Courageous Crisis Statesmen Gerald R. Ford and Bruce Laingen

Sep 11

The recent possibility of peace between the U.S., Israel, and Iran is reason for optimism about a broader peace in the Middle East. It is also a time to reflect on America’s long, troubled diplomacy in Tehran. One of President Ford’s ambassadorial appointments became a powerful spokesman for peace and understanding with Iran.

In 1977, President Ford appointed L. Bruce Laingen as Ambassador to Malta. In 1979, Laingen moved to his next post, U.S. Embassy Tehran.

As Charges d’ affairs, Laingen, accredited to Iran’s Foreign Minister, served in Tehran from June 16, 1979, to January 20, 1981. For 444 days of his service, Laingen was a hostage of Iranian “student” revolutionaries at the U.S. Embassy and at the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

After the fall of the Shah of Iran in early 1979, Iran became a violent and chaotic state. The Iranian Revolution’s leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1900-1989), exiled in Iraq and Turkey for 14 years, returned to become Supreme Leader of the country. Khomeini claimed the Shah’s downfall was a victory over the United States, or, as he called America, the “Great Satan.”

When the Carter administration allowed the Shah, dying of cancer, to seek medical treatment in the U.S., Khomeini’s followers conducted violent protests at the U.S. Embassy. Eventually, Iranian revolutionaries, described as “students” in the press, took Laingen and most of his embassy staff hostage.

The Iran Hostage Crisis proved that the U.S. was powerless giant during the Carter administration. It proved the meaning of Khomeini’s followers that the U.S. could not “do a damn thing against them.” More than any other event, the Hostage Crisis ended Jimmy Carter’s political career.

President Ford first met Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in 1975. In January 1979, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat invited former President Ford to Aswan to visit with the Shah. During his visit, Ford did not publicly criticize the Carter administration. Ford said the Shah was “a valuable U.S. ally” and expressed sadness over the situation in Iran. At the time, Khomeini, in France, was creating a “provisional government” to transformed Iran into an anti-American Islamic Republic.

Upon the shah’s death in July 1980, former President Nixon said: “For over 30 years, the shah was a loyal friend and trusted ally of the United States and a personal friend a well. Tragically, he died a man without a country.” Fromer Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said the shah “died abandoned by all his friends except [Egyptian] President [Anwar] Sadat.” David Rockefeller, CEO Chase Manhattan Bank, said he believed history would vindicate the shah.

Regarding the hostage crisis, Kissinger said the situation was “only vaguely related to the shah.” He said the hostage crisis would end “according to the internal dynamics of the Iranian revolution.” The “internal dynamics of the Iranian revolution” changed when Jimmy Carter left the White House and the hostages were freed.

I first met Laingen at the Foreign Service Institute, formerly the National Foreign Affairs Training Center, Arlington Hall, in 1995. He spoke to newly appointed diplomats about managing crises abroad. Like President Ford, Laingen was an expert on the subject. Laingen had 444 days of crises in Iran; President Ford had 895 crisis-filled days in the White House.

I had several conversations with Laingen before I told him that I worked at the 1976 GOP Convention in Kansas City. We shared a few stories about politics. He expressed no political grudges about his hostage days.

Laingen’s style was warm and personable. While a hostage, he said he finally had time to think and reflect on his life. He said he grew and became stronger in his faith during his ordeal. Since he had no other person with whom to talk, Laingen said he talked with “a higher power.” I will never forget the look in his eyes as he spoke those words.

Upon returning to the U.S., Laingen lectured to appreciative audiences. “I didn’t take retirement easily,” he said. In 1992, he published “Yellow Ribbon: The Secret Journal of Bruce Laingen.” He recalled his differences with the Iranian revolutionaries. “Religion plays an unacceptable role in Iran,” he said.

A true diplomat and stateman, Langen, like former President Ford, was optimistic about the future of U.S.-Iran relations. “We need to understand Iran and Iran needs to understand us,” Laingen believed. It is a belief that President Ford would have supported.

After the recent destruction of Iran’s nuclear facilities, it is still too early to know how U.S.-Iran-Israel relations will evolve. It is time for leaders in the three nations to heed the advice of Laingen, who died in 2019, and work toward peace by understanding each other. Ambassador Bruce Laingen RIP.