All language subtitles for Desert.One.2019.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX].eng

[soft dramatic music]

♪

[indistinct radio chatter]

♪

- To take off from
a nuclear carrier

in a helicopter
from a clear deck--

yeah, it was very exhilarating,

exhilarating to know
what we were going to do.

- This was
a classified operation.

Nobody knew.

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

♪

[helicopter whirring]

- We have passed
the point of no return...

- I thought that
President Carter's guidance

to put together
a rescue mission

was absolutely appropriate.

- We knew we were doing
something that was right.

[crowds chanting
in foreign language]]

- If you say Desert One,

the average American,
they don't remember that.

- What I saw was chilling.

♪

[crowd shouting]
[cheers and applause]

♪

- When I was about 11,

my father got a job

in Southern Iran
in the oil business,

and I actually went there
with him for about a year.

[distant chatter,
sheep bleating]

I learned
a little bit of Farsi

and got an appreciation
for Southern Iran,

came back
to the United States,

and years later, I enlisted.

The army asked me
if I would like

to be a foreign area officer,

and Iran was on the list.

Little-known fact,
Iran has the potential

for having some
of the very best skiing

in the entire world,

the perfect champagne
powder snow conditions.

[funky synth music]

♪

So when they offered Iran,

I knew a little bit
about the language.

I knew a little bit
about the country.

I figured, hey,
this is gonna be a cornerstone

of American foreign policy
for the rest of my career.

Why not specialize?
So I did.

[wind whooshing]

- My father was assigned
to Iran

with something called
community development.

It was the ancestor of USAID,

and I was a college student
at the time,

and so I was able to go there

in the summer of '62
to visit them.

This was my first time
out of the United States.

Years later,
when I went into Peace Corps,

they said Iran, and I said,
"Well, that sounds fine.

I have this little bit
of exposure to it."

So I was assigned there
as an English teacher.

[indistinct speech over PA]

Of course,
the art is interesting.

The poetry is beautiful.

Some of the architecture
is exquisite,

but the main thing there
is at the end of my service,

I met my--my wife.

[tender music]

and we ended up having
both of our children there.

♪

I joined
the U.S. Foreign Service,

and because I knew
Persian pretty well,

the State Department asked me,

"Do you want
to serve in Iran?"

and I said no because

I thought our policies
were too--

we were too close
to the Shah...

[grand band music playing]

And under the Shah,

Iran was a dictatorship.

[trumpet fanfare playing]

The Shah was seen
as an American puppet

doing what the Americans
wanted to do.

[cheers and applause]

[indistinct shouting]

- This is the latest
American spy plane.

The Shah of Iran
will get seven of them.

He says he's proven himself
as an ally of the west,

defending a long border
with the Soviet Union.

- Iran permits
no democratic opposition.

Critics of the Shah claim
the military buildup

is intended
for internal control.

- The Shah of Iran has met
with every U.S. president

since Truman,
and has enjoyed a long

and friendly relationship
with the United States.

[cheers and applause]

♪

- Jimmy Carter?
- Jimmy who?

- I don't know who he is.

- I heard he was
a peanut farmer.

[cheers and applause]

- I'm running for president.

[cheers and applause]

- What was the song?

- Oh, Jimmy Carter,
you know, was the song.

"I saw a young man speaking out
just the other day."

- ♪ So stopped
to take a listen ♪

♪ To what he had to say

♪ He spoke straight
and simple ♪

♪ By that I was impressed,
he said ♪

♪ Once and for all,
why not the best? ♪

[soulful music]

- ♪ He said his name
was Jimmy Carter ♪

♪ And I'm running
for president ♪

[laughing] That's definitely--
excuse me, lousy voice.

I had a good--
had a good singer.

- Mark.
Excuse me.

- My life had been mostly
one of successes.

[soft music]

You know, I had been elected
president with a great surprise

to almost everybody except me.

So help me, God.
- Congratulations.

[cheers and applause]

- Well, I had been
a state senator and governor.

I saw that a lot of things
that I wanted to do

in public office
were not being done.

I wanted to maintain peace

and not let the United States
get involved in wars

and also bring peace to others,

and I wanted to enhance

the United States' input
on human rights.

[static buzzes]

- The Shah of Iran arrived
for a state visit

to be greeted by the president,

drums, trumpets, ceremony
on the White House lawn.

[bright band music playing]

- Jimmy Carter,
who is so closely identified

with the cause
of human rights,

a phrase that many believe
mocks reality in Iran.

- Just as the Shah arrived
on the White House grounds,

his opponents surged across
toward his supporters,

and the streets of Washington
became a battleground.

[indistinct shouting]

- President Carter had just
launched into his welcome

for the Shah
when up from the ellipse

rolled a wave of tear gas,

threatening,
but never breaking the will

of the principals to carry on.

[applause]

- [sniffs]

- We attach utmost importance

to our relations
with the United States.

We have never had

the slightest shadow

passing over our relations.

[applause]

[crowd chanting
in foreign language]

[tense percussive music]

- I got to the embassy
in August

of 1978.

My timing was impeccable.

The revolution was

in its very beginning stages.

♪

- All of the resentment
against the Shah

had built up over many years

and found a leader in a cleric

called Ayatollah Khomeini,

and he became this voice

of all different currents
of opposition.

- 3,000 miles away in the mud
of a tiny French village,

Ayatollah Khomeini
was bringing down

the Shah's ultra-modern armies

with commands to followers
sent by tape cassette

and long-distance phone call.

[camera shutter clicks]
- The Shah was at his palace,

and at least here
within its sedate grounds,

all seems right
with the world,

but in streets a few miles
from the palace gates,

the rioting and revolution
that ushered 1978 out

was there as 1979 began.

Within days, he would turn
over governing responsibility

and flee his country
to watch from abroad

as his illusions
of a dynasty collapsed.

[soft dramatic music]

[cars honking]

[crowd shouting indistinctly]

- I saw it all on TV,
of course.

There was shock and amazement

at the size of the crowds,

so I felt like
this was gonna be different.

[crowd shouting
in foreign language]

- And I was told,

"Your foreign area officer
study time in Iran is over.

Go home," and so I did.

And that summer,

they traded out
everybody in the embassy.

[pensive music]

- I was, at that point,
in charge

of the American consulate
in Tabriz, Western Iran.

There were only a couple of us
who spoke Persian, Farsi,

and so we were asked
to stay on.

We ended up being
taken back to Tehran,

and I then joined
the embassy staff.

- The State Department
sent out a notice saying,

"We need people
with experience.

We want people
who know the language

to go there and serve,"
so I volunteered to go,

but my family stayed
in Saudi Arabia.

Iran was in ferment,

and for a foreign
service officer,

ferment is always what you like
because things are happening.

- I was 20 years old,
a young marine,

experienced, trained,

and I was assigned
to the United States embassy

in Tehran, Iran.

I had never in my life
ever heard of that country.

♪

I realized I was actually
going to be assigned

to go into a revolution.

- This was interesting stuff.

How often do you get a chance
to see a tornado

coming right down your street?

You know, you wanna watch it.

It might be stupid,

counterproductive, dangerous,

but it's the kind of thing
people do.

- Today,
a State Department source

says the Shah has cancer.

