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N0KFQ > TODAY 04.11.16 14:39l 69 Lines 3345 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 12265_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Nov 4
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<IK6ZDE<F1OYP<LU4ECL<CT1ENI<N0KFQ
Sent: 161104/1233Z 12265@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ6.0.13
1979
Iranian students storm U.S. embassy in Tehran, leading to oil
embargo
On this day in 1979, hundreds of Iranian students storm the U.S.
Embassy in Tehran, taking more than 60 American hostages. The
students, supporters of the conservative Muslim cleric Ayatollah
Khomeini, were demanding the return of Iran's deposed leader, the
Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, who had fled to Egypt in January 1979
and by November was receiving cancer treatment in the United
States. After the student takeover, President Jimmy Carter
ordered a complete embargo of Iranian oil.
This embargo only exacerbated an energy crisis that had been
going on since the beginning of 1979. An Iranian oil-field strike
and the January revolution had disrupted oil supplies from that
part of the Middle East, and the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel had announced a per-barrel fee
increase that sent prices inching toward an all-time high. By the
time the students took over the Embassy in November, Americans
were already dealing with the effects of this crisis: long lines
and short tempers at gas pumps, panics over gasoline and heating
oil shortages, and frustration with the inefficient, gas-guzzling
vehicles manufactured by American automakers.
This "oil shock" reminded many Americans of the oil crisis of
1973-1974, when an Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) embargo sent gasoline prices through the roof: By the time
that embargo ended, the average retail price of gas had climbed
to 84 cents per gallon from 38 cents per gallon. As a result, the
big, heavy cars that American automakers were famous for became
incredibly expensive to operate_many got fewer than 10 miles to
every gallon of gas!_and many people traded their gas-guzzling
muscle cars and gigantic luxury sedans for more fuel-efficient
compact cars. This episode had not ended well for American
carmakers, who had rushed some smaller cars to market without
thoroughly checking them for problems and quirks, which in turn
contributed to their growing reputation for unreliability and
poor craftsmanship. Once the immediate crisis had subsided, most
of those domestic compacts were left to languish on dealers'
lots.
1979's hostage crisis compounded the energy crisis_and, in fact,
many historians believe that the combination of the two events
cost President Carter his job_but there were a few winners.
Japanese carmakers, for instance, gained a reputation for
building inexpensive, reliable, efficient cars that were
particularly well-suited to the new era of austerity. Datsun,
Subaru, Toyota and Honda_whose Accord sedan was one of the most
successful cars of 1979_all used the energy crisis to gain a
permanent foothold in the American marketplace.
In April 1980, President Carter severed all diplomatic relations
with the Iranian government, but after a top-secret rescue
mission failed, he resumed negotiations with the Khomeini regime.
Despite his best efforts to win the hostages' freedom while he
was still in office, Carter did not get much credit for their
release: The Iranians let the hostages go on January 20, 1981,
just minutes after new elected president Ronald Reagan finished
his inaugural address.
73 - K.O., n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
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