{"id":23410,"date":"2019-07-19T16:01:46","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T16:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/07\/19\/l-bruce-laingen-iran-hostage-navy-combat-vet-dies-at-96\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:26:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:26:02","slug":"l-bruce-laingen-iran-hostage-navy-combat-vet-dies-at-96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/07\/19\/l-bruce-laingen-iran-hostage-navy-combat-vet-dies-at-96\/","title":{"rendered":"L. Bruce Laingen, Iran hostage, Navy combat vet, dies at 96"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 L. Bruce Laingen<\/a>, the top American diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran when it was overrun by Iranian protesters in 1979 and one of 52 Americans held hostage for more than a year<\/a>, has died. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was 96.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His son Chip Laingen told The Associated Press that his father died Monday of complications from Parkinson’s disease at an assisted-living facility in Bethesda, Maryland, a Washington suburb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran was in chaos in 1979, roiled by the departure of the Shah of Iran that January and the return a month later of the revolution\u2019s leader, Ayatollah Khomeini<\/a>, a longtime religious leader in exile. The U.S. had supported the shah\u2019s regime and incurred the wrath of Iranian revolutionaries before and after the shah was overthrown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When U.S. Ambassador William Sullivan stepped down in early 1979, the U.S. sought a short-term leader for its Tehran Embassy as the U.S. considered its diplomatic presence in the country, Laingen recalled for a 1992 oral history for the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. He said he accepted the appointment as charg\u00e9 d’affaires to Iran with the understanding it would be for a period of four to six weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In spite of his wife’s reservations, Laingen said, he went to Tehran that June with a feeling of excitement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was where the action was,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tehran had changed in the quarter-century since he had been stationed there early in his diplomatic career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will never forget the impression of traveling into the city from the airport that evening … in an armored-plated limousine with escort cars both fore and aft. Each of them were loaded with security types who had no hesitation when it was necessary to clear traffic to jump out of their cars and wave their pistols and Uzis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Recently freed Americans held hostage by Iran disembark Freedom One, an Air Force VC-137 Stratoliner aircraft, upon their arrival at the base. (Defense Department)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On Nov. 4, 1979, protesters took over the American Embassy. For 444 days, the plight of the American hostages was a daily news story \u2014 and a never-ending political drag for President Jimmy Carter as he campaigned for reelection in 1980, a bid he ultimately lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chip Laingen said his father was held separately at the foreign ministry for most of that period and was “treated fairly well.” His father struggled with feeling like he was the “captain of the ship” and not able to be with the rest of the hostages, his son said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It was very, very mentally wearing on him that he couldn’t be with his colleagues, the people he was helping,” Chip Laingen said Wednesday. “That was really tough on him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 1981, the hostages were released \u2014 a rebuke to Carter as well as recognition of a new American leader, Ronald Reagan, who had promised a hard line against Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recalling in the oral history his feelings upon returning to the U.S. and the reception he received, L. Bruce Laingen said: “I can only remember the joy of it, the relief of it, the incredible embrace of affection we had from every American.”<\/p>\n\n\n\t