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The 1980 October Surprise theory refers to an allegation that representatives of Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign made a secret deal with Iranian leaders to delay the release of American hostages until after the election between Reagan and President Jimmy Carter, the incumbent. The detention of 66 Americans in Iran, held hostage since November 4, 1979, was one of the leading national issues during 1980, and the alleged goal of the deal was to thwart Carter from pulling off an "October surprise". Reagan won the election, and on the day of his inauguration—minutes after he concluded his 20-minute inaugural address—the Islamic Republic of Iran announced the release of the hostages.

According to the allegation, on top of the Carter administration's agreement to unfreeze Iranian assets in U.S. banks in exchange for the release of the embassy hostages, the Reagan administration's practice of covertly supplying Iran with weapons via Israel likely originated as a further quid pro quo for having delayed the release until after Reagan's inauguration, setting a precedent for covert U.S.-Iran arms deals that would feature heavily in the subsequent Iran–Contra affair.

After 12 years of varying media attention, both houses of the United States Congress held separate inquiries and concluded that credible evidence supporting the allegation was absent or insufficient. Nevertheless, several individuals—most notably, former Iranian President Abulhassan Banisadr, former Lieutenant Governor of Texas Ben Barnes, former naval intelligence officer and U.S. National Security Council member Gary Sick, and Barbara Honegger, a former campaign staffer and White House analyst for Reagan and his successor, George H. W. Bush—have stood by the allegation.

Background

In November 1979, a number of U.S. hostages were captured in Iran during the Iranian Revolution. The Iran hostage crisis continued into 1980; as the November 1980 presidential election approached, there were concerns in the Republican Party that a resolution of the crisis could constitute an "October surprise" which might give incumbent Jimmy Carter enough of an electoral boost to be re-elected. After the release of the hostages on January 20, 1981, mere minutes after Republican challenger Ronald Reagan's inauguration, some charged that the Reagan campaign had made a secret deal with the Iranian government whereby the Iranians would hold the hostages until after Reagan was elected and inaugurated.

The issue of an "October Surprise" was brought up during an investigation by a House of Representatives Subcommittee into how the 1980 Reagan Campaign obtained debate briefing materials of then-President Carter. During that investigation, sometimes referred to as Debategate, the Subcommittee on Human Resources of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee obtained access to Reagan Campaign documents. The documents included numerous references to a monitoring effort for any such October Surprise. The Subcommittee, chaired by former U.S. Representative Donald Albosta (D–MI), issued a comprehensive report on May 17, 1984, describing each type of information that was detected and its possible source. A section of the report was dedicated to the October Surprise issue.

Origins

The first printed instance of the October Surprise theory has been attributed to a story in the December 2, 1980, issue of Executive Intelligence Review, a periodical published by followers of Lyndon LaRouche, prior to the release of the hostages. Written by Robert Dreyfuss, the article cited "Iranian sources" in Paris as well as "Top level intelligence sources in Reagan's inner circle" as saying that Henry Kissinger met with representatives of Mohammad Beheshti during the week of November 12, 1980. The story claimed that "pro-Reagan British intelligence circles and the Kissinger faction" meeting with the Iranians six to eight weeks prior had interfered with "President Carter's efforts to secure an arms-for-hostage deal with Teheran". The LaRouche movement returned to the story in the September 2, 1983, issue of New Solidarity, stating "The deal ... fell through when the hard-line mullahs boycotted the Majlis in late October."

The theory garnered little attention until news of the Iran–Contra affair broke in November 1986. John M. Barry of Newsweek has said that Iran–Contra "created fertile ground for the October Surprise theory". Scott D'Amico in Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories in American History wrote that "he arms-deal arrangement provided credence to those who believed Reagan was fulfilling his end of the October surprise pact with Khomeni." In the November 24, 1986, issue of The New York Times, William Safire charged: "The geopolitical excuse offered now - that the ransom was a plan to influence post-Khomeini Iran - is a feeble cover-up. Robert McFarlane first approached the Reagan campaign in the summer of 1980 with an Iranian in tow who proposed to deliver our hostages to Mr. Reagan rather than President Carter, thereby swinging the U.S. election. The Reagan representatives properly recoiled, but Mr. McFarlane has had Iranian held hostages on the brain ever since." Safire's piece was based upon information he solicited from Laurence Silberman in 1984 regarding a brief meeting four years earlier between Silberman, McFarlane, and Richard V. Allen with a Malaysian man who proposed a plan to contact someone who could influence Iran to delay the release of the hostages in order to embarrass the Carter administration. Silberman later wrote: "Ironically, it was I who unwittingly initiated the so-called 'October Surprise' story, which grew into an utterly fantastic tale". An article by Bob Woodward and Walter Pincus a few days later in the November 29, 1986 The Washington Post said that United States officials tied to Reagan, well before the Iran Contra affair, considered an initiative to sell US-made military parts to Iran in exchange for the hostage held there. The House October Surprise Task Force credited the Woodward/Pincus article as raising "claims that would become keystones in the October Surprise theory".

