What did President Carter fail to do?
President Jimmy Carter’s failure to get the hostages back ruined his re-election chance in 1980. We might also note that the taking of the hostages was itself an action aimed at President Carter. The Iranian Revolution had ousted the shah of Iran, a US-backed leader. The former shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, living in exile in Mexico, was found to have cancer, President Carter allowed him to come to the United States for treatment. This enraged the Iranians, who thought that the US was perhaps trying to bring the shah back to power. That's when the hostages were taken.
