Penn State University - La Vie Yearbook (University Park, PA)

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l8 DecadeHntcrnalional

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On a gray Sunday morning, Nov. 4, Students invoking the name of Iranis Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini invaded the US. Embassy in Tehran, over- whelmed its Marine guards and took 62 Americans hostage. Their demand: sur- render the deposed Shah of Iran - then Undergoing cancer treatments in New York - for the release of the American hostages. Tuesday following the seige Prime Minister Bazargan resigned his power- ful position in Iran, reinforcing the pow- er of the ruling clergy; the government Was soon replaced by the Revolutionary Council. . After a week of retaliation and counter-threats between the United States and Iran, a first break came in the crisis: Khomeini ordered the release of five women and eight black men who were being held hostage, announcing that lilslam grants to women a special status, and blacks have spent ages under American pressure and tyranny? At the Safne time, a spokesman for the students said the hostages would be tried for espi- onagc in the Islamic Revolutionary Courts and llpunished in accordance Hostage Crisis with the severity of their crimes. In late April. President Carter decid- ed to take drastic action by ordering an Air Force rescue team to Tehran; the top secret operation failed dismally. A sand- storm caused a fatal crash at the desert staging site, some 250 miles outside of the capital city. The mission had to be aborted. and eight American lives were lost. On the 250th day of captivity for the remaining 53 hostages. one of them, Vice Consul Richard Queen, was unex- pectedly set free when he became seri- ously ill. Although by this point, the world was anxiously awaiting the release of all the hostages, their days in captiv- ity continued. False hopes rose again for the Ameri- cans in late July with the death of the Shah who succumbed to complications from lymphatic cancer. The stubborn Khomeini however, did not budge. After coming through nearly a year of tension and anticipation, Americans faced the approach of Election Day, and the 8 year anniversary of captivity. President Carter at last sat down to seri- ous talks with the Iranian parliament. InternationaUDecade a The assembly approved four demands set forth by Khomeini as conditions for release of the hostages: a US. pledge not to interfere in Iranian affairs, the return of the fortune of itthe cursed Shah? the unfreezing of Iranian assets in US. banks, and the cancellation of US. legal and financial claims against Iran. Negotiations continued right through the final days of Jimmy Carteris presi- dency, until the last details were ironed out with the help of Algerian diplomats. And on Jan. 27 -- Inauguration Day for Ronald Reagan - a plane carrying the 52 hostages to freedom lifted off from Tehran runway. After stopping for sev- eral days at a West German hospital, the freed Americans made their way back home. Arriving at West Point, NY. on Jan. 1981, the former hostages were warmly welcomed home by tearful rela- tives and exuberant well-wishers who waved American flags and cheered amidst a haze of yellow ribbons. The hostages were finally home, united with families, with friends, and with an entire nation in a spirit of celebration and re- newed hope. a Liz Chesny Khomeini Takes Charge In Early in January 1979, the 37-year reign of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi lthe Shah of Iranl was taken over in one of the greatest political upheavals of the post World War II era. The revolution was instigated by theologian named Ru- hollah Khomeini, who had attained the title of Ayatullah in the late seventies. Problems arose as early as 1963 when Iran was swept up in riots initiated by the powerful Islamic clergy against the Shahls White Revolution. This well- meaning reform abolished the feudal landlore-peasant system, breaking up properties administered by the Shiite clergy and reducing their income. The Shah supressed those disturbances with- out outside help, in part by aailing one of the activists, Khomeini. In 1964, Kho- meini was arrested and exiled e first to Turkey, and then to Iraq, where he con- tinued to preach against the Shah and promote his vision of Iran as an uIslamic republic. Iran The preaching seemed to have little effect, as the Shah set about building the most thoroughly Westernized nation in all of the Muslim world. By 1978 the Shah had alienated almost all factions of Iranian society. Westernized intellectu- als were infuriated by rampant corrup- tion and repression; workers and peas- ants by selective prosperity; merchants by Shah-supported business-men who monopolized bank credits. contracts and imports; the clergy and their pious Mus- lim followers by new gambling casinos, bars, and discoteques. By October 1978, a full-fledged revolution was inprogress. Khomeini came out of exile to leas the revolt and gather a substantial follow- ing. In January 1979, the Shah and his empress fled the country in exile, leaving Iran in the power of the clergy com- manded by the vengeful Ayatullah Kho- meini. - Liz Chesny lnternationaUDecade l7

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Decade: Inter- natlonal The international scene was marked by many memorable events in the past decade. Americans had become disillusioned with the Vietnam War. particularly when former President Nixon stepped up the effort early in 1970 with a Cambodian invasion. Hundreds of thousands of Americans died in the battle, were held prisoner or were classified as miss- ing-in-action. The war was opposed more strongly than any other before in our history. American troops pulled out of Vietnam after all parties to the conflict agreed to a cease-fire. and our involvement was ended in 1973 by the signing of a peace treaty in Paris. The decade witnessed two sets of Olympic Games. Unfortunately, the 1972 games turned into tragedy at the hands of eight Pal- estinian terrorists who broke into the Israeli teamis quarters just before dawn and killed eleven athletes. In 1977. the bitter 29-year hostility between Egypt and Israel was ended. Egyptian Presi- dent Anwar Sadat announced he was prepared to visit Israel in the interests of peace; Premier Menachem Begin agreed to welcome him in Tel Aviv. The peace talks ended with the sign- ing of the treaty after just 13 days. Also in 1977, Leonid I. Brezhnev became head of the Russian state. At the age of 70. Brezhnev ousted 74-year-old Nikolai V. Pod- gorny from the presidency and took the title for himself. thus becoming the first Soviet rul- er to hold the titles of both head-of-state and general secretary of the Communist Party. On July 25. 1978. the worlds first test tube baby was born in Oldham. England. The baby was conceived in a dish in an English laborato- ry. and implanted in her motheris womb two days later. Catholics of the world were governed by three different popes in 1978. Paul V1 and John Paul I both passed away. and John Paul II took over papal rule. John Paul II traveled 11.500 miles across the United States. offering prayers. greetings and homiles to thousands. It will be a long while before the world for- gets the terror and tragedy of Guyana. where the Reverend Jim Jones talked all 914 mem- bers of his TTPeople's Temple into killing themselves and their children in their jungle settlement. Jones squeezed the fortunes out of the insecure and smooth-talked Guyanese om- eials into leasing him 27,000 acres to found a socialist settlement. e Wendy Zoldas DecadeHnternational 19