The Miami Herald published an article by Alfonso Chardy on April 12, 1987, that McFarlane, Silberman, and Allen had met with a man claiming to represent the Iranian government and offering the release of the hostages. Chardy's article also quoted exiled former Iranian president Abolhassan Banisadr who said he had learned that Beheshti and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani were involved in negotiations with the Reagan campaign to delay the release of the hostages until Reagan became president.

Chronology

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The House October Surprise Task Force outlined as "principal allegations" three supposed meetings between representatives of Reagan's campaign and Iranian government officials in the summer and fall of 1980 to delay the release of the hostages: 1) a meeting in Madrid during the summer, 2) a meeting at the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C., that autumn, and 3) a meeting in Paris in October. The Task Force characterized three other alleged meetings or contacts as "ancillary allegations": 1) a meeting at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., in early spring 1980, 2) a meeting at the Churchill Hotel in London in the summer of 1980, and 3) a meeting at the Sherry Netherlands Hotel in New York in January 1981.

• March 1980: Jamshid Hashemi told Gary Sick he was visited by campaign manager William Casey and Roy Furmark while staying at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., in March 1980. Hashemi claimed Casey was aware of his contacts in Iran and wanted to discuss the American hostages held there. He told Sick that he then reported the meeting to his "intelligence contact" Charles Cogan, then a senior official within the CIA's Directorate of Operations. Hashemi later testified that he was alone with Casey and denied telling Sick that Furmark was present, and that the meeting with Casey occurred in July 1980. The House October Surprise Task Force concluded that there was no credible evidence to support the allegations. The Task Force said that Hashemi was the only source of the story, that he provided no evidence to substantiate the allegations, that there were major inconsistencies in his story to different parties, and that there was credible documentary and testimonial evidence inconsistent with his allegations.
• Spring 1980: In an October 1990 interview, Jamshid Hashemi told Gary Sick he was introduced to Donald Gregg, a U.S. National Security Council aide with connections to George Bush, at Cyrus Hashemi's office in New York City in the Spring of 1980. Jamshid told Sick that he and Cyrus had lunch with Gregg at a restaurant near Cyrus' office where they discussed the contacts that were underway between the brothers and the U.S. Government. The House October Surprise Task Force said that they found no credible evidence that Gregg met with the Hashemi's, and noted that Jamshid recanted the allegation in testimony stating he had never met with Gregg. After Jamshid's testimony denying that he told Sick that he met with Gregg, he told Sick that the person he met with was actually Robert Gray. The Task Force concluded that Jamshid Hashemi's "recent statements about this matter as totally devoid of credibility and probative of a tendency to modify his allegations to conform to subsequent revelations which are inconsistent with those allegations."
• July 1980: Jamshid Hashemi was also the principal source for allegations that an American delegation consisting of William Casey, Donald Gregg, and another unidentified American met with Iranian officials Mahdi Karrubi and his brother Hassan Karrubi at the Hotel Ritz in Madrid. first in July 1980 then again the following month. Jamshid Hashemi claimed he and his brother Cyrus Hashemi attended the meetings to provide translation services betweenthe two parties. According to Jamshid Hashemi, Casey promised that in exchange for the hostages the new Reagan Administration would return all of Iranian's frozen assets and military equipment that had been withheld by Carter. Jamshid Hashemi said Casey instructed the Iranians to hold the hostages until after the election. According to Jamshid, the meetings ended when Karrubi said he did not have the authority to make that commitment but would return to Tehran and seeking instructions from Ayatollah Khomeini. The Task Force said they "determined that Jamshid Hashemi's allegations regarding meetings in Madrid in the summer of 1980 are fabrications" and that there was no credible evidence to support them.
• About August 12, 1980: Jamshid Hashemi alleged that Karrubi met again with Casey in Madrid, saying Khomeini had agreed to the proposal, and that Casey agreed the next day, naming Cyrus Hashimi as middleman to handle the arms transactions. Hashemi also alleged that more meetings were set for October. The House October Surprise Task Force concluded that these allegations were not credible. Cyrus Hashimi purchases a Greek ship and commences arms deliveries valued at $150 million from the Israeli port of Eilat to Bandar Abbas. According to CIA sources, Hashimi receives a $7 million commission.
• September 22, 1980: Iraq invades Iran.
• Late September 1980: An expatriate Iranian arms dealer named Hushang Lavi claims he met with Richard V. Allen, the Reagan campaign's national security expert, Robert "Bud" McFarlane, and Lawrence Silberman, co-chairman of Ronald Reagan's foreign policy advisors during the campaign, and discussed the possible exchange of F-4 parts for American hostages, but Lavi says they asserted they "were already in touch with the Iranians themselves".
• October 15–20: Meetings are held in Paris between emissaries of the Reagan-Bush campaign, with Casey as "key participant", and "high-level Iranian and Israeli representatives".
• October 21: Iran, for reasons not explained, abruptly shifts its position in secret negotiations with the Carter administration and disclaims "further interest in receiving military equipment".
• October 21–23: Israel secretly ships F-4 fighter-aircraft tires to Iran, in violation of the U.S. arms embargo, and Iran disperses the hostages to different locations.
• January 20, 1981: Hostages are formally released into United States custody after spending 444 days in captivity. The release takes place just minutes after Ronald Reagan is sworn in as president.

