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The Canadian Caper
The "Canadian Caper" was the joint covert rescue by the Canadian government and the CIA of six American diplomats who had evaded capture during the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran, on November 4, 1979, after the Iranian Revolution, when Islamist students took most of the American embassy personnel hostage, demanding the return of the US-backed Shah for trial. After the diplomats had been sheltered by the British mission and Canadian diplomatic personnel, the Canadian and United States governments worked on a strategy to gain their escape through subterfuge and use of Canadian passports. The "caper" involved a CIA officer (Tony Mendez and his colleague known as "Julio" for this event) joining the six diplomats in Tehran to form a fake film crew. It was purportedly made up of six Canadians, one Irishman and one Latin American, who were finishing scouting for an appropriate location to shoot a scene for the science-fiction film ''Argo'', production of whic ...
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Shah Of Iran
This is a list of monarchs of Persia (or monarchs of the Iranic peoples, in present-day Iran), which are known by the royal title Shah or Shahanshah. This list starts from the establishment of the Medes around 671 BCE until the deposition of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979 CE. Median Dynasty (671–549 BC) Teispid kingdom (705–559 BC) Achaemenid Empire (559–334/327 BC) ''Note: Ancient Persia is generally agreed to have ended with the collapse of the Achaemenid dynasty as a result of the Wars of Alexander the Great.'' Macedonian Empire (336–306 BC) Seleucid Empire (311–129 BC) Fratarakas The Fratarakas appear to have been Governors of the Seleucid Empire. Kings of Persis Parthian Empire (247 BC – 228 AD) The Seleucid dynasty gradually lost control of Persia. In 253, the Arsacid dynasty established itself in Parthia. The Parthians gradually expanded their control, until by the mid-2nd century BC, the Seleucids had completely lost control of ...
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Secretary Of State For External Affairs (Canada)
The Minister of Foreign Affairs (french: Ministre des Affaires étrangères) is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the Government of Canada's international relations and is the lead minister responsible for Global Affairs Canada, though the minister of international trade leads on trade issues. In addition to Global Affairs Canada, the minister is also the lead in overseeing the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development and the International Development Research Centre. From 1909 to 1993, the office was called the Secretary of State for External Affairs. The first two secretaries of state for external affairs, from 1909 until 1912, ( Charles Murphy under Sir Wilfrid Laurier and William James Roche under Sir Robert Borden) concurrently served as the Secretary of State for Canada. The two portfolios were permanently separated in 1912, and the external affairs portfolio was then held by the prime minister of Can ...
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Flora MacDonald (politician)
Flora Isabel MacDonald, (June 3, 1926 – July 26, 2015) was a Canadian politician and humanitarian. Canada's first female foreign minister, she was also one of the first women to vie for leadership of a major Canadian political party, the Progressive Conservatives. She became a close ally of Prime Minister Joe Clark, serving in his cabinet from 1979 to 1980, as well as in the cabinet of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney from 1984 to 1988. In her later life, she was known for her humanitarian work abroad. The City of Ottawa recognised MacDonald on July 11, 2018 by naming a new bicycle and footbridge (opening 2019) over the Rideau Canal the Passerelle Flora Footbridge. Early life and career MacDonald was born in North Sydney, Nova Scotia, the daughter of Mary Isabel Royle and George Frederick MacDonald. She was of Scottish ancestry. Her grandfather had been a clipper ship captain who sailed around Africa and South America. Her father was in charge of North Sydney’s Western Un ...
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Sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a safe place for people, such as a political sanctuary; and non-human sanctuary, such as an animal or plant sanctuary. Religious sanctuary ''Sanctuary'' is a word derived from the Latin , which is, like most words ending in , a container for keeping something in—in this case holy things or perhaps cherished people (/). The meaning was extended to places of holiness or safety, in particular the whole demarcated area, often many acres, surrounding a Greek or Roman temple; the original terms for these are ''temenos'' in Greek and ''fanum'' in Latin, but both may be translated as "sanctuary". Similar usage may be sometimes found describing sacred areas in other religions. In Christian churches ''sanctuary'' has a specific meaning, covering p ...
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Kaj Sundberg
Kaj Ingemar Sundberg (1 April 1924 – 7 November 1993) was a Swedish diplomat. Early life Sundberg was born on 1 April 1924 in Färila, Gävleborg County, Sweden, the son of Karl-Filip Sundberg (1893–1955), a physician, and his wife ''Bertha'' Ebba Charlotta Ratsman (1896–1952). He had one brother, ''Bo'' Lennart (born 1929). He passed ''studentexamen'' at Lundsbergs boarding school in 1942 and received a Candidate of Law degree from Uppsala University in 1948. Career Following his studies, Sundberg was employed as an attaché at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Stockholm in 1948. From 1949 to 1952 he served in Helsinki and from 1952 to 1954 he served in Bombay. He returned to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1954 and became Second Secretary and then the First Secretary in 1961. Sundberg was appointed First Secretary in Washington, D.C. in 1962 and then Commercial Counsellor there in 1963. Sundberg was Deputy Director and Head of the UN Office at the Foreign Ministr ...