He was taken
to New York Hospital

on Manhattan's
Upper East Side.

- Most of us at the--
at the embassy thought,

"We're finished.

We're done.

Something bad
is gonna happen."

[crowd chanting
in foreign language]

[tense music]

♪

- Suddenly,

I hear a big racket
out in the streets.

♪

I open the gate,
I peek down the street,

and sure enough, thousands
upon thousands of people

coming down to the embassy,

and it became
a little unnerving to me.

♪

I locked the gate,
started walking back,

and they started
climbing over the gates.

[gate rattling]

♪

I ran as fast as I could back
to that front door,

and they weren't more than
a couple steps behind me

as the doors were slammed.

Immediately, the embassy
was put on shutdown.

♪

- This group calling itself

Muslim Student Followers
of the Imam's Line...

[crowd chanting
in foreign language continues]

Banged their way in
with a set of bolt cutters.

[glass shatters]

- As they came in
the basement window,

the marines were being told,
"Don't shoot.

Hold your cool,
and eventually retreat."

♪

My heart was pounding.

♪

I--I wanted to run,

but there was nowhere to go.

They blindfolded me,

they handcuffed me
behind my back,

and I began to panic.

I began to get scared.

I didn't know what was going
to happen to us.

♪

- The sprawling
26-acre embassy compound

once had a staff of 1,000.

Now it is little more
than a jail.

[crowd chanting
in foreign language]

- According to
a Khomeini spokesman,

the occupation has
the ayatollah's full support.

The hostages will
remain captive

until the Shah is returned.

[crowd chanting
in foreign language]

[angry shouting]

- He added that their fate
is now in Carter's hands.

- At the State Department,

spokesman Hodding Carter
was emphatic.

- Are we considering
handing him over?

Are there any plans to do so
or to meet that demand?

The answer is no.

- The administration is now
emphasizing diplomacy,

leaning on
the Iranian government

as the way to get
the Americans released.

- No one should underestimate

the resolve
of the American government

and the American people
in this matter.

We did two things.

One, we told the--
Ayatollah Khomeini

that if he injured a hostage,

that we would com--
impose a complete blockade

against all trade or commerce
in and out of Iran,

and if he killed a hostage,

then we would attack
Iran militarily.

[shutters clicking]

- But the fact of it was,

in case the Iranians paid
no attention to diplomacy,

we needed to do
something about it.

Could we have a rescue mission
that would work?

Is there some way
of untangling this?

Is there some way of--

of getting these hostages
out of there?

- Nobody else was aware

that we were already
beginning to think,

you know, that we might have
to use a military instrument

to extract the--the hostages.

[indistinct radio chatter]
- Keep your eyes open.

- These are the men
of the Special Forces,

some of the toughest

and most highly-trained
soldiers in the world.

- One of the most unique
military organizations

in history,

men who have accepted
the challenge

of some of the most
daring assignments.

[dramatic music]

They learn
to function together.

They become a team.

- I was honored because
only certain people

get picked to fly
with the Special Ops.

The camaraderie

and the closeness that you get,

you don't get
with other people.

You have their back,

and they have yours.

- A Delta Force group
had been created in 1975

by Colonel Beckwith.

- Charlie Alvin Beckwith.

I first heard of him
when he was a major

and they were interviewing him

and he didn't speak very well
of the South Vietnamese troops.

And this reporter asked him,

"Well, what about
the North Vietnamese?"

- What kind of fighters are the
Viet Cong that you met here?

- I would give anything to have
200 of them under my command.

They're the finest soldiers
I've ever seen.

- I mean, that was sort of
politically un--incorrect

to say in those days,

but political correctness
was not one of the things

for which
Charlie Beckwith was known.

Sometimes he did things,
and we wondered, you know,

is this guy 20% genius
and 80% moron,

or is it the other way around,
you know?

But the--of course,
in the end, he wasn't this

dumb country boy
he sometimes pretended to be.

- Our first initial mission

set for the first two years
was just rescuing people,

and there's
no greater privilege

than rescuing somebody,

bringing an American home.

[birds chirping]

- I was mowing the grass
in my house in California,

and my wife at the time
came to the door and said,

"Hey, you have a phone call,

somebody from the Pentagon,"

and they said, "We want you to
come to Washington tomorrow."

- Tuesday night
before Thanksgiving,

I got a call saying I needed
to show up to flight line

the next morning about 6:00
with my flight gear.

They didn't tell us
what it was about.

[soft acoustic music]

- I said,
"Okay, where are we going?"

He says, "I don't know."

"Well, what are we gonna do?"
He says, "I don't know."

"Well, how long
we gonna be gone?

30 days, you know, 60 days?"

He said, "Don't know."

- You don't know
what's coming, really,

but it's "yes, sir"
and get on with it.

♪

- When I found out that
the aviators were called up,

you started to get the idea
that something

is being planned,
something is happening.

He would, of course,
never said no.

His mindset was to do a job,
get it done,

so we were really left alone.

- He would get these calls
in the middle of the night.

Away he'd go.

He'd be gone
for three, four days,

and then he'd come home,

but he would never say where
he was because he couldn't.

- These men who worked
or work with my dad

would just show up and say,
"Let's go do this."

It was like in that commercial

where you see the boys
grabbing the dad's leg,

and they're walking out
the kitchen.

That was what it was like
in our house.

My mom was the patriarch

at that period of our lives,

and so she ran everything,
and he went off and flew.

[chuckles softly]

[pensive music]

♪

- Iranian students today

warned that they would
kill their captives

if the United States tried
to intervene with force.

- Today, Iran must be the only
country in the world

with a television program

on how to fire
an automatic rifle.

Every night,
an invited studio audience

apparently want to know

how to tackle American
commandos in the street.

- [speaking
in foreign language]

♪

- In Beverly Hills,
California,

Iranian students had scheduled
their demonstration

to begin at 10:30
in a small park,

but a group of about
25 anti-Iranian demonstrators

showed up first.

In less than a minute,

they began
to attack the students.

[all shouting angrily]

At one point the mob
cornered one of the Iranians.

When he tried
to protect himself,

this is what happened.

- Mr. Speaker,
our phones are ringing.

They will continue to ring
from irate citizens

across the country
for the apparent

weak-kneed non-policy
of this administration

in dealing with the crisis
in Iran.

- The fact that Americans
were treated and held hostage

this way really traumatized
the American people

and traumatized all of us.

I can only tell you
that the president just went

at this issue every day,
tried everything he could,

but any strategies that raised
the risk of our hostages

getting hurt,
he would never allow it,

so we had to concentrate
on diplomacy.

- It's very odd.

Here's a person who was
a Naval Academy graduate,

a submarine officer
who was in the nuclear navy,

but Carter had
a great antipathy

to the use of military force.

- I felt that when
we could possibly resolve

differences between us,
we should do with--

you know, with generosity
and with maintaining peace.

I invited the entire group
of family members,

close friends to the State
Department to meet with them

so I knew who they were
and I knew about every hostage

that was being held
and so forth,

so I was very deeply
and personally involved

with the hostages
and their plight.

I am not going to take
any military action

that would cause bloodshed
or arouse

the unstable captors
of our hostages

to attack them
or to punish them.

