This Day In 1970's History: Wednesday January 21, 1981
- The 52 freed hostages began to readapt at an American Air Force hospital in West Germany with medical examinations, telephone talks with their families, haircuts and sleep. [New York Times]
- "Acts of barbarism" were carried out against the American hostages by their Iranian captors, a visibly shaken Jimmy Carter said after a 50-minute meeting with the freed Americans in Wiesbaden, West Germany. The former President gave no details, but a senior aide who accompanied him said that several of the Americans had been subjected to "mock firing squads" as well as to other physical and mental torture.
Gross physical and mental abuses by their captors were reported by the freed Americans. They told their families of beatings, months in solitary confinement and constant fear of death. Some said they were not allowed to talk or read and were forbidden fresh air, exercise, outside news, mail and showers. [New York Times]
- A review of the accords with Iran that led to the release of the Americans will require at least several days, the Reagan administration announced. It said it was reserving judgment on the complex financial arrangements that the Carter administration negotiated in its final hours.
The U.S.-Iran accords were upheld in a preliminary ruling by a federal judge in Washington as the Justice Department filed papers in courts around the country defending the legality of the agreements. But lawyers for companies with contract claims against Iran began preparations to challenge parts of the accords in court. [New York Times]
- Iranian leaders clashed over the handling of the hostage dispute. The President charged that he had not been kept
informed of the final negotiations and the Prime Minister charged that the President had not sought to participate in them. [New York Times]
- A swearing-in session for the new White House staff was held by President Reagan on his first full day in office. He also sought the dismissal of hundreds of Carter administration holdovers and, in his first cabinet meeting, exhorted the members to help him cut the federal budget. Earlier, Mr. Reagan remarked, "We have a new kind of loyalty now. Our loyalty must be only to this nation and the people we represent." [New York Times]
|