Investigations

Gary Sick

External videos
Booknotes interview with Gary Sick on October Surprise, December 1, 1991, C-SPAN

The October Surprise allegations gained traction in the mainstream media after an editorial column by Gary Sick was published in The New York Times on April 15, 1991. Sick, who had served as President Carter's Iranian expert on the National Security Council, wrote: "I have been told repeatedly that individuals associated with the Reagan-Bush campaign of 1980 met secretly with Iranian officials to delay the release of the American hostages until after the presidential election. For this favor, Iran was rewarded with a substantial supply of arms from Israel." Sick wrote that members of the Reagan-Bush campaign had met with high-level representatives of Iran and Israel in a series of meeting in Paris between October 15–20, 1980, and that there were 15 sources who had direct or indirect knowledge of the event.

Sick later published a book (October Surprise: America's Hostages in Iran and the Election of Ronald Reagan), published in November 1991, on the subject. Sick's credibility was boosted by the fact that he was a retired naval captain, served on Ford's, Carter's, and Reagan's National Security Council, and held high positions with many prominent organizations; moreover, he had authored a book recently on US-Iran relations (All Fall Down). Sick wrote that in October 1980, officials in Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign, including future CIA Director William Casey, made a secret deal with Iran to delay the release of the American hostages until after the election; in return for this, the United States purportedly arranged for Israel to ship weapons to Iran.

Sick admitted that "The story is tangled and murky, and it may never be fully unraveled." He was unable to prove his claims, including that, in the days before the presidential election with daily press pools surrounding him and a public travel schedule, vice presidential candidate George H. W. Bush secretly left the country and met with Iranian officials in France to discuss the fate of the hostages.

Frontline / Robert Parry

External videos
FRONTLINE (S09E08) The Election Held Hostage, April 16, 1991, Frontline

Sick's editorial in The New York Times directed readers to watch the investigative documentary program Frontline the following evening to view interviews of his sources. In the Frontline episode released on April 16, 1991, Robert Parry "investigate startling new evidence about how both the Carter and Reagan camps may have tried to forge secret deals for hostages during the 1980 presidential campaign." The program presented allegations 1) that Cyrus Hashemi and William Casey met in Madrid to delay the release of the hostages, 2) that there was a meeting in Paris to finalize the deal, and 3) that there were shipments of American-made arms from Israel to Iran.

In a second episode released on April 7, 1992, Parry "investigate whether or not William Casey, Reagan's campaign director, could have met with Iranians in Paris and Madrid in the summer of 1980." This program discussed the alleged whereabouts of Casey and Mehdi Karroubi, the credibility of witnesses to the meetings, and other theories about the alleged evidence.

Danny Casolaro

In August 1991, freelance writer Danny Casolaro (among others) claimed to be almost ready to expose the alleged October surprise conspiracy, when he suddenly died a violent death in a hotel bathtub in Martinsburg, West Virginia, raising suspicions. He appeared to be traveling on leads for his investigation into the Inslaw Affair. His death was ruled a suicide. The case was the subject of a 2024 Netflix docuseries titled American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders.

Newsweek

Newsweek magazine also ran an investigation, reporting in November 1991 that most, if not all, of the charges made were groundless. Specifically, Newsweek found little evidence that the United States had transferred arms to Iran prior to Iran Contra, and was able to account for William Casey's whereabouts when he was allegedly at the Madrid meeting, saying that he was at a conference in London. Newsweek also alleged that the story was being heavily pushed within the LaRouche Movement.

