# Would the US hostages in Iran have been released if Carter had been reelected. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 20, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-us-hostages-in-iran-have-been-released-if-carter-had-been-reelected/568368 "2011-01-20T20:17:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-us-hostages-in-iran-have-been-released-if-carter-had-been-reelected/568368/21 "2011-01-21T18:08:27Z")
> [@Dick\_Dastardly](#): > > So the chance that candidate Reagan opened back channel negotiations with the Iranians to delay the release of the hostages until after he was elected was obviously nonexistent, and the amazing coincidence of the hostages being shown on national US TV disembarking from a Pan-Am jet in New York on a split screen that was also showing Reagan being sworn in as prez is just an amazing coincidence. No, the Iranians planned it that way. And we really did land on the moon, there was nothing wrong with the Diebold machines, and Oswald acted alone. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-us-hostages-in-iran-have-been-released-if-carter-had-been-reelected/568368/22 "2011-01-21T23:18:49Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Had Carter been re-elected I doubt the hostages would’ve stayed in captivity for four more years, but it would’ve take a bit longer to get them free What I’ve been wondering is, were there any additional negotiations/agreements between early November, 1980 (the election) and late January 1981 (Regan’s swearing in). If Carter had been re-elected in November, would the Iranians have thought “Nope, no way we are holding on to these folks for another 4 years, and we’ve gotten all we are going to get through negotiations, we might as well release them.” Leading to the hostages being released 2 months earlier than they were. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-us-hostages-in-iran-have-been-released-if-carter-had-been-reelected/568368/23 "2011-01-22T00:39:50Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#): > > What I’ve been wondering is, were there any additional negotiations/agreements between early November, 1980 (the election) and late January 1981 (Regan’s swearing in). If Carter had been re-elected in November, would the Iranians have thought “Nope, no way we are holding on to these folks for another 4 years, and we’ve gotten all we are going to get through negotiations, we might as well release them.” Leading to the hostages being released 2 months earlier than they were. Yes, there were negotiations going on from the late summer all the way through January. The result was the Algiers Accords - you can google it. As I said earlier, Carter’s Deputy Secretary of State was in charge of those negotiations throughout the process. I’m not quite sure I’m following the second part of your post. I don’t think that there was any realistic chance that the hostages could have been released in November or December, as the negotiations were quite difficult on matters of compensation. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-us-hostages-in-iran-have-been-released-if-carter-had-been-reelected/568368/24 "2011-01-22T01:02:04Z")
> [@Dick\_Dastardly](#): > > “Let’s start with the part that is the most controversial. A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms [to the central bankers of terrorism] for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that’s true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.” You have to hand it out to him, it truly sounds like Alzheimmer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-us-hostages-in-iran-have-been-released-if-carter-had-been-reelected/568368.md?page=1)