I'm gonna be very moderate,
very cautious.

- Since this crisis began,
the U.S. government

hasn't had a great deal
of leverage in Iran.

Now it has even less.

In covering
the State Department,

particularly that daily grind

of the noon briefing,

I learned to listen

very carefully
to what people say.

President Carter's statements
were ill-considered.

I'm sure it was intended

to put the minds
of the families at ease...

[shutter clicks]

But if you're holding
the hostages

and the president
of the United States

has just said to you,

"As long as you keep on
holding those hostages,

no military action,"

I thought it was about
as foolish a policy statement

as you could make.

- You can't look weak here.
America has to be strong.

And, um, and I don't think...

[laughs]
I don't think Carter cared.

His priority
in this whole thing

was to get the hostages
home safe.

- One time they had
Mr. Khomeini,

who's the current supreme
leader and at that time

was the Friday prayer leader
of Tehran,

so a big deal,
he came to visit us.

- We had an exchange

which made the television news
in Tehran that night

and also made
the American newspapers.

- I didn't want to berate him.
I didn't want to insult him.

I was putting
the needle in him,

but the message
was pretty clear,

which was you have violated

a basic tradition
of your own culture,

and what you have done
is outrageous.

- When the hostages
were taken,

we immediately began planning
for the hostage rescue,

and ultimately, we came up
with the plan that we used.

[indistinct chatter]

The mission was very
plain and simple.

Bring home
52 American hostages.

[percussive music]

♪

- We would launch
in two separate elements,

fly the ground force in
by C-130s,

and the helicopters
would launch off

of the USS "Nimitz"

and fly into a remote
desert location

about 100 miles from Tehran,

and then we would all get
in the helicopters,

and we would fly
to a mountain location

outside of Tehran.

♪

We would come down
the mountain,

get in trucks that were being
brought to us

by a couple of agents
that were inside there,

and then drive to the embassy
very clandestinely.

On cue,
we would hit that embassy.

We would go right to where
we thought the hostages were,

and the helicopters would land

in the soccer stadium
next door.

♪

We'd blow a hole
in the wall of the embassy,

get those hostages...
[tires screech]

Go into the soccer stadium,

load them up,
and we would all take off.

So that was the plan.

- And remember, this was
a classified operation.

Nobody knew.

- The whole nature
of the rescue,

every piece of it
involved risk.

I don't think any country
in the world

could have even contemplated

an operation like this.

- The plan was a very
difficult plan,

but it was not
an impossible plan.

I was responsible
for a lot of lives,

and I certainly didn't want
to butcher it all up.

I wanted to do well.
I wanted the unit to do well.

- We had what I considered,

what all our military leaders
considered to be

a very firm and potentially
successful mission.

[indistinct chatter]

- We had CIA operatives
in Tehran,

but they happened to be
in the embassy,

so therefore,
they were captured as well.

Why is that important?

- We need to know
which way the doors open.

We need to know what
the windows are made out of.

We need to know how many guards
are outside that embassy.

We need to know where
the hostages are being held.

- Guess how we got most
of our intelligence as to that?

[upbeat music]

♪

- Again today,
Iran is the major story.

People knew that for
half an hour every evening,

they would get
an in-depth look at one story.

That subject
would be the hostages.

[shutter clicking]

- We watched Ted Koppel
and "Nightline,"

which really started
with the hostage crisis.

We watched them religiously,

primarily to get
more intelligence.

- A cameraman from Iran's

state-controlled
television network

was allowed inside
the compound this week

to film these scenes.

- I'm serious.

The Delta Force would watch
any kind of footage

that would be available,

and they would
analyze the demeanor,

how they held their weapons,
etcetera,

to try to get an idea
of what kind of guards

might be around the embassy.

So Colonel Beckwith really
wanted eyes on the target.

- Beckwith and Carter

had a meeting
in the Situation Room,

and Charlie Beckwith
started to talking.

Jimmy said,

"You're from the South.
You sound--"

and he said, "Better than that,
Mr. President.

I'm from Sumter County,"
which is where Plains is,

and Jimmy says--
listen to the dialect,

"Who are your folks?"
[chuckles]

And he says, you know,

"Oh, yeah, yeah,
I used to eat at his--"

[laughing] I mean, it was
really like out of a movie,

and he said,

"How many helicopters
do you need?"

- The minimum number
of helicopters

that the military wanted
were six.

One more was added
as insurance,

and Carter added another one,
so there were eight.

There were two in reserve.

[helicopters whirring]

[dramatic music]

♪

- When I showed up,
we really had to start flying

and find out
where everybody was.

♪

Night vision goggles
were basically made

for jeep drivers at night.

That's what
they were made for,

so I told the pilot,

"I want you to demonstrate
the fact

"that you can take
six of these aircraft,

"fly them 600 nautical miles,
200 feet or below at night,

no lights, no radios,
and land at point B."

♪

These kids got to be
pretty good.

♪

- Every time we had
a rehearsal,

the feeling within the other
parts of the task force were,

let's just hope
the helicopters make it

'cause they got the toughest
part of the mission.

I was the commander
of the squadron

that was selected to provide
four of the six crews

flying the C-130s
on the rescue mission.

- I just happened to be in the
wrong place at the wrong time,

or the right place
at the right time.

I--you know, I don't know.

The learning curve was very,
very fast, very, very steep.

You can do all you want
in the daylight.

It's a much different world
at night.

- There was a mixture
of enthusiasm

and "wow,"

but also skepticism

because before
the actual mission,

there was never
a full-up dress rehearsal

with all the moving parts.

- These people had hardly
known each other

before operational
planning began.

- We prepared so that
when President Carter said go,

we would take off,

and as we went
into early 1980,

Carter still said,

"In case
diplomatic efforts fail,

then we might do it,"

so he delayed for a long time.

[indistinct chatter,
cars honking]

- Okay.

For about two weeks,

I had to sleep with my hands
in plastic handcuffs.

Well, imagine that
you're in this position...

And you're on the floor.

Well, you can't sleep.
I mean, you can sleep,

but you have to sleep
like this.

You can't put your hand
under your head.

On the other hand, imagine
what you have to go through

to go to the toilet.

You can't clean yourself,

so you end up

living in feces
with your hands tied.

You know, but this is standard
stupidity in prisons.

[tense music]

- In February or March

of 1980,

they came into our rooms
about 2:00 in the morning

with masks on and with weapons.

- They took us out
into the hallway.

They stripped us down
to our undershorts.

They handcuffed us
behind our backs.

They blindfolded us.

- And they let us out

and took us down the hall,

lined us up against a wall,
and started chambering rounds.

[gun clicks]
[indistinct chatter]

- One of the Iranians
was running up

and down the hallway,

shouting out
execution commands

at the top of his lungs.

- [shouting
in foreign language]

- I remember
one of the other Americans

just shouting
at the top of his lungs,

"Just get it
over with already!"

and cursing them, like,
at the top of his lungs,

and, um,

and I was scared to death.

- I knew there was absolutely
nothing I could do about it.

I mean, if it was goi--
if it was going to--

if we were going
to be shot then,

I was going to be shot then.

- [speaking
in foreign language]

[gun clicks]

♪

- And...

as quickly as it started
and it happened, it was over.

