11/4/1979

On November 4, 1979, militant students–responding to a decision by [President Jimmy] Carter to allow the deposed Shah [of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi] to enter the United States for cancer treatment–seized sixty-six Americans, thirteen of whom were freed over time. The rest were freed 444 days later, the day [Ronald] Reagan took office.”

 – Tyler Drumheller with Elaine Monaghan, On The Brink, Page 133