While the issue of the Obama administration's scattered reactions to the lack of security in Libya that resulted in the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans on September 11 was batted around on all the Sunday talk shows, Ben Affleck's Argo continued to earn heaping doses of praise by film critics and audiences alike.
Stevens death is the first time a U.S. Ambassador has lost his life overseas since 1979, the same year when the Iranian hostage crisis began. Over 50 Americans were held in captivity for 444 days by Iranian hostages, contributing to Jimmy Carter's ultimate fate as a one-term president.
Less well known was the daring rescue plan cooked up by former CIA agent Tony Mendez to extract six Americans from the Canadian Ambassador's residence that took place in January of 1980 – the basis of Argo.
This extremely entertaining movie has an afterword, featuring photos comparing the real life Americans with the actors who played them in the film, as well as a voice-over from former President Jimmy Carter, who admits that he would have liked to have taken credit for the successful mission, but couldn't make the CIA's role public without endangering the remaining hostages in Tehran.
But what if he had? Would it have changed anything in the 1980 election against Ronald Reagan?
This article appears in Oct 11-17, 2012.