- To this day,
I don't know why they did it.

I suspect they did it
because they could.

- I just seethed,

and I had a whole other level

of hatred and resentment,

just feeling that, um,

I had been abandoned.

- There was a feeling of

growing desperation

as the days turned into weeks

and the weeks
turned into months.

- It's eight weeks now
since the takeover

of the American embassy
in Tehran.

- 87th day of captivity.

- 142 days now of
the Iran hostage crisis.

- People were tying
yellow ribbons around trees

all over the country.

[indistinct chatter]

That became the symbol

of the absent hostages.

- Meanwhile, we were getting
ready to run for reelection.

- Isn't it about time
that this country

stopped worrying about
whether someone likes us

and decides we're going
to be respected in the world...

[cheers and applause]

Respected to the point that
never again will any dictator

dare invade an American embassy
and hold our people hostage?

- Reagan was saying,

"I don't understand
why it takes so long.

I would give them 24 hours,
then boom, boom."

We were not going to have a war
over the hostages.

- Everything we tried
diplomatically

would get knocked down
by the ayatollah.

- He had decided that
Carter was a monster,

and he wasn't gonna
deal with him.

- We were just being
dragged around by the nose.

Trying to use other countries
as intermediaries didn't work.

Using these sketchy characters
as intermediaries didn't work.

Nothing seemed to work.

- The president
then decided that

he was going to go
with the military option,

and then Carter said
in a very dramatic way,

"If we are successful,

"it will be your achievement.

"If we are not successful,

it will be my defeat."

- That evening in the White
House when he approved

the plan to go into Iran,
being very frank about it,

I had no idea
that President Carter

would make the decision
that he made.

In fact,
I almost fell out of my chair.

- I felt that the rescue
mission was justified.

I was convinced at the time
by my military advisors

that it would be successful.

And so,

I was very determined
to get the hostages released

by going in
and bringing them out.

[helicopter whirring]

- I was at Fort Bragg
in the Delta compound

when Charlie Beckwith came back
and said, "It's a go."

- We got the word.

I picked my bag up
and kissed my wife

and said, "I'm gone."

- He said, "I'll see you
when I see you,"

and I said,
"Where are you going?"

and he said,
"You know I can't tell you."

- She had no idea
where I was going.

- I knew in my heart that
he was going to go to Iran.

- Oh, I shouldn't say that.

She probably had an idea,
you know?

[static buzzes]

- Things are pretty tough for
the families of the Americans

held by the Iranian students.

- In Milwaukee,
the mother of a marine

desperate to hear
some good news from Tehran.

- I read the reports
and hear on the news

that they're not in any danger,
that they're not being harmed,

but that doesn't
really convince me.

all: ♪ It's a long road
to freedom ♪

♪ A-winding, steep, and hard

Roger O'Neill,
NBC News, Milwaukee.

all: ♪ Bye, bye, bye

- Mom got very frightened,

and she made it her mission

that she was going to do
whatever she could

to see me one more time.

Of course, I didn't know
any of this was going on.

[soft dramatic music]

- The guards came in,
and they said,

"You're coming with me,"
and they grabbed me.

They put a blindfold on.

I have no idea
what's going on.

I was afraid.

And they led me into
a different building.

♪

They seated me on a sofa.

They took my handcuffs off.

I didn't have a blindfold on.

All of a sudden, I hear this
rustling by one of the doors.

The door opens,

and in walks my mom.

♪

She came running over
and hugged me

and virtually collapsed
in my arms,

and as I hugged her,
I said to her,

"There are microphones in the--

this plant in front of us,"

so all we could talk about
was personal stuff

about home and family
and sports.

I wanted to know

how did she get here,
why is she here,

what's being done
to get us out.

I wanted hard news,
and my mom was shaking

the entire 20 or so minutes
we were together.

And as fast as it started,
it ended.

"Mrs. Timm,
it's time to leave."

And my mom stood up.
I stood up.

I hugged her,
and they whisked her away,

and my mom was like,
"No, no, it's not--

no, it's too soon, too soon."

- He assured me that
he has not lost his faith.

He said, "One thing I do know.
I've become a better person,

and I've become
a stronger person.

- No.

- In Washington,
the State Department says

the policy now
is to allow no more relatives

to visit
the prisoners in Tehran,

but the Timms would not
be prosecuted, it said,

because they went just before
this new policy took effect.

- Little did anybody know--

except those
who were planning it--

the reason--
a reason for the travel ban

was that the president

was about to order
the rescue mission.

[indistinct chatter]

My mom is in Iran

just as all of these events
are culminating.

[dramatic trumpet music]

- We land at an airfield
in Southern Egypt.

♪

We were all trying to get over
the time zone change,

trying to get acclimated
to the heat.

Everybody that was going
to be on the ground

had what the military
likes to call,

"relaxed grooming standards."

Many people
had scruffy beards.

Everybody had long hair.

It was a very
ragtag-looking group

of highly-skilled folks.

- When we got
to Wadi Qena, Egypt,

General Vaught told us
exactly what the mission was.

"Yes, this is the mission,
period, and it cannot fail."

- We knew we were doing
something that was right,

and you can--
might say teach

the ayatollah a lesson.

- Candidly, I didn't think
it was going to succeed.

There were too many
moving parts, okay?

As a soldier,
I felt two things.

Number one, the president
of the United States says go.

I'm a soldier.
I take commands.

Number two,

my buddies are going in.

If they're gonna go,
I'm gonna go.

[rousing martial music]

[planes buzzing]

- We flew from Wadi Qena
to Masirah Island,

got on the C-130s,

then we went into Iran.

♪

[soft dramatic music]

♪

- To take off from a nuclear
carrier in a helicopter--

yeah,
it was very exhilarating.

We took off into the twilight

headed for the coast.

♪

[indistinct chatter]

[device beeping]

- Yes, General Jones is here.
- Thank you.

[martial music]

♪

- It was dusk when we flew
across the Iranian coast.

It was dark.

[helicopters whooshing]

[control board beeping]

The pilot told me,
"You got a blade problem,"

so the pilot looked
for a place to land,

and as I was going up
on the rotor head,

I saw another
aircraft landing.

I saw the blade was bad,

but the pilot in command
had to make the call.

You know,

there were such parameters
that you couldn't go on,

and one of them
was a failed blade.

[helicopter whirring]

And he decided that
we would go to the aircraft,

so we got on
that other aircraft,

and we flew towards
Desert One.

♪

- Now we have
one less helicopter,

but nobody's making radio calls

to let
the leadership know this.

We didn't want
to break radio silence.

Our instructions
were total radio silence.

[planes whooshing]

- Now, you have to understand
that we had to land

in the most firm soil,
and the place we landed at

was a dry lake bed,

and the most firm soil was in
the middle of the dry lake bed.

For that same reason,
over the years,

there had been a little road
that went through there.

We knew that.

- Intel said,
"The road you're landing by

"is very--
nobody but banditos and stuff.

Very--never traveled,
nuh, buh, buh."

Okay.

- What I had worked out was
I would go to the rear

of the 130 and establish
initial security.

I hear a motorcycle coming up.
[tires rustle on dirt]

It's one of my Rangers,
Bob Rubio.

