Iranian Hostage Crisis

In 1979 dozens of American diplomats were taken hostage by militant Iranian students in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran soon after the Islamic revolution in Iran. They are held captive for 444 days and over this time the event receives the most extensive coverage on US television of almost any other event in U.S. history until then, including daily coverage on Nightline. This dramatically shapes the experiences of Middle Eastern people in the U.S. and especially Iranian Americans.