November 4, 1979: The Iran Hostage Crisis begins. Islamic militants take over the U.S. Embassy in Iran, and take 80 hostages, a number that will drop to 52. At first, the nation rallies around President Jimmy Carter, as the nation tends to rally around the President when a crisis occurs.
It helps Carter that, on this same day, CBS Reports airs "Teddy," an hourlong program focusing on Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy of Massachusetts, who is rumored to be running for President. (He confirms the rumor by announcing his candidacy 3 days later.) Ted made the huge mistake of making what turned out to be his only run for President in the 1 election between 1972 and 1996 when the incumbent President was a fellow Democrat.
He hurts himself further by taking the simple question of host and interviewer Roger Mudd, "Why do you want to be President?" and, unlike his brothers Jack in 1960 and Bobby in 1968, coming up with an answer that is neither direct nor brief; indeed, it is stammering and rambling. He also seriously mishandles Mudd's question about the 1969 Chappaquiddick Incident that cast a shadow over his life and career from that moment onward. His campaign never really gets off the ground, and not winning the Primary in neighboring New Hampshire wrecked it.
By April 25, 1980, when the failed "Desert One" rescue attempt occurred, Carter had the Democratic nomination for a 2nd term sewed up, and people (including some Republicans crossing over) started voting for Kennedy as a protest vote, knowing he could no longer win the nomination, but the Primaries he might win could, and did, damage Carter.
As the Crisis dragged on and on, with ABC News starting its late-night broadcast Nightline, and that show and Walter Cronkite on The CBS Evening News both counting the days up and up and up -- Day 50, Day 100, Day 200, Day 365, and so on -- and as the economy continued to struggle as it had begun to do in 1979, people got more and more fed up with Carter. The 1980 election was held exactly one year to the date after the Crisis began, and Carter lost very badly to Ronald Reagan.
As the great politically-themed comedian Mort Sahl put it: "Reagan won because he ran against Jimmy Carter. Had he run unopposed, he would have lost."
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November 4, 1979 was a Sunday. The baseball season was over. But the NFL held games:
* The New York Giants lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 16-14 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.
* The New York Jets beat the Green Bay Packers, 27-22 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
* The Cleveland Browns beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-19 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The New England Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills, 26-6 at Rich Stadium in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York. (It is now named Highmark Stadium.)
* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Washington Redskins, 38-7 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* The Baltimore Colts beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 38-28 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 17-14 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Chicago Bears beat the Detroit Lions, 35-7 at the old Soldier Field in Chicago.
* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Minnesota Vikings, 37-7 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The San Diego Chargers beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 20-14 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Denver Broncos beat the New Orleans Saints, 10-3 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
* The Oakland Raiders beat the San Francisco 49ers, 23-10 at the Oakland Coliseum.
* And the Los Angeles Rams beat the Seattle Seahawks, 24-0 at the Kingdome in Seattle.
* The next, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Houston Oilers beat the Miami Dolphins, 9-6 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
There were 3 games played in the NBA that night:
* The New Jersey Nets beat the Kansas City Kings, 101-98 at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, New Jersey. (It's now named the Louis Brown Athletic Center.)
* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 114-101 at the Milwaukee Exposition and Convention Center Arena. a.k.a. The MECCA.
* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 127-124 in overtime at the Portland Memorial Coliseum. George Gervin led all scorers on the night, with 32 points.
And there were 6 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. The Rangers trailed 2-1 with 4:16 left in regulation, but they got an equalizer on the power play from Anders Hedberg at that point, a go-ahead goal from Phil Esposito with 3:07 to go, and an empty-netter at the end from Don Maloney.
* The New York Islanders played the Winnipeg Jets to a tie, 4-4 at the Winnipeg Arena.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Colisee de Quebec.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-3 at the Chicago Stadium.
* And the Boston Bruins beat the Edmonton Oilers, 2-1 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.