The New Republic

Steven Emerson and Jesse Furman of The New Republic also looked into the allegations and reported, in November 1991, that "the conspiracy as currently postulated is a total fabrication". They were unable to verify any of the evidence presented by Sick and supporters, finding them to be inconsistent and contradictory in nature. They also pointed out that nearly every witness of Sick's had either been indicted or was under investigation by the Department of Justice. Like the Newsweek investigation, they had also debunked the claims of Reagan election campaign officials being in Paris during the timeframe that Sick specified, contradicting Sick's sources.

The Village Voice

Retired CIA analyst and counter-intelligence officer Frank Snepp of The Village Voice reviewed Sick's allegations, publishing an article in February 1992. Snepp alleged that Sick had only interviewed half of the sources used in his book, and supposedly relied on hearsay from unreliable sources for large amounts of critical material. Snepp also discovered that Sick had sold the rights to his book to Oliver Stone in 1989. After going through evidence presented by Richard Brenneke, Snepp asserted that Brenneke's credit card receipts showed him to be in Portland, Oregon, during the time he claimed to be in Paris observing the secret meeting.

Senate investigation

The US Senate's November 1992 report concluded that "by any standard, the credible evidence now known falls far short of supporting the allegation of an agreement between the Reagan campaign and Iran to delay the release of the hostages."

House of Representatives investigation

The House of Representatives' January 1993 report concluded "there is no credible evidence supporting any attempt by the Reagan presidential campaign—or persons associated with the campaign—to delay the release of the American hostages in Iran". The task force Chairman Lee H. Hamilton (D-Indiana) also added that the vast majority of the sources and material reviewed by the committee were "wholesale fabricators or were impeached by documentary evidence". The report also expressed the belief that several witnesses had committed perjury during their sworn statements to the committee, among them Richard Brenneke, who claimed to be a CIA agent.

Allegations

Former Iranian President Banisadr

It is now very clear that there were two separate agreements, one the official agreement with Carter in Algeria, the other, a secret agreement with another party, which, it is now apparent, was Reagan. They made a deal with Reagan that the hostages should not be released until after Reagan became president. So, then in return, Reagan would give them arms. We have published documents which show that US arms were shipped, via Israel, in March, about 2 months after Reagan became president.

— Former Iranian President Abolhassan Banisadr

This accusation was made in Banisadr's 1989 memoir, which also claimed that Henry Kissinger plotted to set up a Palestinian state in the Iranian province of Khuzestan and that Zbigniew Brzezinski conspired with Saddam Hussein to plot Iraq's 1980 invasion of Iran. Foreign Affairs described the book as "a rambling, self-serving series of reminiscences" and "long on sensational allegations and devoid of documentation that might lend credence to Bani-Sadr's claims".

Writing again in 2013 in The Christian Science Monitor, Banisadr reiterated and elaborated on his earlier statements:

I was deposed in June 1981 as a result of a coup against me. After arriving in France, I told a BBC reporter that I had left Iran to expose the symbiotic relationship between Khomeinism and Reaganism. Ayatollah Khomeini and Ronald Reagan had organized a clandestine negotiation, later known as the "October Surprise", which prevented the attempts by myself and then-US President Jimmy Carter to free the hostages before the 1980 US presidential election took place. The fact that they were not released tipped the results of the election in favor of Reagan.

Two of my advisors, Hussein Navab Safavi and Sadr-al-Hefazi, were executed by Khomeini's regime because they had become aware of this secret relationship between Khomeini, his son Ahmad, the Islamic Republican Party, and the Reagan administration.

Barbara Honegger

Barbara Honegger was a campaign staffer and policy analyst for Reagan who resigned her post as a special assistant in the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division in 1983 after publicly criticizing what she claimed was the administration's lack of commitment to gender equality. She claims that while working for Reagan she discovered information that made her believe that George H. W. Bush and William Casey had conspired to assure that Iran would not free the U.S. hostages until Jimmy Carter had been defeated in the 1980 presidential election, and she alleges that arms sales to Iran were a part of that bargain. In 1987, in the context of the Iran–Contra investigations, Honegger was reported as saying that shortly after October 22, 1980, when Iran abruptly changed the terms of its deal with Carter, a member of the Reagan campaign told her "We don't have to worry about an 'October surprise.' Dick cut a deal," with "Dick" referring to Richard V. Allen.

