In this Jan. 31, 1980, file photo, Ken Taylor, Canadian Ambassador to Iran, laughs as he answers questions during a meeting with journalists outside the Canadian Embassy in Paris. Taylor, who kept Americans hidden at his residence during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, died Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015, after a two month battle with colon cancer, his wife Pat said. He was 81. (AP Photo/File)
Kenneth Douglas Taylor OC (October 5, 1934 – October 15, 2015) was a Canadian diplomat, educator and businessman, best known for his role in the 1979 covert operation called the "Canadian Caper" when he was the Canadian ambassador to Iran. With the cooperation of the American Central Intelligence Agency, Taylor helped six Americans escape from Iran during the Iran hostage crisis by procuring Canadian passports for the Americans to deceive the Iranian Revolutionary guard by posing as a Canadian film crew scouting locations. Had the IRG known, every Canadian in the embassy would have been executed. Before the escape, the six Americans spent several weeks hiding in the homes of Taylor and another Canadian diplomat, John Sheardown....
Iranian students invaded the United States embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979. During the riot, six Americans managed to escape. They hid for four days before reaching the Canadian embassy, where they met Taylor, who devised the plan to get them out of Iran safely. On January 20, 1981, as Ronald Reagan was being sworn in as President, the remaining 52 American hostages were released by Iran into US custody, having spent 444 days in captivity.
Taylor played a crucial role in providing intelligence on the hostage crisis to Canadian and American intelligence agencies. Reportedly, he helped scout out landing sites for the abortive Delta Force rescue attempt, Operation Eagle Claw
JadedLeafs on April 10th, 2025 at 15:48 UTC »
The story for those who want to read it. Was the inspiration for argo although that movie attributed a lot of what Canada did to Americans.
https://www.international.gc.ca/gac-amc/history-histoire/ken-taylor.aspx?lang=eng
JerryTwoPlanks on April 10th, 2025 at 16:22 UTC »
And look at where USA-Canada relations are now… heart breaking. 💔
Spartan2470 on April 10th, 2025 at 16:31 UTC »
Here provides the following context:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_D._Taylor