November 4 Birthday
On November 4, 1979, Iranian students stormed the US Embassy in Tehran and took sixty-six Americans hostage. The crisis lasted 444 days. The students demanded the extradition of the deposed Shah, who was in the United States for medical treatment. The crisis destroyed the Carter presidency — the failed rescue mission in April 1980 killed eight Americans and sealed Carter's defeat. The hostages were released on January 20, 1981, minutes after Ronald Reagan was inaugurated. Iran and the United States have not had diplomatic relations since. In 1956, Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest to crush the Hungarian Revolution. The revolution had begun on October 23 when students tore down a statue of Stalin. The Hungarians fought for twelve days, expecting American help that never came. 2,500 Hungarians died. 200,000 fled. Imre Nagy, the reformist prime minister, was executed in 1958. The West had encouraged the uprising through Radio Free Europe but did not intervene. People born on November 4 fall under the zodiac sign of Scorpio. The birthstone is Topaz and the birth flower is Chrysanthemum. Historical events on November 4 include 1922: Howard Carter discovers entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb in Valley of the Kings, 1979: Iranian students seize US Embassy in Tehran, beginning hostage crisis, 1956: Soviet tanks crush Hungarian Revolution. Famous people born on November 4 include Will Rogers (1879), Walter Cronkite (1916), Art Carney (1918).