In late 1979, 52 Americans were taken hostage by radical revolutionairies in the Middle Eastern nation of Iran. Throughout the next year, the Carter Administration would make several attempts at rescuing or recovering these people, with their greatest hopes of doing so before the 1980 general election.

After a failed military operation, talks began with the captors. It seemed as though Carter, who was behind in the polls to the Reagan/Bush republican ticket, might just be able to get those Americans home in time for them to add their 52 votes to what could be a great victory for Carter.

But, just like the military op before it, the talks failed. The hostages were not released until January 21, 1981 - the day Ronald Reagan took his first Oath of Office and began the Reagan/Bush era. It had been a landslide for Reagan - due in no small part to Carter's inability to obtain the release of the hostages.

However, there are many who claim that persons close to Reagan/Bush, and perhaps even Bush himself were instrumental in keeping those hostages imprisoned until after the election. Some have gone so far as to claim that the military op was sabotaged as well. And, in light of the fact that the final deal was supposedly made in October, it is now known as the "October Surprise."

While it sounds like a very sketchy sort of conspiracy theory, bear in mind that George Bush was a one-time Director of the CIA who had more than a few contacts in the world who could arrange this sort of action. Add to that not only the testimony of Jamshid Hashemi, an arms dealer who claims that the meetings between Bush, William Casey and others, did in fact take place. On top of that is the testimony of one Gunther Russbacher, a Navy pilot who claims to have flown the plane that took this group to Paris in mid-October to arrange the deal. And then there is the matter of a suppressed report from the Soviet Union that makes similar claims.

Despite Congressional hearings, no official charges were filed and the matter has now, after 20 years, been washed down the memory hole. But, there are numerous people still working on the case, in the hopes of bringing to light the events that may have helped sweep the Reagan-Bush era into being.

info for this node from: http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile9.html
http://www.freeamerica.com/National/usa3.html, and,
http://www.io.com/~patrik/october.htm