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Zena Sheardown
Zena Kahn Sheardown is a Guyanese-Canadian woman, who together with her husband John Sheardown, sheltered six Americans in their home for months during the Iran Hostage Crisis, in what has come to be known as "the Canadian Caper". In 1980, Sheardown's husband was appointed to the Order of Canada for his role in the Canadian Caper; Sheardown was ineligible for appointment because she was not a Canadian citizen. Her husband campaigned for her appointment, and in 1981, Sheardown was awarded the first-ever honorary appointment to the Order of Canada. By 1986, Sheardown had become a naturalized Canadian, and her honorary appointment was terminated, in exchange for an appointment as a full member. She thereby became the first person "removed" from the Order of Canada, although it is generally considered a transfer of status rather than a removal. John and Zena Sheardown were portrayed in the 1981 Canadian-American television movie '' Escape from Iran: The Canadian Caper'' by Chris W ...
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Richard Morefield
Richard Henry Morefield (September 9, 1929 – October 11, 2010) was an American diplomat who served in the United States Foreign Service. He was one of the 66 staff members at the American embassy in Tehran who were taken captive by a militant Islamist student group called the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line on November 4, 1979, in what became known as the Iran hostage crisis. He was one of 52 Americans who were held as a hostage for 444 days, until negotiations for the remaining captives being held hostage were concluded with the signing of the Algiers Accords on January 19, 1981, with their release coming the following day. Early life and education Morefield was born on September 9, 1929, in Venice, Los Angeles, Venice, California and grew up in San Diego. His college background focused on history, earning his undergraduate degree in the subject in 1951 from the University of San Francisco. He served for two years in the United States Army, attaining the rank of ...
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John Sheardown
John Vernon Sheardown (October 11, 1924 – December 30, 2012) was a Canadian diplomat who played a leading role in the "Canadian Caper". He and his wife Zena personally sheltered Americans hiding in Iran during the Iran hostage crisis. Early life Sheardown was born on October 11, 1924 in Sandwich, Ontario (now Windsor, Ontario). At the age of 18, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and piloted an Avro Lancaster heavy bomber in World War II, surviving having to bail out over England returning from a mission. He remained in the military after the war and also served in Korea. He later worked for the Canadian immigration service, beginning around 1962, then in the foreign service for 27 years, retiring in 1989. Canadian Caper On November 4, 1979, the Iran hostage crisis began; 52 American diplomats and civilians were taken hostage by Iranians in Tehran. At the time, Sheardown was the chief immigration officer, the second-ranking official at the Canadian Embassy there. ...
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Kenneth D
Kenneth is an English given name and surname. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a byname meaning "handsome", "comely". A short form of ''Kenneth'' is '' Ken''. Etymology The second part of the name ''Cinaed'' is derived either from the Celtic ''*aidhu'', meaning "fire", or else Brittonic ''jʉ:ð'' meaning "lord". People :''(see also Ken (name) Ken is a masculine given name of Scottish / Scottish Gaelic origin. It is used either as a given name or as a short form of names with the letters "Ken" (like Kenneth, Kenan, Kendrick, Kendall, Kennedy, Mackenzie, Kenson, or Kenelm). Ken is a ... and Kenny)'' Places In the United States: * Kenneth, Indiana * Kenneth, Minnesota * Kenneth City, Florida In Scotland: * Inch Kenneth, an island off the west coast of the Isle of Mull Other * "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?", a ...
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Basic Books
Basic Books is a book publisher founded in 1950 and located in New York, now an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and history. History Basic Books originated as a small Greenwich Village-based book club marketed to psychoanalysts. Arthur Rosenthal took over the book club in 1950, and under his ownership it soon began producing original books, mostly in the behavioral sciences. Early successes included Ernest Jones's ''The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud'', as well as works by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson. Irving Kristol joined Basic Books in 1960, and helped Basic to expand into the social sciences. Harper & Row purchased the company in 1969. In 1997, HarperCollins announced that it would merge Basic Books into its trade publishing program, effectively closing the imprint and ending its publishing of serious academic books. That same year, Bas ...
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Mehdi Bazargan
Mehdi Bazargan ( fa, مهدی بازرگان; 1 September 1907 – 20 January 1995) was an Iranian scholar, academic, long-time pro-democracy activist and head of Iran's interim government. He was appointed prime minister in February 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini, making him Iran's first prime minister after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. He resigned his position in November of the same year, in protest at the US Embassy takeover and as an acknowledgement of his government's failure in preventing it. He was the head of the first engineering department of University of Tehran. Early life and education Bazargan was born into an Azerbaijani family in Tehran on 1 September 1907. His father, Hajj Abbasqoli Tabrizi (died 1954) was a self-made merchant and a religious activist in '' bazaar'' guilds. Bazargan went to France to receive university education through an Iranian government scholarship during the reign of Reza Shah. He attended Lycée Georges Clemenceau in Nantes and was ...
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