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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA Four-Decade Secret: One Man's Story of Sabotaging Carter's Re-election
Iran and the Reagan campaign conspired to cheat win the 1980 election. The hostages held by Iran was a major issue in that election and the failed attempt by President Carter to negotiate a release or rescue of these hostages was a major deal. Reagan promised the Iranian clergy to not make a deal with President Carter and that Reagan would give the Iranians a better deal. This is the same treasonous act that Nixon did in the 1968 with the Vietcong
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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/us/politics/jimmy-carter-october-surprise-iran-hostages.html?unlocked_article_code=nVdsauiZTNp0fERHxsRn1JxxzIvw8LUvmmRHo2xwblDcu9TMpfdBOo1GncZsyN-8SwbCHlH6VdclbLcHL9eN4_6jynS7RRs-shtOrQu2TzIUe4Zt6GsuCYzwAh1sWWpFRLeE5JvCfdWIhi0Doph22mrZvRMaxQkGbVkFBE9oIz1DnR5ltnmjMpmW8v64YsJK9sSWBWtpG1wigJ3PtfHzxwLNheRnt5vXoB-z7kxwnY8-DuwSN0I5H7IiVVeC-8Oa_Sf-t92Ea6K_gjo0GkJjnLM15Vc4k_DvCGbCPbs7UlVki8VdppOlIFjOEKJEE-LxNpJL2bDXwHEfVESdr_xkmUZImRzAaeS_5ng_zts4f9RQAdf4nfLWJMs&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
It was 1980 and Jimmy Carter was in the White House, bedeviled by a hostage crisis in Iran that had paralyzed his presidency and hampered his effort to win a second term. Mr. Carters best chance for victory was to free the 52 Americans held captive before Election Day. That was something that Mr. Barnes said his mentor was determined to prevent.
His mentor was John B. Connally Jr., a titan of American politics and former Texas governor who had served three presidents and just lost his own bid for the White House. A former Democrat, Mr. Connally had sought the Republican nomination in 1980 only to be swamped by former Gov. Ronald Reagan of California. Now Mr. Connally resolved to help Mr. Reagan beat Mr. Carter and in the process, Mr. Barnes said, make his own case for becoming secretary of state or defense in a new administration.
What happened next Mr. Barnes has largely kept secret for nearly 43 years. Mr. Connally, he said, took him to one Middle Eastern capital after another that summer, meeting with a host of regional leaders to deliver a blunt message to be passed to Iran: Dont release the hostages before the election. Mr. Reagan will win and give you a better deal.....
News of Mr. Barness account came as validation to some of Mr. Carters remaining advisers. Gerald Rafshoon, who was his White House communications director, said any interference may have changed history. If we had gotten the hostages home, wed have won, I really believe that, he said. Its pretty damn outrageous.
Skittles
(152,964 posts)what a piece of utter fucking SHIT he was
PCIntern
(25,342 posts)In many ways he made Nixon look positive by comparison. His presidency was worse than anyone will ever know. Even the Democrats these days are complicit in allowing the myth of Reagan to persist. I would posit that most if not all the political, lying and phony patriotism, and absolutely fake religiosity can be traced to that Reagan administration. It shouldve been exposed for what it was at the time and maybe we would not have suffered as we have.
BadgerMom
(2,766 posts)such as it was. As a Californian, it never affected me in the least. He was so phony.
I was thrilled because that ass left office just in time NOT to sign my diploma from UC. I couldnt have been happier to have Jerry Browns name on my diploma.
But Tip ONeill, an otherwise terrific Democrat, played right along with Reagan. I always had to pick up my jaw from the ground listening to how the Speaker and the President got along. I prefer Speaker Pelosis attitude toward Republican presidents.
mountain grammy
(26,568 posts)and to me as well. The right is ruthless and there truely is a vast right wing conspiracy.
They're nazi's you know.
LetMyPeopleVote
(143,998 posts)Ilsa
(61,675 posts)this under wraps back then, besides the guilty party? If Ds had any proof then, I would have liked to have read about then.
ificandream
(9,192 posts)On Capitol Hill. In the media. This shouldn't have been under wraps until now.
PSPS
(13,512 posts)The last legitimately-elected republican president was Eisenhower.
Deuxcents
(15,776 posts)Rhiannon12866
(202,970 posts)dflprincess
(28,057 posts)Ronnie wasn't smart enough to pull something like this off.
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)Plus, you know...whatever illegal shenanigans anyone wants to list when he was head of the CIA.
ificandream
(9,192 posts)From Wikipedia:
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.
I mean for fuck's sake, why didn't anyone take this up back then? Wasn't it all too fucking obvious what Reagan did here?
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)I don't seem to recall Carter, Clinton, Obama or Biden making deals with foreign nations that were not our friends so that the President and his friends could benefit.