ON THIS DAY

January 28, 1980

Ken Taylor, Canadian ambassador to Iran, engineered what became known as the Canadian Caper. A few months earlier, Iranian revolutionaries captured the US embassy and took 66 hostages. At great personal risk, Taylor and other Canadians hid six Americans who were not at the embassy when it was attacked. Canadian passports were arranged for the Americans, who flew out on January 28. Later that day, Taylor and the remaining Canadians shut down the embassy and left Iran.