Michael Riconosciuto

In context of his involvement in the Inslaw affair, Michael Riconosciuto claimed that Reagan associate Earl Brian worked on an agreement with the Iranian government to delay the release of the hostages, and that the software was stolen in order to raise funds for Brian's payment.

Kevin Phillips

Political historian Kevin Phillips has been a proponent of the idea. In his 2004 book American Dynasty, although Phillips concedes that many of the specific allegations were proven false, he also argues that in his opinion, Reagan campaign officials "probably" were involved in a scheme "akin to" the specific scheme alleged by Sick.

Chase Bank revelations

In a memoir by Joseph V. Reed Jr. it is revealed that the "team" around David Rockefeller "collaborated closely with the Reagan campaign in its efforts to pre-empt and discourage what it derisively labeled an "October surprise" — a pre-election release of the American hostages, the papers show. The Chase team helped the Reagan campaign gather and spread rumors about possible payoffs to win the release, a propaganda effort that Carter administration officials have said impeded talks to free the captives."

Duane "Dewey" Clarridge

Shortly after the death of Duane Clarridge in April 2016, Newsweek published an article by Nicholas Schou claiming that the former CIA operations officer and Iran–Contra figure had previously told him that the October Surprise conspiracy as depicted in George Cave's novel, October 1980, was "really true". Schou noted that Cave denied actually believing that officials working on behalf of Reagan plotted to delay the release of the hostages.

Declassified 1980 CIA memo

In 2017, a declassified CIA 1980 memo was released in which the agency concluded "Iranian hardliners – especially Ayatollah Khomeini" were "determined to exploit the hostage issue to bring about President Carter's defeat in the November elections." MuckRock, a press organization specialized in Freedom of Information Act requests, argued that "While the document doesn't prove the Reagan campaign intended to collude with Iran, it does document Iran's motives and matches the October Surprise narrative outlined by former CIA officers George Cave and Duane 'Dewey' Clarridge."

Ben Barnes

In March 2023, Peter Baker reported in The New York Times that former Texas governor John Connally, who had sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1980, travelled to several Arab countries and Israel between July 1980 and August 1980. According to Connally's close associate Ben Barnes, who accompanied him on the trip, Connally told the Arab officials whom he spoke with to relay a message to Iran to the effect that "Ronald Reagan's going to be elected president and you need to get the word to Iran that they're going to make a better deal with Reagan than they are Carter." Barnes also recounted accompanying Connally to a September 1980 meeting in Houston in which Connally briefed William J. Casey, Reagan's campaign manager and a central figure in many versions of the "October Surprise" theory, on the outcome of the trip, with Casey specifically asking if " were going to hold the hostages."

While there is documentation that this trip to the Middle East occurred and that Connally communicated with close Reagan associates during the trip, Baker states that there are "no diaries or memos to corroborate" Barnes's recollection of what, specifically, Connally told the Arab officials. Additionally, Barnes's account does not confirm "debunked previous theories of what happened," such as the Reagan campaign reaching an arms-for-hostages agreement with Iran prior to the outcome of the 1980 election. Barnes avoided scrutiny during the congressional "October Surprise" investigations, but his anecdote about Connally had been previously published in H. W. Brands's 2015 biography of Reagan, albeit "generat little public notice at the time" according to Baker. Barnes acknowledged not being in a position to assess personal involvement by Reagan himself or the effect (if any) that Connally's overture may have had on Iranian actions.

In May 2023, Sick, former Carter administration Chief Domestic Policy Advisor Stuart E. Eizenstat, author Kai Bird, and journalist Jonathan Alter published an article in The New Republic outlining the various allegations and circumstantial evidence (including Barnes' allegations) that have emerged in the decades following the earlier investigations, declaring the credibility of the theory to be "all but settled."

