“I’d like to hear from Ted Koppel before the president-elect comes out. Ted, can you come in and give us any late information on the hostages?”
“Yes, I can, Frank. What’s happening, and this will mean a lot more, I suppose, to journalists out there. UPI has just gone with a flash, which is, in effect, the highest, the most important notification of news that they can give. The last time they did it was with the Kennedy assassination. It’s two words. It says hostages freed.”
Kyle Kellams: This is Ozarks at Large. I’m Kyle Kellams. He is Randy Dixon.
Randy Dixon: Hello, Kyle.
Kellams: Hello, Randy. Randy is with the Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History. Who’d we just hear?
Dixon: Well, I was just sitting there. I paused for a moment because I was thinking, gee, I’m old. Well, that was Frank Reynolds, ABC News main anchor, with one of their reporters, Ted Koppel. And that was the inauguration of Ronald Reagan on Jan. 20, 1981, 25 years ago this month.
Kellams: 45. You’re older than you even think.
Dixon: Yeah, I know. I think that was a Freudian slip there.
Kellams: It might have been.
Dixon: Well, I had just started at Channel 7 at the time. I’d been there about a year, probably. And it was, of course, major, major news. So the hostages were released. And we’ll get into that here in a few minutes. But it was all timed to Reagan’s inauguration. There were 52 Americans.
Kellams: Mhm.
Dixon: Two of them from Arkansas that were held hostage in the American Embassy in Tehran by Islamic extremists. They said they were students.
Kellams: They’d overthrown the Shah.
Dixon: Right. And the Shah was brought to the United States in exile and was being treated for cancer. And so the initial reason, and it turned into money and some other things after that. The overthrow took place on Nov. 4, 1979, lasted 14 months, 444 days to be exact. But let’s get a little bit of background. This is ABC News from Nov. 4, ’79.
“Good evening. The U.S. Embassy in Tehran has been invaded and occupied by Iranian students. The Americans inside have been taken prisoner and, according to a student spokesman, will be held as hostages until the deposed Shah is returned from the United States, where he’s receiving medical treatment for cancer. Some reports say as many as 90 Americans may be involved, others say as few as 35. A look at what has happened in Tehran, as narrated by Richard Anderson.”
“The American hostages were blindfolded, handcuffed and marched out on the U.S. embassy’s front steps by the revolutionary students. The Iranians had fought U.S. Marine guards for three hours for control of the embassy. The Marines used tear gas, but were eventually overrun at 5 o’clock this morning, New York time, as Revolutionary Guards and local police stood by and watched.
Kellams: So that’s when the takeover of the embassy happened. There were 52 hostages. And here’s the Arkansas connection. A couple of them were from Arkansas.
Dixon: Two of them were from Arkansas. A young Marine corporal named Steven Kirtley and a 52-year-old diplomat named Robert Blucher. Of course, the local media here sort of descended on the families. And here’s one of the early reports of the situation that turned into more than a year of really hanging out with these families. But this is Tonya Bean.
“Two Arkansans remain in Tehran: a State Department official named Robert Blucher and a Marine corporal named Steven Kirtley. Blucher’s mother lives in North Little Rock. Mrs. Aubin is doing what the State Department asks. As she said, the government is all we have right now. She was hesitant about allowing pictures of her son to be shown. The State Department told her Monday to deny a Time magazine reporter access to any photographs. But these, she says, are from the summer of ’77, the next-to-the-last time Robert Blucher came home.
“But home for him was this Park Hill house. Jack Hill Branch, who lived across the street, remembered him as a busy, hardworking young man when he was growing up. He graduated from Old Main when it was still North Little Rock High in the mid-1940s and then joined the Navy.
“This is McClellan High School in southwest Little Rock. Steve Kirtley was in the McClellan band his sophomore and junior years, but three semesters before he would have finished, he quit school and then became a Marine. That was in 1976. Beverly Billingsley was one of his teachers. She remembers him as having potential.
