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Episode 215 JIMMY CARTER ( Part 25) The Iranian Hostage Crisis Show 3 Freedom

Randal Wallace Season 10 Episode 215

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In this episode we draw the crisis to a close. Jimmy Carter has lost his bid for re-election and Ronald Reagan is on the verge of the Presidency.  In this episode we take you through the story of Jimmy Carter's frantic final days as he races against time to end the hostage standoff before he leaves office. 

We will also take a look at the media who covered the story, mainly for ABC News. For it was under the leadership of ABC News President Roone Arledge that a new show was born, "Nightline" which had been known for a while as "America Held Hostage" . Arledge had a vision of a late night news program that could compete with "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" but he had yet to find the type of continuing story that could build a steady audience. They had covered the death of Elvis Presley but that had been sort of a one night event. 

The Hostage Crisis would be that story he had looked for and it would captivate the nation for 444 days. By the time the story was over, ABC News had a hit on its hand, "Nightline with Ted Koppel" was born, and they would cover those final days  where Jimmy Carter would literally work, with no sleep,  to the very end of his Presidency to insure that every single American Hostage would come home from Tehran, Iran,  alive. 

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