I get on the back
of the motorcycle.

[engine revving]

[tense music]

- You're on NVGs,
night vision goggles.

Well,

when any light comes in,
it washes them out, and it's--

it's like--it's like
when you wake up at night

and you turn the light on
and you go,

"Whoa," same principle.

All of a sudden,
there's this light.

♪

- We see headlights
coming down to us,

and I see a Mercedes emblem.

- I turn around,

and in not more than 150 yards
behind the airplane

coming towards us is a bus.

- And the next thing
I hear is "phwoop."

[grenade round fwips]

Little John fired
a grenade round.

[explosion]
[tires screech]

The bus stops.

[indistinct shouting]

[helicopter whirring]

- We had dispersed,

and we get out
of the mountains,

and good golly.

The weather is looking
just like they forecast.

It is gorgeous.

I mean, you could see
the shadow of the aircraft

along the desert floor.

I mean, it was that good.

And we are cruising along,
and I said,

"Chuck, give me a turkey loaf
with some fruit cup in it

so I can get something to eat
before we get to Desert One."

All of a sudden, I look out,

and I see this kinda,
like, uh,

rolling fogbank.

- It was like
putting your head

inside of a brown paper
grocery bag.

That's about how far
you could see.

What we later found out
was this was called a haboob.

It's a dust cloud that's
suspended for thousands of feet

and for miles in any direction.

This stuff was as fine
as talcum powder.

Our navigation equipment

and our flight instruments

were starting to fail,

so the pilots
didn't have a good feel

for what was level,

and one of them was starting
to experience vertigo.

♪

With there being such
a distance left

to go to Desert One,
passing the mountains,

and the condition
of the helicopter,

the decision was made
to return to the "Nimitz",

get as much repair as we could,

and then come back
the next night.

♪

[engine rumbling]
[indistinct shouting]

- Next thing you know,

here comes another
set of lights down the road.

We ain't even been
on the ground five minutes.

It's like, damn,
this is Grand Central Station.

- So we start heading down
this dirt road.

So I said, "Rube,
grab one of the damn WLAs,

come up on me, and take cover
behind the berm."

Here I am,
hoping that if anybody sees me,

they'll hope I'm the second
coming of Genghis Khan

coming out of Mongolia.

And I know it's a truck
coming at me.

[truck whirring]

Carter had dictated
minimal use of force.

[tense music]

I've got an M16,
a 5.56 millimeter rifle.

I know I can't stop a truck.

♪

But I start firing
at the radiator.

[gunshots]

And I finally said,
"To hell with this."

And I raise my point.
I aim...

♪

But he's still coming.

"Rube, sir, fire."

[whooshing, explosion]

Holy shit.
[indistinct shouting]

[fire whooshing]

We hit a 3,000-gallon
fuel truck.

[fire whooshing]

I started circling in.
I'm hearing this bizarre noise.

As I came closer in,
it's this damn radio playing,

and it's playing
this Persian music.

[Persian music playing]

Then out of the corner
of my eye,

I see another
damn vehicle coming.

[running footsteps]
[vehicle whirring]

[tires squeal]

- The driver got out,
got in the other vehicle,

and they went away.

[device beeping]

[plane whooshing]

- The other five airplanes
came in.

They had difficulty because
of the burning fuel truck

destroying their night vision.

- I got off the airplane.

I was expecting darkness,

and there's this huge fire
burning down at the south end,

and you can see
like it's daylight,

and there's this group
of people huddled over there,

and so I thought that was
actually maybe "my stick,"

my chalk of people
that were supposed

to get on the airplane,
so I walked over to them,

and I asked them,
"What chalk is this?"

and the guy answered me
in Farsi, and I was--

what the hell is going on here?
[laughs]

[helicopter whooshing]

[suspenseful percussive music]

- 57 minutes after
we think the first one

should have arrived
comes the first one in,

and the others come in
shortly thereafter.

- Because of the refuel
and flight time,

it was probably
going to be daylight

before we got to
the planned hide site...

- And greatly increase
the risk to the force.

- We had six aircraft
at Desert One, kay?

Six.
We were still a go.

[indistinct shouting]

- Ed Seiffert,
commander of the helicopters,

goes around to make
a last-minute check.

[hatch clicks]

Ed sees that a hydraulic pump
literally is glowing red.

♪

- I had investigated
one too many accidents

where a primary
hydraulic system had been lost

and we had lost the aircraft
subsequent to that.

The risk was just too high.

♪

I told Charlie Beckwith,
"We are down to five,"

and he got irritated.

I have the utmost respect
for Charlie Beckwith,

but Charlie didn't know enough
about the helicopters

to have an opinion that,
in my opinion,

was worth a tinker's damn.

- I'm carrying this
whole country,

and this particular operation
is beginning to unravel,

and it's beginning to go sour,
and I'm a part of this.

We're going to embarrass
our country.

♪

- They launched eight
from the "Nimitz."

We needed six
to do the mission.

♪

- We had an op-sched,
an operations schedule,

a "what if?" list,
if you will,

and there was one word,

"Less than six helicopters,
leave Desert One."

The word was "abort."

♪

- We were upstairs
in the residence,

and we're getting ready
for the campaign.

I went through the spots
we were gonna do,

and they came in
with a note for Carter,

and he got up and walked out.

- He left
the campaign meeting,

went into his private office.

- The president
was talking to Beckwith,

and Beckwith said,
"Mr. President,

"I hate to say this, but I think
we--we've gotta abort this.

It can't work."

Well, the president said,
"Yes, we'll abort it."

- So the idea was

we would try to come back
the following night.

We'll just have to do it again.

- We'd built up a lot of hope

for this rescue mission,

and I remember he turned

a deep white, ashen.

I think he was hurt

right down to the very bottom.

- Well, I was heartbroken
and disappointed

when I told them to--
you know, to leave.

I thought it would be a--
a departure

where we would take
all of our equipment out

except what we had--
what we had to leave behind.

[plane whirring]

[wind whooshing]

- My airplane left because

we had been on the ground
forever and ever and ever.

You're sitting there going,
"Why?"

[stammers]

"Why--what did we do
to deserve this?

We trained so hard
for so long."

- Everybody who felt
like I felt,

felt tremendously deflated,

saddened, embarrassed,

you know,
pissed about the helicopters.

- I have had nobody

come back and tell me

that that was acceptable

to go with that condition.

None, okay?

Any hydraulic engineer will
tell you the same damn thing,

and all I say is BS,
have a nice fricking day.

My decision.

I was the air component
commander.

Go stuff it somewhere.

[indistinct shouting]

- Then the next phase was,

well, we have to tank up
all the helicopters

and fly the ones
that are flyable back out.

I had been on the airplane

that was the tanker

that was refueling
the helicopter behind us.

Aviation fuel smells terrible,

so I started walking off
to get some fresh air.

- It was getting light.

[indistinct chatter]

We rolled everything back up,

closed the ramp and door.
[door bangs]

The helicopter took off.
[helicopter whirring]

- I just kinda hunkered down
under my jacket

and kept walking away
with my back to the airplane

as this dust swirl hit me,

and I could hear
the helicopter picking up

and picking up and picking up.