“On Oct. 3, he sent the school a letter, one she says showed he had matured. The letter asked if he could finish school and graduate when he got out of the Marines. The letter arrived after he had been taken hostage and the school contacted the Kirtleys. That message and word from the State Department is all they know of their son. They do keep in touch with Robert Blucher’s mother. Steve Kirtley’s parents did not want to talk this afternoon. His father did not want photographs taken of his home, but he said it in a kind way and was obviously weary from concern.”
Kellams: This 444-day situation changed things diplomatically, changed how people saw the Middle East, how they saw America’s relation over decades. It also changed television.
Dixon: It did. It changed TV news. And I really kind of forgotten about this until I started looking back at the archives, but the ABC News program Nightline was created because of this crisis. What happened was that ABC — Roone Arledge was fairly new to the ABC News department.
Kellams: He had done Wide World of Sports, Monday Night Football, and had already made a mark.
Dixon: Right, a visionary, and had moved over to news. So he was over news and sports. But he wanted every night, as this went on, to update America about the day’s situation.
Kellams: So this is pre-CNN or 24-hour cable news.
Dixon: Exactly. So 10:30 Central time, which was the end of the local news, ABC would do a special report. It was usually five to 15 minutes. But they used their chief diplomatic correspondent, a guy named Ted Koppel, who really wasn’t very well known then, but he anchored these little news capsules, or news breaks, and it was actually called the Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage, Day whatever it was.
So by the time they reached Day 142, they thought this is going on, we ought to just make this a daily program. So on March 24, 1980, they premiered a now-nightly 30-minute news program.
“This is ABC News Nightline reporting from Washington, Ted Koppel.”
“Good evening. This is a new broadcast in the sense that it is permanent and will continue after the Iran crisis is over. There will also be nights when Iran is not the major story, when we’ll bring you briefly up to date on Iran, but we’ll focus on some other story. That’s not the case tonight. Again today, Iran is the major story. And for the first time on television, we’ll provide the opportunity for the wife of an American hostage to speak live with an Iranian official.”
Kellams: People may have seen the Academy Award-winning film “Argo”, which is about the end of the crisis. There was an operation. There was an operation before, during Jimmy Carter’s presidency?
Dixon: Yes. And it was a disaster. You know, along with all of the diplomatic avenues that were taken, there was also some military strategies that were going on behind the scenes. The result of that was Operation Eagle Claw, which was a military rescue mission that actually involved all four branches of the services. And on April 24, 1980, it failed.
“We tried, we failed, and we have paid a price. The bodies of eight young Americans still lie in the Iranian desert, victims of the tragic end to a daring and dangerous attempt to rescue the hostages in Tehran. There, the embassy gates are still locked. The terrorists have strengthened their guard, and the hostages remain in captivity. So far as is known, they are safe. No action has been taken against them because their country tried to save them.
“We begin tonight with an account of how the attempt was made and why it failed. Here is Pentagon correspondent John McWethy.”
“The plan was to converge on Iran under cover of darkness. The staging area, Tabas, 200 miles from Tehran. An abandoned airstrip in the desert. From Egypt: six C-130 transports. From the aircraft carrier Nimitz: eight helicopters. A highly secretive counterinsurgency team may already have been on the ground at the staging area setting up communications.
“Over the Persian Gulf circled an electronics command post. With the stage set, the choppers moved in. One was forced down with engine problems, another lost in a sandstorm, forced to return to the Nimitz. Six made it to the staging area, but there was a hydraulic failure leaving five — too few for the mission to Tehran. President Carter ordered the mission scrubbed. Not enough choppers to get everyone out with the margin of safety. With all this, a bus filled with Iranians drove by and were taken captive. They were released after the American force left the ground.
After refueling, one chopper swung in the wrong direction. In the darkness, its blade caught a transport plane and both exploded into flames. Eight crewmen were dead and the bodies were left at the scene.”
Kellams: It was so different then. People woke up to hear the news, and for many of us, we were hearing the news on the radio.
Dixon: Yes.
Kellams: Or maybe you were watching the Today show, but it came out in drips. And by the time — so this would have been my junior year of high school — by the time you got to school, you still didn’t know the whole story. It’s not like now.