See also

• Iran–Contra affair
• Jimmy Carter's engagement with Ruhollah Khomeini

References

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51. Abol Hassan Bani-Sadr. "My Turn to Speak: Iran, the Revolution and Secret Deals with the US". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
52. "'Argo' helps Iran's dictatorship, harms democracy". Christian Science Monitor. March 5, 2013. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
53. ^ Hosenball, Mark (October 9, 1988). "IF IT'S OCTOBER...THEN IT'S TIME FOR AN IRANIAN CONSPIRACY THEORY". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
54. New Statesman Society, Volume 1, Issues 13-21. Statesman & Nation Publishing Company Limited. 1988. p. 16.
55. Hasson, Judi (August 22, 1983). "Sex bias searcher quits post". UPI.com. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
56. Jack McKinney (August 3, 1987). "A Question Never Asked Did Reagan Cut Deal With Iran To Win In '80?". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on May 4, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
57. Lippman, Thomas W. (May 4, 1991). "TALE OF HOSTAGE INTRIGUE REFUSES TO DIE". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 8, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
58. Phillips, Kevin (2004). American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush. Penguin Books. pp. 278–290. ISBN 0-670-03264-6., reviewed at Amazon.com "search inside" feature
59. Kirkpatrick, David D. (December 29, 2019). "How a Chase Bank Chairman Helped the Deposed Shah of Iran Enter the U.S." The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 29, 2019. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
60. Schou, Nicholas (April 24, 2016). "The 'October Surprise' Was Real, Legendary Spymaster Hints in Final Interview". Newsweek. Archived from the original on April 25, 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
61. ^ North-Best, Emma (July 24, 2017). "Declassified CIA memo predicted the 1980 October Surprise". MuckRock. Archived from the original on November 13, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
62. ^ Baker, Peter (March 18, 2023). "A Four-Decade Secret: The Untold Story of Sabotaging Jimmy Carter's Re-election". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 18, 2023. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
63. Alter, Jonathan; Sick, Gary; Bird, Kai; Eizenstat, Stu (May 3, 2023). "It's All but Settled: The Reagan Campaign Delayed the Release of the Iranian Hostages". The New Republic. Retrieved July 22, 2023.

External links

• The Newsweek and New Republic articles cited above, as reprinted in the Congressional Record
• Chapter from Eighty Greatest Conspiracies of All Time
• Article from Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia addressing October Surprise conspiracy
• Gary Sick, Discredited but Honored by Emanuele Ottolenghi in Middle East Quarterly

v t e Jimmy Carter
39th President of the United States (1977–1981) 76th Governor of Georgia (1971–1975) Georgia State Senator (1963–1967)
Presidency (timeline)	Transition Inauguration Timeline 1977 1978 1979 1980 January 1981 Political positions Judicial appointments controversies Executive Actions Executive Order 12036 Executive Order 12086 Executive Order 12148 Executive Order 12170 Executive Order 12172 Carter bonds Rabbit incident Carter Doctrine Camp David Accords Egypt–Israel peace treaty Torrijos–Carter Treaties Iran hostage crisis Operation Eagle Claw Canadian Caper Engagement with Ruhollah Khomeini 1979 oil crisis Support for Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War Diplomatic relations with China Goldwater v. Carter Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 Senior Executive Service Strategic Arms Limitation Talks International trips 1980 Summer Olympics boycott Cannabis policy Community Reinvestment Act Airline Deregulation Act Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977 Clean Water Act of 1977 Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act Federal Reserve Reform Act of 1977 Electronic Fund Transfer Act Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Financial Institutions Regulatory and Interest Rate Control Act of 1978 Right to Financial Privacy Act Humphrey–Hawkins Full Employment Act Superfund Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 Solar power at the White House Three Mile Island accident Presidential transition of Ronald Reagan
Speeches	Moral Equivalent of War Island of Stability A Crisis of Confidence State of the Union Addresses 1978 1979 1980 1981
Elections	Georgia gubernatorial elections 1966 1970 Democratic Party presidential primaries 1976 1980 Democratic National Conventions 1972 1976 1980 Presidential elections 1976 campaign 1980
Post-presidency	Carter Center Presidential Library and Museum Habitat for Humanity Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project The Elders Jimmy Carter National Historical Park Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter House Nairobi Agreement, 1999 One America Appeal Continuity of Government Commission
Books	Everything to Gain (1987) The Hornet's Nest (2003) Our Endangered Values (2006) Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (2006) reaction and commentary Beyond the White House (2007) We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land (2009) White House Diary (2010) A Call to Action (2014) A Full Life (2015)
Awards and honors	Nobel Peace Prize Presidential Medal of Freedom Freedom of the City Silver Buffalo Award Philadelphia Liberty Medal United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights Hoover Medal Christopher Award Carter–Menil Human Rights Prize Grammy Award
Legacy	Jimmy Carter Peanut Statue (1976) USS Jimmy Carter Jimmy Carter National Historical Park (1987) Georgia State Capitol statue (1994)
Related	Residences Birthplace Home Mary Prince (nanny) UFO incident Jimmy Carter (2002 television documentary) Man from Plains (2007 documentary)
Family	Rosalynn Carter (wife) Jack Carter (son) Amy Carter (daughter) Jason Carter (grandson) James Earl Carter Sr. (father) Lillian Gordy Carter (mother) Gloria Carter Spann (sister) Ruth Carter Stapleton (sister) Billy Carter (brother) Emily Dolvin (aunt) Hugh Carter (cousin)
← Gerald Ford Ronald Reagan → Category

