Successful Operation Eagle Claw?

Could the US Military successfully pull of the mission in the fashion they had originally planned? And would Carter have been given a better rap if he had succeeded in freeing the hostages? How would the success affect America's position on the world stage?
 

Thande

Donor
I tend to think Carter would still have lost the election, but it would have been much closer than OTL.
 
IIRC CalBear once said that a successful Eagle Claw was basically ASB, so let's say Carter closes the embassy in late 1978 instead.

You've still got an incompetent, floundering president who is losing over 30% of Democrats and whose approval in July '79 is at 28%, plus the crap economy. What this means is that Ted Kennedy, if he launches a properly run campaign, could potentially successfully primary Carter, or come close enough to force Carter's abdication like his brother did LBJ 12 years earlier. If Kennedy unseats Carter, the liberals come back but the moderates get sent straight into Reagan's arms.
 

Thande

Donor
IIRC CalBear once said that a successful Eagle Claw was basically ASB, so let's say Carter closes the embassy in late 1978 instead.

You've still got an incompetent, floundering president who is losing over 30% of Democrats and whose approval in July '79 is at 28%, plus the crap economy. What this means is that Ted Kennedy, if he launches a properly run campaign, could potentially successfully primary Carter, or come close enough to force Carter's abdication like his brother did LBJ 12 years earlier. If Kennedy unseats Carter, the liberals come back but the moderates get sent straight into Reagan's arms.
Why would Kennedy do better in his primary challenge to Carter if Carter's position, though still not good, is obviously better than OTL?
 
Why would Kennedy do better in his primary challenge to Carter if Carter's position, though still not good, is obviously better than OTL?

Because IOTL, the hostage crisis created a RRTF (Rally Round The Flag) effect for Carter and liberals rallied around him despite their visceral distaste for his domestic policy (laying the groundwork for the demise of private-sector unionism especially). Here liberals don't feel the need to support a "wartime" incumbent.
 
Top