-making
- 8 Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Dramatis personae
- Appendix 2 The major historical analogies used
- Bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Appendix 2 - The major historical analogies used
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Jimmy Carter and the tragedy of foreign policy
- 2 Locating the argument: a review of the existing literature
- 3 The origins of the crisis
- 4 The waiting game
- 5 Days of decision: the hostage rescue mission
- 6 Hostages to history
- 7 Some alternative explanations: non-analogical accounts of the Iran decision-making
- 8 Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Dramatis personae
- Appendix 2 The major historical analogies used
- Bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Summary
Angus Ward hostage incident
A relatively minor but troubling hostage crisis in which a US consul, Angus Ward, was taken captive along with his staff by pro-government forces in Mukden, China. Ward and his family remained in captivity for a year, from November 1948 to November 1949. A rescue mission was ruled out due to the strategic and political problems it would entail, and the Truman administration negotiated Ward's release instead. The analogy was used by Cyrus Vance and Jimmy Carter during the Iran hostage crisis.
Tehran coup
In August 1953 the CIA and British intelligence led a coup in which the Iranian prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, was overthrown and replaced by the pro-American candidate General Zahedi. At first the coup seemed destined to fail, and the shah of Iran - who had been persuaded by the CIA to go along with the plan - fled to Baghdad and then Rome, returning only when Zahedi was safely in place. The analogy was in widespread use in Iran throughout 1979, and was drawn upon by the students who seized the American embassy in November 1979.
Bay of Pigs invasion
In April 1961 Cuban exiles trained in secret by the CIA attempted and failed to invade Cuba (and depose Fidel Castro) at the Bay of Pigs. The hand of the United States in the disasterous afffair was quickly exposed, and new President Kennedy was forced to admit this.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- US Foreign Policy and the Iran Hostage Crisis , pp. 226 - 228Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001