Of the many who mourn former President Jimmy Carter, not everyone can say that he saved their lives.
Rocky Sickmann was a 22-year-old US Marine stationed at the US Embassy in Tehran, Iran, when he and 51 other Americans were taken hostage by Iranian revolutionaries on November 4, 1979.
It defined his life—as well as much of Carter’s presidency.
“For the first 30 days, I’m sitting in this room handcuffed and blindfolded, thinking that the Vietnam War had just ended and nobody cared about these thousands of veterans coming home,” the 67-year-old said. “Who will take care of the Iranian hostages?”
He said at the time he wasn’t even sure how much President Carter cared about it. It was a sentiment echoed by much of the American public. Many blamed Carter for not returning the hostages home for more than a year.
Political historians say part of the reason Carter narrowly lost to Ronald Reagan — and only served one term — was his handling of the hostage crisis.
Minutes after Reagan was sworn in, the hostages were released, even though the deal was being worked on during Carter’s presidency.
Mr. Sickmann said Carter deserves to be forever admired for his tireless efforts to bring them home.
“He was a good man who wanted diplomacy. I found out after that how deeply involved he was. He knew my parents. He cared about them, he would have met them in DC.”
When Mr. Sickmann finally met Carter himself, he wasn’t quite dressed for the occasion.
He laughs, “We met him in pyjamas! How do you welcome your Commander-in-Chief dressed like that!”
Rocky was flown with the other hostages to Wiesbaden, Germany a year after they were taken hostage. The day after they arrived, Carter greeted them in person.
“It was a very exciting day because he used to be in the Marines and he said meeting us was the happiest day of his life.”
The meeting was recorded in a photo that Carter would send to Sickmann 10 months after he was voted out of the White House. It was signed: ‘To my friend, Rocky Sickmann’.
But that was not the last Mr. Sickmann saw of him. Just 10 years ago, he ran into Carter at a baseball game in Georgia. He told the usher to deliver a message to the former president.
“He reads it – suddenly he stands up, stands up and turns around. I stand up and we wave to each other.”
Like Carter, Mr. Sickmann focused on charity work. He said the former president inspired him to found Folds of Honor, which provides scholarships to families of killed or disabled U.S. military and emergency responders.
“President Carter was a good Christian, married to his wonderful wife, and continued his life of service. I don’t know if I will ever be as good as he was, but I hope I can do the same thing.”
The charity was founded in honor of the 8 American soldiers who were killed trying to rescue hostages. In 1980, the mission, dubbed Eagle’s Claw, failed catastrophically after three helicopters broke down. It was the last straw for Carter politically – although he won the Democratic nomination, he was swept by Ronald Reagan in that year’s election.
But while the Iran hostage crisis would be a dark stain on Carter’s political legacy, Mr. Sickmann said he owes his life to Jimmy Carter.
“Morning, noon and night, 444 days, I have never prayed so hard in my life, hoping that God is on our side,” he said.
“But also President Carter kept us alive. He kept us in front of the world, making sure people were (also) praying for us.”
