It had been very long since the fifty two American hostages were taken by the Iranians. Back in the US the people were still upset about the American hostages being held. Some people blamed President Carter for the hostages still being held, this lowered the chances of Carter being re-elected. President Carter lost the election to a former Governor of California Ronald Reagan. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi died on July 27 1980, after this the Iranians had began making negotiations to return the hostages back to the United States. The US agreed to turn over eight billion dollars of Iran's frozen assets for the return of the hostages. President Carter's term came to an end January 19, 1980, but Iran would not allow the hostages to be released until President Reagan took office on January 20, 1980. The hostages were sent to a US military base in Germany, finally the fifty two American hostages were free after a long, dreadful, and fearsome 444 days in captivity. The hostages tried to sue Iran in 2000, but even though they won, the lawsuit was called off because the US State Department felt it would make an even worse relationship with Iran. Some of the hostages went on to write books about their frightening experience of being held in captivity. The Iranian Hostage Crisis was a very tense period of time in America, and I truly hope an event such as this never happens again.