CBS NEWS SPECIAL REPORT: FREE! {U.S. HOSTAGES ARRIVE IN WEST GERMANY} (TV)
Summary
Dan Rather anchors this CBS News special report covering the arrival in West Germany of the fifty-two Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days; the hostages were taken by Islamic militants who took over the U.S. Consulate compound in Tehran, Iran demanding the extradition of the Shah of Iran. The broadcast consists primarily of commentary by CBS correspondents and Richard Queen, a former hostage released months earlier due to a serious illness, as they await the arrival of the hostages' planes at the Rhein-Main Air Base in West Germany, and the hostages' transfer by bus to Wiesbaden Air Force hospital in Wiesbaden, West Germany. The broadcast includes the following items: footage of the ex-hostages arriving in Algiers, Algeria, en route to West Germany from Tehran; reports from correspondents Morton Dean, Tom Fenton, and Bob McNamara on activities in West Germany in advance of the hostages' arrival; a pre-recorded segment in which Queen, using a scaled model of the Consulate compound and aided by Howard Brodie's illustrations, describes the first weeks in captivity to Richard Wagner; Bob Schieffer and psychologist Dr. Rona Fields speculate on various emotional and physical problems from which the ex-hostages might suffer; Bob McNamara describes the goods and services awaiting the ex-hostages at the Wiesbaden Air Force hospital; and, as the planes near arrival, Rather, Dean, and Queen discuss the likely moods of the newly freed hostages and the weather that awaits them in Germany.
The recording of the broadcast is momentarily interrupted, resuming moments after the hostages disembark from the two planes that carried them to West Germany. The remainder of the broadcast includes the following: crowds cheering as the ex-hostages board two buses and depart for Wiesbaden; Bruce Hall talking to freed hostage Donald Cooke's parents Ernest and Suzanne in their Memphis, Tennessee, home as they watch their son's arrival in West Germany on television; a continuation of the pre-recorded segment in which Queen, using a scaled model of the Consulate compound and aided by Howard Brodie's illustrations, describes his captivity in Tehran to Richard Wagner, this time focusing on his daily life as a hostage from his installation in an area of the Consulate compound nicknamed "The Mushroom Inn" through his release; Diane Sawyer comments on the political ramifications of the resolution of the hostage crisis, in particular its implications for newly inaugurated President Ronald Reagan's foreign policies concerning Iran and Iraq; and Sawyer, Dean, Rather, and McNamara contemplate the future of U.S. relations with West Germany and the U.S.S.R. Live footage is shown of the buses' arrival at the hospital in Wiesbaden; activity there is narrated by McNamara. After the hostages enter the hospital, Rather asks Queen about his current work at the State Department then closes the program with a statement regarding the soldiers who lost their lives in an effort months earlier to free the hostages. Includes commercials. Commercials include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for TWA, Don Garlits for Kendall, and John, Duke of Bedford for American Express.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: January 21, 1981 12:07 AM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:50:52
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T81:0757
- GENRE: News
- SUBJECT HEADING: Iran - History - Hostage crisis, 1979-1981
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV, 1981
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - American Bankers Association
- TV - Commercials - American Express card
- TV - Commercials - Canon NP200 photocopier
- TV - Commercials - Centrum vitamins
- TV - Commercials - Clorets breath mints
- TV - Commercials - Comtrex cold medication
- TV - Commercials - Control diet pills
- TV - Commercials - Cream o' Wheat cereal
- TV - Commercials - Doritos snack chips
- TV - Commercials - General Electric
- TV - Commercials - Kal Kan dog food
- TV - Commercials - Kellogg's Frosted Miniwheats cereal
- TV - Commercials - Kendall motor oil
- TV - Commercials - Listermint Cinnamon mouthwash
- TV - Commercials - Neo-Synephrine II medicine
- TV - Commercials - New Freedom maxi pads
- TV - Commercials - Nice 'n' Easy hair color
- TV - Commercials - Night of Olay beauty cream
- TV - Commercials - People magazine
- TV - Commercials - Puppy Chow dog food
- TV - Commercials - Sanka decaffinated coffee
- TV - Commercials - Swift Soup Starter
- TV - Commercials - TWA airlines Ambassador Class service
- TV - Commercials - Tegrin medicated shampoo
- TV - Commercials - Tums antacid
CREDITS
- Dan Rather … Anchor
- Morton Dean … Reporter
- Tom Fenton … Reporter
- Bruce Hall … Reporter
- Bob McNamara … Reporter
- Richard Wagner … Reporter
- Diane Sawyer … Reporter
- Bob Schieffer … Reporter
- Robert Young … Reporter
- Howard Brodie
- Donald Cooke
- Ernest Cooke
- Suzanne Cooke
- Rona Fields
- Ronald Reagan
- Pahlevi, Mohammed Riza (Shah of Iran)
- Richard Queen