Dixon: Right. It unfolded as the day went on and as it turned out, an Arkansan was involved in this international news story. Marine Corporal George Holmes Jr. of Pine Bluff was one of the eight servicemen killed in that disaster. KATV, in our archives, I found Larry Foley, now with the university, who was a reporter in Pine Bluff back then, reported on Holmes’s memorial service.
“A week ago today, George and Sally Holmes were notified that their son, George Jr., had been killed in the unsuccessful rescue mission. Holmes was one of eight Americans who died in the darkness of the Iranian desert after the mission had been scrapped. The Marine corporal was a helicopter crew chief, apparently on the chopper that collided with a C-130 plane.
“A host of dignitaries attended the service, including Gov. Clinton and former lieutenant governor and decorated war hero Bob Riley. Clinton later presented the family a flag flown over the state Capitol at half-mast in honor of Holmes.
“There were a few empty seats in the sanctuary of Trinity Lutheran Church. Most were filled by hometown friends of the Pine Bluff native. More than 30 active duty Marines from Arkansas and Missouri were also present. It was not a long service, and few, if any, tears were shed by the family. Mr. Holmes has said that he is not bitter over what’s happened to his son. He’s called it a risk worth taking. Rather than a memorial, the presiding minister called the service a celebration of a life.”
“I know of no adequate words to add to what he has done, and I know of no higher commendation than those words of our Savior himself: Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”
“In his sermon, Rev. Larry Marhenke called Holmes a child of God, whose compassion for his fellow man spurred him to make the ultimate sacrifice when called on for a dangerous mission. Said Marhenke, his courage and faith was needed in these troubled times. A private burial service will be held when Holmes’s body is returned to this country. Larry Foley, News Scene 7, Pine Bluff.”
Kellams: And of course, this was a huge national story, as you might imagine. And there was an Arkansas reaction.
Dixon: Yes, particularly from senior Sen. Dale Bumpers. He commented on the incident in a news conference the day after. At the same time, he questioned if President Jimmy Carter might have violated the War Powers Act by ordering this attack.
“They knew that their chances of coming back alive were not necessarily good, and yet they volunteered to try to save 50 other American men and women.
“The one fear, of course, that many of us have is that the more sanctions we impose, the more pressure we put on Iran, the closer we drive them to the Soviet Union. However, I don’t see that as quite the threat that some writers are beginning to write about. Number one, I really think it’s to the Soviet Union’s advantage for there to be relative stability in that area. I think the Soviets have got more poured out than they can smooth over right now, and I don’t think they have any interest. I think they’d love to see a more compatible regime develop.
“There is a possibility that the president did, in fact, violate the War Powers Act, and that will be debated. And if necessary, the law will be changed if this falls into a gray area. I’ve read the War Powers Act. I read it about 30 days ago and asked my staff to brief me on it because I was curious about what might happen, what the president could or could not do. And the War Powers Act says specifically that in every instance, the president will consult with the Congress before introducing troops into any foreign country which might lead to hostilities. If Congress should decide that he violated the War Powers Act, I suppose we’d amend the law to cover this kind of situation, to make sure it didn’t happen again.”
Dixon: Well, there was an investigation about this incident, and it was determined that President Carter did not violate the War Powers Act. And that was mainly determined because not only was the mission canceled, but it was to rescue American citizens on foreign soil.
So one-year anniversary passes, and now there’s a second Christmas. And the captors released some video of the hostages. And one of them was the Marine Steven Kirtley. So here’s a clip of Kirtley, and it’s followed by reaction from Kirtley’s sister, Anita.
“Merry Christmas. We’ve been told for the last six years, the last six months, it’s going to end soon. And I know a lot of us agree that we hope it will. We have been for over a year and I love you all.”
“And I think he was kind of upset and he was kind of nervous. He looked like he was about to cry. He looks OK. He looks like he’s lost a little bit of weight, maybe in his face. His face looks thinner, but he’s still pretty muscular. He’s not as muscular as he was when he first went in. But that’s understandable. But he looks pretty healthy. But he could be better than what he looks. He looks kind of sad.”
