Taylor dies, aided US in 1979 Iran hostage crisis

It was called Argo and it won a few big Oscars including Best Picture of the Year. In truth, there was more than a “little story” standing between the American envoy and their capture. More than 50 Americans were taken hostage, leaving only 12 who managed to escape.

Former Canadian Ambassador to Iran Ken Taylor, famous for his role in protecting American diplomats during the Iran hostage crisis, died at the age of 81 on Thursday. Taylor facilitated their escape by arranging plane tickets and persuading the Ottawa government to issue fake passports. He undertook all these covert actions at a high personal risk, as he and his team would have been taken hostage themselves in the case of discovery by the Islamist militants.

“It’s why that incident in Iran happened”, she said. “On the other hand, he did it. He just did what he thought was right”. “There was never any hesitation on Taylor’s part to offer us sanctuary”. Mr. Taylor will certainly be missed not only as a great statesmen but a humanitarian.

Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan paid tribute to Taylor at the White House.

Taylor’s contributions were widely recognized upon the six diplomats’ safe return in 1980.

If he were an American, Ken Taylor might have parlayed it all into a career in politics. “But I realize this is a movie and you have to keep the audience on the edge of their seats”. Taylor and others, however, contended that the film didn’t give Canada enough credit for helping the Americans, and said the film glorified the CIA’s role in the process. The latter was not fully revealed to the public until 1998, when newly declassified Central Intelligence Agency files produced fodder for “Argo”.

Condolences also came in from USA officials who expressed both sadness over Taylor’s death and gratitude for his help in 1979.

As Taylor explained to the Toronto Star in 2012, several details of the film’s plot were fiction.

Upon learning about the controversy, an ostensibly oblivious Affleck phoned Mr. Taylor and invited him to speak openly about his qualms with the film.

His wife, Patricia E. Taylor, born in Australia, is a retired epidemiologist, also educated at Berkeley. Pat and I were in Los Angeles watching it with Ben Affleck. “To this day, the story stands as an enduring model of global co-operation between governments”.

BEN AFFLECK: (As Tony Mendez) Thank you.

“As Canada’s Ambassador to Iran during the Iranian Revolution, Taylor valiantly risked his own life by shielding a group of American diplomats from capture”, Harper said in a statement. His son reports that Ken had been diagnosed with colon cancer in August and spent his last months with family and friends. “In considerable pain, but wouldn’t let anybody know”.