On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran to protest the entry of the recently deposed Shah [king] into the United States. President Carter spent the next year—an election year—attempting the release of the 52 hostages. But neither economic nor diplomatic pressure, nor an attempted helicopter rescue in April, 1980, worked. Carter’s inability to resolve the crisis deeply affected his ability to sell himself as an effective leader to the American public.
While Reagan’s campaign reaped the reward of this apparent impotence, assessments later concluded the concern throughout his campaign that a successful end to the crisis would turn the tables in Carter’s favor. The Reagan campaign pre-empted that possibility by making the case that a rescue just before the November election, or an “October surprise” should be read by the American public as a ploy to gain votes.There was no surprise; Reagan won the election by a landslide and the Iranian government freed the hostages within an hour of Reagan’s taking office in 1981
Later allegations that the Reagan campaign may have worked behind the scenes with Iranian officials to delay the hostages’ return, in exchange for military assistance from the U.S. makes it difficult to read the campaign clearly, in retrospect. A Senate investigatory committee found no substantial evidence, or incomplete evidence, to satisfy the allegation.