technologia: 1980 October Surprise theory

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

The 1980 October Surprise theory refers to the claim that members of Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign covertly negotiated with Iranian leaders to undermine incumbent U.S. president Jimmy Carter by delaying the release of 66 American hostages detained in Iran. The hostage situation, which began when Iranian revolutionaries seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran, was one of the biggest news stories of 1980, and Carter's inability to resolve it is widely believed to have contributed to his loss. The remaining hostages were released minutes after Reagan was inaugurated as President. After 12 years of varying media attention, both houses of the U.S. Congress held separate inquiries and concluded…

Evidence: 63 • authority: 72

The 1980 presidential campaign of Ronald Reagan was a successful election campaign for President of the United States in 1980 by former California governor Ronald Reagan, and former CIA director George H. W. Bush. Reagan and Bush, defeated incumbent President Jimmy Carter and incumbent Vice President Walter Mondale. Reagan, a Republican who had also tried to seek the Republican nomination in 1976, launched his 1980 presidential bid on November 13, 1979, and secured nomination for his election on July 17, 1980. On November 4th, 1980, Reagan and Bush defeated Carter and Mondale in an electoral college landslide, winning 489 electoral votes compared to Carter and Mondale’s 49 electoral votes.…

Evidence: 56 • authority: 72

In United States politics, an October surprise is a news event that may influence the outcome of an upcoming November election (particularly one for the presidency), whether deliberately planned or spontaneously occurring. Because the date for national elections (as well as many state and local elections) is in early November (with in-person early voting, absentee, and mail-in voting also generally taking place in most states during the period of late-September to early November), events that take place in October have greater potential to influence the decisions of prospective voters and allow less time to take remedial action; thus, relatively last-minute news stories could either change…

Evidence: 51 • authority: 72

Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. A member of the Republican Party, he became an important figure in the American conservative movement. The period encompassing his presidency is known as the Reagan era. Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan graduated from Eureka College in 1932 and was hired the next year as a sports broadcaster in Iowa. In 1937, he moved to California where he became a well-known film actor. During his acting career, Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild twice from 1947 to 1952 and from 1959 to 1960. In the 1950s, he hosted General Elect…

Evidence: 40 • authority: 72

The Iran hostage crisis (Persian: بحران گروگانگیری سفارت آمریکا) began on November 4, 1979, when 66 Americans, including diplomats and other civilian personnel, were taken hostage at the Embassy of the United States in Tehran, with 52 of them being held until the end of the crisis on January 20, 1981. The incident occurred after the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line stormed and occupied the building in the months following the Iranian Revolution. With support from Ruhollah Khomeini, who had led the Iranian Revolution and would eventually establish the present-day Islamic Republic of Iran, the hostage-takers demanded that the United States extradite Iranian king Mohammad Reza Pahla…

Evidence: 25 • authority: 88

Can October Surprise? A Natural Experiment Assessing Late Campaign Effects. One consequence of the proliferation of vote-by-mail (VBM) in certain areas of the United States is the opportunity for voters to cast ballots weeks before Election Day. Understanding the ensuing effects of VBM on late campaign information loss has important implications for both the study of campaign dynamics and public policy debates on the expansion of convenience voting. Unfortunately, the self-selection of voters into VBM makes it difficult to casually identify the effect of VBM on election outcomes. We overcome this identification problem by exploiting a natural experiment, in which some precincts are assigned…

Evidence: 25 • authority: 80

Book Reviews : October Surprise - America's hostages in Iran and the election of Ronald Reagan by Gary Sick. London: I.B. Tauris & Co., 1991. 277pp. £14.95

Evidence: 25 • authority: 80

October Surprise: America's Hostages in Iran and the Election of Ronald Reagan

Evidence: 25 • authority: 80

October Surprise: America's Hostages in Iran and the Election of Ronald Reagan

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The House October Surprise Task Force (formally Task Force of the Committee on Foreign Affairs to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of Americans as Hostages by Iran in 1980) was a task force instituted by the United States House of Representatives in 1992 to examine the 1980 October Surprise theory which theorized that, during the 1980 United States presidential election, the Reagan campaign successfully negotiated with the government of Iran for a solution to the Iran hostage crisis that would not occur until after the election, so as to prevent President Jimmy Carter, Reagan's opponent, from getting an electoral boost. The Joint report of the Task Force to Investigate…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office after defeating the Democratic incumbent president Jimmy Carter and independent representative John B. Anderson in the 1980 presidential election. Four years later, he won re-election in the 1984 presidential election, after defeating the Democratic nominee Walter Mondale. Reagan was constitutionally limited to two terms and was succeeded by his vice president, George H. W. Bush, who won the 1988 presidential election. Reagan's 1980 landslide election resulted from a conservative shift to the…