Christmas in Tehran: Bringing the Holidays to Hostages

Christmas in Tehran: Bringing the Holidays to Hostages

In 1979, as Christmas approached, the United States Embassy in Tehran held more than fifty American hostages, who had been seized when revolutionaries stormed the embassy. No one from the U.S. had been able to have contact with them. The Reverend M. William Howard, Jr., was the president of the National Council of Churches at the time, and when he received a telegram from the Revolutionary Council, inviting him to perform Christmas services for the hostages, he jumped at the opportunity. In America, “we had a public that was quite riled up,” Reverend Howard reminds his son, The New Yorker Radio Hour’s Adam Howard. “Who knows what might have resulted if this issue were not somehow addressed? . . .Might there be an American invasion, an attempt to rescue the hostages in a militaristic way?” Reverend Howard was aware that the gesture had some propaganda value to the Iranian militants, but he saw a chance to lower the tension. Accompanied by another Protestant minister and a Catholic bishop, Howard entered front-page headlines, travelling to Tehran and into the embassy. He gave the captives updates on the N.F.L. playoffs, and they prayed. It was a surreal experience to say the least. “It was in the Iranian hostage crisis that I understood how alone we are, and how powerless we are when other people take control,” Reverend Howard says. “And really it’s in that setting that one can develop faith.”

New Yorker Radio Hour listeners, we want to hear from you. We have a few questions about the show and how you listen to it. The survey takes about twenty minutes, and your feedback will help us make our podcast better. Take the survey here.

Jaksot(1021)

How Betting Took Over Sports

How Betting Took Over Sports

Danny Funt has been reporting on the gambling boom for The New Yorker, which has generated startling recent headlines, including the arrest of a former N.B.A. coach and the indictment of two M.L.B. pi...

20 Tammi 17min

With the Podcast “I’ve Had It,” Jennifer Welch Goes “Dark Woke” on Politics

With the Podcast “I’ve Had It,” Jennifer Welch Goes “Dark Woke” on Politics

Before becoming a podcaster, Jennifer Welch had a successful career as an interior designer and co-starred in a reality show on Bravo. But, since 2022, she and Angie Sullivan, her co-host on the podca...

16 Tammi 32min

Does Every Marriage Need a Prenup?

Does Every Marriage Need a Prenup?

Prenups have gone from a tool of the ultra-wealthy, carrying a whiff of scandal, to a more widespread request for aspirational young couples with few assets. Wilson spoke with celebrity divorce attorn...

13 Tammi 18min

Trump’s New Brand of Imperialism

Trump’s New Brand of Imperialism

U.S. intervention in other countries, whether overt or covert, is by no means new, and Daniel Immerwahr notes that the open embrace of expansionism by the President and associates such as Stephen Mill...

9 Tammi 31min

Demi Moore Talks with Jia Tolentino

Demi Moore Talks with Jia Tolentino

Since she reëmerged as a star in the 2024 film “The Substance,” Demi Moore has been very busy. She has a major role in the current season of Taylor Sheridan’s “Landman” series, and she has two highly ...

6 Tammi 22min

Salsa Star Rubén Blades on Acting, Politics, and the Power of Music

Salsa Star Rubén Blades on Acting, Politics, and the Power of Music

For roughly half a century, the singer Rubén Blades has been spreading the gospel of salsa music to every corner of the globe. “You could say that Blades did for salsa what Bob Marley did for reggae,”...

2 Tammi 28min

Elaine Pagels on “The Historical Mystery of Jesus”

Elaine Pagels on “The Historical Mystery of Jesus”

Thirty years ago, David Remnick published “The Devil Problem,” a Profile of the religion scholar Elaine Pagels—a scholar of early Christianity who had also, improbably, become a best-selling author wi...

30 Joulu 202526min

The Company Behind the A.I. Boom

The Company Behind the A.I. Boom

Across the country, data centers that run A.I. programs are being constructed at a record pace. A large percentage of them use chips built by the tech colossus Nvidia. The company has nearly cornered ...

26 Joulu 202524min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

uutiscast
aikalisa
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
politiikan-puskaradio
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
tervo-halme
rss-pinnalla
rss-podme-livebox
otetaan-yhdet
rss-asiastudio
aihe
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
the-ulkopolitist
radio-antro
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
rss-ulkopoditiikkaa
rss-mina-ukkola
rss-girls-finish-f1rst
linda-maria
rss-raha-talous-ja-politiikka