November 4, 1980 - Day 367
America takes to the polls and Ronald Reagan defeats Jimmy Carter in a landslide. The election date falls on the one-year anniversary of the hostage crisis.

Newsfootage: Reuters (QuickTime or RealVideo required) read transcript

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Stand by, Americans, for the campaign surprise -- the hostages will probably be set free just a few days or perhaps even hours before the election. And there you'll see on your favorite news program "Old Grinnin' Jimmy" telling all you good folks out there what difficult times he went through just to get the hostages released. (In time to get a lot of political mileage out of the event, just before the Nov. 4 Presidential elections.) How in the name of heaven can people of this great country be taken in by brazen tactics such as these?

Denver Post
Lee Wall, Letter to the Editor

Curiously enough, the conditions which Tehran suggests President Carter has agreed to are virtually the same as those he spurned months ago. The big difference seems to be that we are closer to the election now than we were back then.

Denver Post
Bill Hokosawa, Op-Ed

It strikes me hard to see all these flags waving in the land of the free. I hope they will be home soon to be free too.

Minneapolis Tribune
Richard Hermening, father of a hostage, at a ceremony where 366 flags were raised to mark each day of the hostages' ordeal

[The hostages] haven't been forgotten. As long as the hostages are being held, the ribbons will stay. We'll untie them after they're released.

San Francisco Examiner
Fechie Alarcon, speaking of a commemoration in Daly City, California where 100 yellow ribbons were tied around trees, quoted in "Treasure Island Marks 52 Hostages' Year"

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