[wind whooshing]
[helicopter whirring]

- The pilot actually thought
he was going away

from the C-130 when he wasn't.

- He--what they call--
browned out.

He had no visual--
didn't know where he was at.

- And all of a sudden,
the sky behind me lit up.

[helicopter whirring]
[explosion]

♪

[indistinct chatter]

- I had 46 Delta Force

inside the plane.

We went over to the left side
of the airplane,

opened up
the paratroop door...

[fire whooshes]

And there was
nothing but fire.

[soldiers shouting]

Being inside
of a closed airplane--

and now, when I say closed,
it was closed up, blocked up.

There is no place

to get out of that plane.

But your training kicks in.
[running footsteps]

I closed it,
went over to the right side.

[hatch clicks]
I opened it up.

♪

- It was like a scene
from some movie

where these troops
came walking out

of what looked like out
of the middle of a fireball,

you know, walking out of hell.

- Delta Force are
so well-trained to listen,

not to panic,

and God be with us, there was--

there was no panicking
in the plane whatsoever.

[indistinct shouting]

I jumped down.

I looked up,
and there was JJ in the door.

- JJ Beyers--
JJ couldn't get out.

He was--

he was still
caught in the flames.

A couple of the Delta guys
ran back into the airplane

and got him out.

- He was on fire,
and they put him out.

We were lucky there.

- I saw the--the cockpit

in complete flames.

- What I saw was chilling.

♪

I saw him standing.

♪

It must have been the
flight engineer, Joel Mayo.

He was up out of his seat.

That was hard.
That was--that was hard.

♪

You know that the people
up there no longer exist.

♪

The plane was so intense,
the fire--

there was no way anybody
could even get close to it.

- To get out of the airplane
as quick as possible,

they left
some of the weapons behind,

and they started cooking off
in the flames of the crash.

[ammunition exploding,
crackling]

- Kay.

- Yes, sir.

[fire whooshing]

- We could not wait for
the fire to go down

and retrieve the bodies.

[indistinct shouting]

We were losing darkness,
and we knew that the Iranians

only had capabilities
in the daytime

to intercept us on the way out
if they knew about us,

so the decision was made
to get everybody out of Iran

and get them back to Oman
before the sun came up.

- They went on the bus,
opened the engine compartment,

pulled the wires off
and all that

to disable it for a while,

and one of the Iranians on
the bus spoke perfect English.

I said, "Look, they--
we have snipers in the hills.

"If anybody gets off this bus
before daylight,

they'll be killed,"

which was not true,
but they didn't know it.

[fire whooshing]

[plane whooshing]

[Carter exhales heavily]

It is.

- It was awful.

I never saw the president so

shocked and stunned.

It was the worst moment
in our administration.

I think both would say

the most worst moment
in our lives.

- It was my first acquaintance
with a--

a tragic event in which
I was directly involved.

My father had died

when I was fairly young--
still in the navy.

I was a submariner and, uh,

and I had lost members
of my family,

but I can't say that

that was any more
grievous to me--

my family members' losses--

than the ones among the people

that died
while I was president.

- I remember to this day,
vividly,

when I was driving home
from the agency headquarters

about 1:00 in the morning,
weeping,

because I was so convinced
it would have worked,

and then we lost
all those brave people.

- To sit there

on the ramp of a C-130
with one of your...

Emotional.
[strained chuckle]

One of your best friend's...

[voice breaking]
Head in your lap...

It's pretty--pretty disturbing.

- It was a--it was
a horrible feeling to have

let America down.

I can't tell you
how difficult it is

to leave eight guys in a fire

that's still burning, you know?

But what could we do
at that point?

[fire crackling]

- The Oman airfield
we operated out of

had a control tower,

and the control tower
operators

were British contract workers,

and didn't know
why we were there.

On the night of the mission,

they saw six depart
at about dusk,

and about seven or eight hours
later, only five returned.

And the British guys
put two and two together

and realized this ragtag group
of C-130 guys

were the ones who had gone
into Iran the night before.

So they somehow
got two cases of beer--

it was actually Bass Ale--

put them in a pickup truck,
ran them around the runway,

and dropped them off
at my tent.

And they had scribbled
on the top case of beer

on the cardboard flap,

"To you all from us all
for having the guts to try."

So I took
the cardboard flap off.

[voice breaking]
Put it--

put it in my flight suit pocket
and brought it home.

[somber music]

♪

[wind whooshing]

[engine rumbling,
indistinct chatter]

[distant, faint chatter]

- Our phone rang about
6:30 in the morning,

and it was a friend who was
a close friend of my husband's

who was working at the
Pentagon at the time and said,

"There have been
some casualties,

and we'll keep you posted."

Well, you know,
that's kinda shady news.

- I had just come in
from a late-night,

all-night waffle house,
and I was sleeping,

and my daughter, Candy,
came in, and she said,

"Mom, there's something wrong.

I think something's
happened with dad."

- My friend Jenny,
whose husband was

at the same place my husband
was called me and said,

"Turn on your TV.
Something has happened."

- Late yesterday, I canceled

a carefully-planned operation

which was underway in Iran

to position our rescue team

for a later withdrawal
of American hostages

who've been held captive there
since November 4th.

- To my deep regret,

eight of the crewmen
of the two aircraft

which collided were killed,

and several other Americans
were hurt in the accident.

To the families of those
who died and who were wounded,

I want to express
the admiration I feel

for the courage
of their loved ones

and the sorrow
that I feel personally

for their sacrifice.

It was my decision to attempt
the rescue operation.

It was my decision
to cancel it.

The responsibility
is fully my own.

- I'm waiting for the green car
to come down the hill

because that's--
that's how you're notified,

you know, if there is
a casualty or whatever.

- We have a saying
in the marine corps that,

you know,
when your husband is deployed,

you don't worry unless the
chaplain is on your doorstep.

- My mom had sent
one of her friends

to come pick me up
from school that day,

and when I got home, there were
a lot of people there,

a lot of military people,

and I knew something was not--
not good.

[somber music]

- You pull into
the neighborhood,

and there's cars up
and down the street,

and there were people
in the house.

Even then, I don't think
I could grasp it.

♪

- My mom actually told me
that my father had been killed.

♪

She always told us,
"Don't cry.

"Don't show emotion.
Be strong.

Don't let them see you
as a victim."

♪

Being ten years old
and being the man of the house,

it was--it was tough.

♪

- My mom told us that
he had been killed.

Me and my sister.

♪

I was nine, and she was
two years younger than me,

so she was seven, and at seven,

you just don't grasp
what your mom's telling you.

I got it.

Fire is a terrible way to die.

- We tried, we failed,
and we have paid a price.

The administration
is deeply disappointed.

- It's clearly
the darkest moment

of Jimmy Carter's presidency.

- A large crowd is now gathered
around the American embassy

to celebrate the failure
of the rescue operation.

- To them,
the failed rescue attempt

was proof that the
United States is powerless.

- Joining Iran's president
at a press conference,

Barbara Timm,

mother of hostage
Kevin Hermening,

criticized
the Carter administration.

- Our family deeply regret

the actions that
our president took yesterday,

and we would like to apologize
for that action.

