Jimmy Carter Desert One Failure

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Well the mission did fail. Three helicopters, going to the Desert One refueling location, suffered mechanical problems. The unexpected, severe dust storm likely caused the malfunctions. Better meteorological information might have been able to prevent the mission.Two more helicopters turned around and another, while going to Desert One, had a hydraulic problem. They had two extra helicopter built into the plans, but when they got to Desert One it still only meant they had five helicopters up and running. They needed a minimum of six. 20 men had to be left behind. Colonel Beckwith did not believe he would be able to do the mission without the 20 men. He radio and called to abort mission. President Carter agreed. That was not the end of the failed mission, a helicopter lifted into the air and collided into a refueling plane. The explosion ripped apart the helicopter and the refueling plane. The flames shot four hundred feet into the sky. Eight Americans died that night. “ The mission had gone from unlucky failure to tragic disaster” (Farber; 173-175). …show more content…
When Carter couldn’t bring the hostages home it made him look weak and ineffectual. But with him constantly working on finding a way to bring the hostages home, he couldn’t focus on campaigning. His opponent Ronald Reagan, took advantage of Carter’s pain. Rumors began to spread that Reagan was negotiating with the Iranians to make sure that the hostages would not be released before the election. One year and two days after the take over, Reagan won the election by a landslide. So on January 21, 1981, hours after Reagan’s inaugural address, 444 days after the crisis’ beginning, 52 hostages were finally set free (history.com Staff: “Iran Hostage
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