“What was your mother’s reaction to the film?”
“Oh, she was nervous and upset. She kind of cried a little bit at first. And we got us our own tape and we got to see everything he said. And we went through it, and she was pretty glad to see him, just at least to see that he’s all right. But it’s not near as good as having him with us.”
“What was it like to spend Christmas — two Christmases now — without Steven?”
“Well, there’s a whole bunch of packages under the tree for him and none of them open, and we’re just waiting for them to come home so he can open it. It would have made the whole Christmas just complete.”
Kellams: Now, there were two Arkansans being held hostage among the 52.
Dixon: Yes. Robert Blucher was the second. And he was an older gentleman, 52, 53 by this time. And he had not appeared in any of the video. He had written some letters to his family, but they had not seen him throughout this ordeal. And this was speculation, but there was talk that he might have been CIA. He was a career diplomat, and he had been stationed many places around the world. And I believe after this ended, he was in Germany and stayed on with the State Department. But here’s Bill Rogers with Blucher’s family, the Aubins.
“Robert Blucher wasn’t seen in today’s Christmas celebration. His family wasn’t surprised. They say their son is a private man. Mr. and Mrs. Howard Aubin haven’t heard from their son since last month. His latest letter indicates good health but poor accommodations. No hotel, says Mrs. Aubin.
“This morning, the parents of the State Department employee spent a quiet Christmas. They were on their way to a private dinner when they talked about the season and the situation halfway around the globe.”
“This last deal was worse, you know, than most of them to us, but I don’t feel very optimistic. I do think he’ll come home sometime, but I know it’ll be a while.”
“It’s been a long ordeal. Has it?”
“Yeah, yeah it has.”
“If his health holds out, which he had dropped down from 185 to 155. And of course, he’s a little older than some of the boys, and a lot of conditions there. And that’s pretty bad, you know, to pin you up and can’t get no exercise and can’t get out. Nobody to communicate with in a room by himself.”
“The only other question I have is the question about the $24 billion, is that ransom to you or is it?”
“Yeah. That’s right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
“You don’t think that we should pay that?”
“Well, I don’t know whether I should say anything about that. I think the State Department would rather we didn’t, but no, I wouldn’t pay. I wouldn’t want to pay it because they’d just keep them longer, then want some more? That’s nothing in the world but just ransom for them. But I do wish something would happen, you know, that they could get out before they all get too old.”
“422 days ago, Robert Blucher arrived in Iran. Four days later, he was taken hostage. The scene in Iran: iron gates, screaming fanatics. In North Little Rock: yellow ribbons and quiet concern. He’s no spy, says the woman who raised him. The stickers on the rear of their car indicate hope, and at the same time indicate the feelings of a country fed up with 418 days. The answer may lie in the Reagan administration. At least that’s the hope of Hazel Aubin. Bill Rogers, News Scene 7.”
Dixon: The Shah ends up dying in Egypt, was not returned. On the onset, America seized Iranian assets. So there was talk about having those released. And so after Christmas, it looked like things were starting to come together. There was a lot of animosity towards the Carter administration. So now there is talk that, yes, they’ll be released, but only when president-elect Ronald Reagan was sworn in.
Kellams: And then?
Dixon: I think you’re going to have to wait till next week to find out. Would you like a little preview?
Kellams: I would love one.
Dixon: I think this is a spoiler, but–
Kellams: Well, history.
Dixon: I mean, they get out.
Kellams: Yeah.
Dixon: All right. So here is Steven Kirtley’s mother, and she has some words for the captors.
“If I had my way my boy’s out of there now, I wouldn’t care if they wrapped that place plumb off the map. They could plant corn over there for all I care.”
Kellams: More about this next week. Randy Dixon is with the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History.
Dixon: If we can dig out the weather.
Kellams: Right. Let’s see what happens. Tentatively scheduled for next week, but we’ll know the next time.
Dixon: Yes, we will do it, if I have to do it from home.
Kellams: All right. And I’ve got all-wheel drive. I’ll be here. We can do this. Thank you, Randy.
Dixon: Okay. See you man.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
