General Discussion

That GOP operatives committed TREASON to aid their campaign is almost certain.

It is not enough to debate whether getting the hostages released would have won the election for Carter. Two points:

1) The American public would not have spent a generation regarding his Presidency as a failure if they had known that Regan's goons deliberately encouraged the Iranians not to release the hostages.

2) Even after the election, if voters had known what really happened, it would have stained Reagan and his legacy very badly. If the scandal had been properly investigated in the early 80s,, he would have had a a hard time winning re-election in 1984, and perhaps we would have been spared the Bush family.