v t e Ronald Reagan
40th President of the United States (1981–1989) 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975)
Life and politics	Birthplace Pitney Store Boyhood home Rancho del Cielo Filmography Political positions Governorship of California Presidential Library and Museum Reagan Era Death and state funeral
Presidency	Transition First inauguration Second inauguration Domestic policy Economic policy Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 Tax Reform Act of 1986 Assassination attempt Strategic Defense Initiative Foreign policy Reagan Doctrine Cold War 1st term 2nd term Soviet Union summits Geneva Reykjavík Washington INF Treaty Moscow Governors Island Constructive engagement Invasion of Grenada Iran–Contra affair Libya bombing Cannabis policy International trips The Grace Commission Cabinet Judicial appointments Supreme Court controversies Administration scandals "We begin bombing in five minutes" Impeachment efforts Executive orders Presidential proclamations Bush transition
Speeches	Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine (1961) "A Time for Choosing" (1964) Neshoba County Fair "states' rights" speech (1980) First inaugural address (1981) Joint session of Congress (1981) "Ash heap of history" (1982) "Evil empire" (1983) Second inaugural address (1985) "Tear down this wall!" (1987) State of the Union 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988
Books	An American Life The Reagan Diaries
Elections	1966 California gubernatorial election 11th commandment 1970 California gubernatorial election Republican presidential primaries (1968 1976 1980 1984) Republican National Convention (1968 1976 1980 1984) 1976 presidential campaign 1980 presidential campaign "There you go again" "Let's make America great again" 1984 presidential campaign "Morning in America" "Bear in the woods" United States presidential election (1976 1980 1984)
Cultural depictions	Bibliography In music Let Them Eat Jellybeans! (1981) U.S. Postage stamps Rap Master Ronnie Ed the Happy Clown (1983 comic series) Spitting Image (TV series) (1984) A Mind Forever Voyaging (1985 game) The Dark Knight Returns (1986) film adaptation Pizza Man (1991 film) The Day Reagan Was Shot (2001 film) Reagan's War (2002 book) The Reagans (2003 film) Reagan (2011 documentary) The Butler (2013 film) Killing Reagan (2015 book) Killing Reagan (2016 film) Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020 game) The Reagans (2020 miniseries) Reagan (2023 film) "What would Reagan do?" Reykjavik (TBA)
Memorials	U.S. Capitol statue USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) Namesakes and memorials Ronald Reagan Day Reagan Day Dinner
Family	Jane Wyman (first wife) Nancy Reagan (second wife) Maureen Reagan (daughter) Michael Reagan (adopted son) Patti Davis (daughter) Ron Reagan (son) Jack Reagan (father) Nelle Wilson Reagan (mother) Neil Reagan (brother) Rex (dog)
← Jimmy Carter George H. W. Bush → Category

