We had no doubt that the Iranians were watching it too, given their utter contempt for Carter the appeaser.
Funny thing is that I don't even recall if the television picture was in color or black & white.
I remember the generosity of Reagan in allowing Carter to be on the plane to meet the hostages and greet them.
I was 18 years old back then but I remember the day well. I was preparing to go to Marine Corps boot camp in Parris Island (Feb 10 was my reporting date) so was getting up at 5am each morning and running seven miles through the icy streets of my neighborhood like I was Rocky Balboa.
This was shortly after John Lennon was shot so the radio stations were still playing his songs on a regular basis - you can only imagine how sick I was of hearing "Imagine" - though his newer songs like "Watching The Wheels" and "Starting Over" were still fresh and when I hear them today, it takes me back to that time.
On January 20th, I was glued to the TV like everybody else as the new president was sworn in and the newly freed hostages were landing at some airport in Germany for de-briefing (Wiesbaden I believe). I wish I could say that I was a stalwart conservative back then but I was only 18 and still politically unsophisticated. All I knew was that Reagan was a change from Carter and I was okay with that because Carter did not impress me all that much.
It was a weird time in my life. I had graduated high school the year before but because I didn't want to go straight into boot camp, I took almost a year off and was working as a busboy/dishwasher at an airport restaurant in East Boston. It was just something to do until boot camp but the job did put some money in my pocket and I did get to sow some wild oats during that time.
It would be the last time in my life that I would have a carefree lifestyle. As soon as I entered Parris Island, my life has been a rocket ride since and here I sit 33 years later saying where the hell has the time gone!