- The Ayatollah Khomeini
issued a written statement

accusing President Carter of
ordering the military action

just to win reelection
in November.

- White House political
advisors are concerned

about public criticism
as the campaign moves

beyond the initial shock
of today's failure.

[phone rings]

- Carter-Mondale.
- This didn't work,

but maybe we'll regroup
and try again.

- I'm glad they tried.
It's better than sitting around

doing nothing,
but I do feel like

he should have tried that
when it first happened.

- As Americans,
we deeply regret

that this mission failed,

but as I have been saying
for some time,

specific action to bring the
hostages home was long overdue.

- As president
and commander in chief,

I have been very proud lately

of the strength of our nation,
the unity of our country,

the commitment of our people,
the heroism of our warriors

who offered their lives

for the concept of freedom
and for the freedom

of our American hostages,

but I would like to say
that I am absolutely sure

that I made the right choice

in sending the rescue
mission into Iran.

- About five or six days later,

I stole a newspaper

that the students
had left around

and learned about the
unsuccessful rescue mission.

- And that spread throughout
the prison we were in

from room to room,

so we started
asking the guards.

and the guards denied it,

and they wanted to know
who told us,

and then they denied
that people died during it.

[indistinct chatter]

- To the world's press,

the charred bodies
of the eight dead Americans

+were put on gruesome display.

[indistinct chatter]

- That's hard.
That's a bad image.

- That is etched in stone
in my memory.

[indistinct chatter]

- Mrs. Timm,

how do you think some of
the mothers of those who died

trying to rescue
your son might react

to some of your comments
about the American action?

- I cannot possibly know how
someone else is going to react.

[stammers]
That's an unfair question.

- Do you expect some criticism
because of that

when you get back
to the United States?

- Some criticism for what?

- Your comments.

- My comments--

- About the United States
and the criticism

of President Carter's actions
and of the country.

- I grew up in a small town.

No one in my family had ever
been in the media before.

My mom thrust into
this media spotlight.

- Back home in
Oak Creek, Wisconsin,

the Barbara Timm Show

didn't exactly win
rave reviews.

- Sure, it's her kid,

but there's 50 other guys
that are out there,

and why was she the only one
that did something like this?

- They ought to stick a cork
in her mouth

and tell her
to keep her mouth shut.

- She should have never
talked against our country.

- After the family complained
of threatening calls,

neighborhood patrols
were increased.

Timm was
uncharacteristically silent

when she arrived
tonight in Chicago.

[reporters clamoring]

- There's no doubt that
it took a lot of courage

to do what she did.

Was it valiant?

Maybe.
Was it dumb?

Yeah, maybe, but not for her.

[soft dramatic music]

♪

- We landed here,
and they closed the base,

and we got off.

The only people that could
get on base was our families.

- When he came off
of the plane toward me,

he was a very skinny man...
[chuckles]

And--and he had a beard,

but I was just so glad
he was home

and he was in one piece.

He had bags--
you know, bags on him,

and he just dropped everything
and grabbed me,

and I grabbed him, so...
[chuckles]

♪

But, uh...

♪

- John called me,

and when I heard his voice,

it was a tremendous relief.

I knew that he was all right

and that he would be able
to come home.

♪

- I don't remember
when we first saw him.

I don't remember--it wasn't,
like, a celebration.

It was just normal.

He walked right back
through the same door he left.

I know we were happy
to see him,

happy he was home,

but he didn't act like
anything had happened.

♪

[somber trumpet tune playing]

♪

- All the rescue mission
members were volunteers.

None of them were forced to go,

and they never anticipated,
you know, giving their lives.

There were just gonna
rescue the hostages

and come home safely,
all of them,

so it was a very

heartrending event

for me
and for all those families.

[planes whooshing]

- By military law,

if you have a combined accident

and you cannot
identify remains,

they have to be buried
in a common grave.

- For my dad and
two other men, they're--

they weren't able
to distinguish

as far as the three men

because they were close
in age and stature,

so they were buried
in common in Arlington.

[birds chirping]

- And you want to have
a gut-wrenching experience?

You deal with three widows
and one casket.

That was tough.

- The family was offered
the opportunity for him

to be buried in Arlington,
but we chose to have him here.

This is his hometown
of Valdosta,

where he went to school
and went to college

and actually taught a year

before he went
in the military.

[wind whooshing softly]

- About three or four months

after the aborted
rescue mission,

I overheard a radio broadcast

talking about the death of the

"Dracula of the Ages,"

so I had to figure out
it had to--

probably referring
to the death of the Shah.

- Here in the United States,
the death of the former Shah

of Iran is being discussed
mainly in terms

of how it may affect
the Iranian hostage crisis.

- At least his not being there

meant it would be the s--

the problem might
be easier to settle.

- So fast-forward.
We win the nomination.

- My thoughts and my prayers
for our hostages in Iran

are as though they were
my own sons and daughters.

- I accept your nomination

for the presidency
of the United States.

[cheers and applause]

- The American elections
were looming.

♪

And the war
had already started

between Iraq and Iran.

[gunfire]

[loud boom]

[siren wails]

- They attacked Iran,

and Iran started losing
territory immediately

because they weren't
prepared for it,

and that showed
the Iranian government

and Khomeini and others that
they had to get rid of us.

They had to do something
to solve this question

because it was
a huge diversion.

They couldn't keep using us

as a way to gin up
popular support.

♪

- The Iranian parliament today
has finally

taken a position

on the release of our hostages.

- We had frozen
all their assets.

We got every country
to freeze their assets.

They wanted their money back,
and they wanted interest on it.

- I wish that...
[shutters clicking]

I could predict
when the hostages will return.

I cannot.

- We weren't gonna
be able to say,

"We're getting the hostages
out tomorrow."

- Back home he came to Georgia
after an all-night-long

coast-to-coast
campaign march,

to Plains for a reunion
with his wife.

- As we're coming back for him
to vote in Plains,

we knew we had lost.

He addressed
a couple hundred townspeople

and supporters
who did not know...

[cheers and applause]

And he had to keep
a stiff upper lip.

- Every time
I've made a judgment,

in a time of crisis
or a time of solitude,

about the future of our country
or the future of your lives,

I've done it with the memory of
my upbringing here in Plains.

In the process, I've tried
to honor my commitment...

To you.

God bless you.
- One more!

[cheers and applause]

- Reagan won 44 states with
479 electoral college votes,

while the president won
in only six states

and the District of Columbia

with a total
of 59 electoral votes.

- Of course,
this was a major blow to--

to me personally
as well as,

ultimately, politically,

but I didn't think about
the politics at that time.

I was just worried
about the hostages

and the casualties
at Desert One.

[soft dramatic music]

- We had a bunch
of frozen assets

that belonged to the Iranians,

so Jimmy Carter negotiated

hot and heavy with the Iranians
to release the hostages.

- First,
it was they had a deal,

then they didn't have a deal,
going back and forth.

All the banks
had to transfer the money.

- Hello?
Can we...

Right on, man.
That's great.

That's great.

- They came into our room
and told us to grab our things

because we're going home.

So we--we had our emotions,

our hopes getting up,
but in a guarded way.

- And so they put us on buses.

- And I kept thinking,

"Okay, Michael, this is when
you don't wanna say anything.