v t e Iran–United States relations
Diplomatic posts	Embassy of Iran, Washington, D.C. Ambassadors of Iran to the United States Embassy of the United States, Tehran Ambassadors of the United States to Iran Interests Section of Iran in the United States Consulate-General of the United States, Tabriz Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Iran–United States Claims Tribunal Iranian Directorate Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group
Diplomacy	Persian Corridor Persian Gulf Command Nationalization of the Iranian oil industry 1953 Iranian coup d'état Abadan Crisis Timeline Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations and Consular Rights Exercise Delawar Project Dark Gene Safari Club Island of Stability Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's letter to George W. Bush Correspondence between Barack Obama and Ali Khamenei Phone conversation between Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Negotiations Joint Plan of Action Framework Reactions Criticism Aftermath U.S. withdrawal
Conflicts	Iran–Iraq War United States support for Iraq Bridgeton incident Iran Air Flight 655 Iran Ajr Iran–Contra affair Operation Staunch Operation Eager Glacier Operation Earnest Will Operation Prime Chance Operation Nimble Archer Operation Praying Mantis Syrian civil war Yemeni Civil War Arab–Israeli alliance against Iran Abraham Accords February 2019 Warsaw Conference Iran–Israel proxy conflict Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict Russia–Syria–Iran–Iraq coalition International Maritime Security Construct Assassination of Qasem Soleimani reactions Thirteen revenge scenarios Donald Trump's threat for the destruction of Iranian cultural sites Operation Martyr Soleimani 2020 Camp Taji attacks
Incidents after 1979	Assassination of Paul R. Shaffer and John H. Turner Iranian revolution Iran hostage crisis Timeline Guadeloupe Conference Operation Credible Sport Operation Eagle Claw Canadian Caper Jimmy Carter's engagement with Ruhollah Khomeini 1980 October Surprise theory Negotiations Algiers Accords America can't do a damn thing against us Beirut barracks bombings Khobar Towers bombing Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal Disappearance of Robert Levinson United States kill or capture strategy in Iraq United States raid on the Iranian Liaison Office in Erbil Kidnapping of Jalal Sharafi 2008 Naval dispute Filipino Monkey Project Cassandra Detention of American hikers United States diplomatic cables leak 2011 alleged Iran assassination plot Strait of Hormuz dispute RQ-170 incident MV Maersk Tigris 2016 Naval incident Nuclear program of Iran Timeline P5+1 Operation Merlin Charming Kitten Stuxnet Kidnapping of Hossein Alikhani Arrest of Meng Wanzhou Deportation of Iranian students at US airports May 2019 Gulf of Oman incident June 2019 Gulf of Oman incident 2019 Iranian shoot-down of American drone 2019 K-1 Air Base attack December 2019 United States airstrikes in Iraq and Syria Attack on the United States embassy in Baghdad 2020 Iran explosions 2021 Erbil rocket attacks 2021 Natanz incident February 2021 United States airstrike in Syria Leaked Mohammad Javad Zarif audiotape June 2021 United States airstrike in Syria July 2021 Gulf of Oman incident August 2021 Gulf of Oman incident 2021 U.S.–Iran naval incident 2022 Erbil missile attacks 2023 Northeastern Syria clashes Seizure of Suez Rajan and St Nikolas Attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq, Jordan, and Syria (2023–present) 2024 Erbil attack Tower 22 drone attack Iranian interference in the 2024 United States elections
Legislation	United States sanctions against Iran Maximum pressure campaign Executive Order 12170 Executive Order 12172 Executive Order 13769 reactions Trump travel ban Executive Order 13780 Executive Order 13876 Iran and Libya Sanctions Act Iran Nonproliferation Act Iran, North Korea, Syria Nonproliferation Act Iran Freedom and Support Act Iran Sanctions Enhancement Act Kyl–Lieberman Amendment Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act Public Law 113-100 Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act Dames & Moore v. Regan United States Diplomatic and Consular Staff in Tehran Oil Platforms case United States v. Banki Bank Markazi v. Peterson Certain Iranian Assets Rubin v. Islamic Republic of Iran Alleged violations of Treaty of Amity
Groups and individuals	Iran Action Group Iran–America Society Iranian Students Association in the United States National Iranian American Council Organization of Iranian American Communities United Against Nuclear Iran Farashgard Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Jundallah Kingdom Assembly of Iran National Council of Iran National Council of Resistance of Iran People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran Elliott Abrams Howard Baskerville William J. Fallon Brian Hook Joseph Macmanus Robert Malley Stephen D. Mull Erwin David Rabhan Jason Rezaian Scott Ritter Craig Wadsworth Michael R. White Roxana Saberi Saeed Abedini Saeid Aboutaleb Shahram Amiri Sirous Asgari Mahmoud Reza Banki Haleh Esfandiari Amir Mirza Hekmati Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil Shahrzad Mirgholikhan Mohammad Hosseini Esha Momeni Mohammad Mosaddegh Baquer Namazi Siamak Namazi Sahar Nowrouzzadeh Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran Noor Pahlavi Trita Parsi Maryam Rajavi Abdolreza Shahlaei Ali Shakeri Masoud Soleimani Morad Tahbaz Kian Tajbakhsh Karan Vafadari Xiyue Wang Nizar Zakka Iranian Guantanamo Bay detainees Abdul Majid Muhammed
Related	1998 FIFA World Cup match Academic relations between Iran and the United States American Islam Anti-American sentiment in Iran Axis of evil CIA activities in Iran Copyright relations Death to America Dual containment Great Satan International Conference on Hollywoodism Iran and state-sponsored terrorism Iranian frozen assets Opposition to military action against Iran State Sponsor of Terrorism United States involvement in regime change United States and state-sponsored terrorism 650 Fifth Avenue Alavi Foundation Alborz High School American Institute of Iranian Studies American School of Isfahan Community School, Tehran Damavand College Iran Bethel School Iranzamin School Saint Peter Church, Tehran Tehran American School "Bomb Iran" Overthrow Not for the Faint of Heart
Category

• October 1980 events in the United States
• 1980 in Iran
• 1980 in American politics
• 1980 United States presidential election
• Conspiracy theories in the United States
• Investigative journalism
• Iran hostage crisis
• Iran–United States relations
• Carter administration controversies
• Reagan administration controversies
• Abolhassan Banisadr