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.”This segment originally aired on December 15, 2023.
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Welcome to the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm Adam Howard, and I have a personal sort of unusual holiday story to share with you today. It starts back in 1979.
On the 22nd of December, which was a Saturday, your mother and I had been out grocery shopping. So when we returned, we found the telegram. I read the telegram aloud to her. And it said something like, the Revolutionary Council of Iran is pleased to invite you to conduct Christmas services with the Americans in the U.S. Embassy.
That's the Reverend M. William Howard, Jr. He received that telegram as the Iran hostage crisis was unfolding. Reverend Howard was a prominent minister at the time, the president of the National Council of Churches. He also happens to be my father.
So when this came across your mail and you're reading it with mom, I mean, did you even hesitate for a minute or did she raise any concerns or reservations about you going?
Well, as you know, I've done some pretty daring things in my younger days. One of the things she often said was, When I was given invitations to go to various places like Syria or Guatemala, she would look at me and say, is this what you think you need to do?
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