Just be very quiet, very calm."

The guard, in English,
said, "Shut up!"

And then in Persian he said,
"[speaks Farsi],"

you American bastards.

And so I forgot everything
I'd told myself,

and I just said
in a loud voice,

"Shut up yourself,
you son of an Iranian whore."

♪

He got offended,

hauled me off the bus,
started kicking me.

Some of the guards
started kicking me,

the normal thing,
and the bus left.

I was laying on the ground

and feeling stupid,

as in, really stupid.

♪

- Governor, good morning.
How you doing?

I just want to let you know
that the planes

are at the end of the runway.

We'll let you know
when they take off,

but it's this close.

Good luck to you.
[phone clatters]

- They took off our blindfolds,
and we saw the crowds

of demonstrators
who were chanting,

"Death to America.
Yankee, go home."

Hey, anytime.

We were more than ready
by then.

[crowd chanting
in foreign language]

♪

- When I got on the plane,

I saw people that I hadn't
seen for 14 months.

- Tears were coming
down our cheeks.

We were shaking hands,
high-fiving one another,

and there were
51 of us on the plane.

One of the guys wasn't there.

- And somebody else
rushed over,

"What's he still doing here?"
"He insulted us!"

"So what?"
[chuckles]

[laughing] "Get him in a car.
He has to get to the airport."

So they put me
in a Mercedes-Benz,

and I dropped
the blindfold down,

and I watched the whole ride.

- He comes in the doorway,
and he smiles this big,

broad grin, bloodied mouth,

and we said,
"What has happened?"

He said,
"I couldn't hold my tongue,"

and we all thought,
"You're an idiot."

[fanfare playing]

♪

- I remember sitting there
at the inaugural.

["Hail to the Chief" playing]

- Carter's dream was that
we could get these people home

while he was still around.

- And they took off
before the oath was taken,

that Jimmy could
get up and say,

"Excuse me, Governor Reagan.

I have an announcement
to make." [laughs]

- I, Ronald Reagan,
do solemnly swear

that I will faithfully execute

the office of president
of the United States,

so help me, God.

- They turned on the lights
quickly, runway lights.

Planes took off.

[plane whooshing]

- In one last act
of humiliation,

Khomeini let the plane go

one minute after Reagan
was inaugurated.

[cheers and applause]

- The cabin crew started
breaking out the champagne,

and I'm told that
at the same time,

a note was signed
to allow money--

frozen Iranian assets
to be transferred

back into the Iranian accounts.

- The planes bearing
our prisoners

left Iranian airspace
and are now free of Iran.

[applause]

♪

- Did the Reagan people

or people around him

deal with the Iranians
and convince the Iranians

to keep us in prison longer?

I don't know.

My gut feeling is yes.

Will I ever know
the truth about it?

No.

- You can't tell me
that's a coincidence.

The--I mean, I'm crazy,
but I was born--

but I wasn't born last night,
you know what I'm saying?

[sirens wailing]

- These buses will now head
to the United States

Air Force Hospital
at Wiesbaden.

[cheers and applause]

- The president wanted
to meet 52 people,

but about 20 people refused
to meet with President Carter.

- When I went into the room
where all of them were,

I had a great deal
of trepidation

about how they would
perceive me,

but I went around the room
and spoke to each one, and--

and about the second one
I spoke to grabbed me by the--

around my shoulders, and--

and he gave me a kiss
on the cheek, kind of,

and then from then on,
they were very effusive

in their welcoming to me,
which was a great relief.

[plane whooshing]

[cheers and applause]

[lively band music playing]

♪

- I just feel total relief.

Thank God.

- My mom, of course,

wanted to know what was
the first meal she could make,

and I said, "Well,
how about some pork chops?

I didn't have any pork chops
while I was in Iran,"

and the next day,
100 pounds of frozen pork chops

were delivered from the Iowa
Pork Producers Association.

- More than 8,000 people
lined the sidewalks

to welcome
Michael Metrinko home.

Metrinko couldn't
stay in the car.

He walked through
the crowd shaking hands.

- What kind of things
did you think

when you were sitting there
all alone?

- I exercised hours and hours
and hours a day.

♪

This is the picture
that was taken of me

with President Carter,
Vice President Mondale,

and it ha--
it was taken, I think,

probably about
a day after I left Iran.

I was still in scruffy clothes.

This picture was taken
just a few days later

when we were brought
to the White House.

- John Limbert believes
that wholesale condemnation

of the Iranian people
is wrong.

- How do you say?

They're people of talent,
ability, great kindness.

That's what I thought before.
I still think so.

♪

- After that night
in the desert,

we made a pact
that we would take care

of the kids
of every special operator

that was killed that night
for a college degree

and then some other
types of degrees.

They don't come looking for us.
We find them.

- Special Operations Warriors
Foundation called and asked me,

"Are you gonna finish school?"
[chuckles]

And I said,
"I sure would like to,"

and they said,
"Well, we have the money."

So I went back to school
and got my bachelors,

and I'm now a teacher
at the same school

that my dad taught at
for one year.

- The Special Operations
Warrior Foundation

paid for my entire education
from college

through medical school,

and now I'm a surgeon.

There's no way I would be here
without that.

It was always a--

a balancing pole in life

to help me able to

make good choices
and to realize

that I had that good fortune.

[gentle piano music]

♪

- Eventually, I would like
to go back to Iran.

I still have the same feelings
about the country

that I always did.

I'd like to take our children
back to where they were born,

take grandchildren
to where their roots are.

So far, it hasn't happened.

I'm not welcome yet,

but I'm still hopeful.

♪

[children shouting faintly]

[lively music playing]

♪

- I have, in my garage
in a storage locker,

more than 80,000 letters
of welcome home,

probably 200,000
newspaper articles,

and in every one
of those letters

and every one of those
newspaper articles,

somewhere in them,
people refer to the Americans

who were held hostage as the
heroes of the hostage crisis,

which is hogwash.

But there were heroes
in the hostage crisis.

[indistinct chatter]

- Hey, Doug.
- Tom, how are you?

- Nice to see you.

- It's emotional.
[chuckles]

- Hey, Taco.

- What's up, my brother?
- Hey, hey, hey.

You dress up
pretty good sometimes.

- Yeah, you can't take me out
in public, but you do.

[indistinct chatter]

- Glad you're here.

- Almighty God,
we ask your blessing

upon our gathering
this morning

to remember those
who had the guts

to try an impossible mission

to free our citizens
held in Iran

as well as an opportunity
to memorialize

the sacrifices
of their fallen brothers

who made the ultimate
commitment to freedom

with their lives.

- I've lived 60 years.

[somber music]

Eight men died.

♪

You have Sergeant
John D. Harvey.

♪

Major Lewis.

♪

Corporal George Holmes.

♪

You have Tech Sergeant
Joel Mayo.

♪

Major Bakke.

♪

Captain McMillan.

♪

Dewey Johnson.

♪

And Major McIntosh.

♪

[planes whooshing]

- When I was at CIA,

one of those hostages was
right down the hall from me.

And one of the delights
of my military career...

Was when that guy came to me...

And he said,
"Thanks for trying."

That meant a lot.

It meant a lot to me.