Ken Taylor died yesterday, Thursday, at age 81 in New York
Born in Calgary Alberta, in the 1980’s he was the American’s “Canadian hero”. Until January 1980, few people outside the diplomatic world had heard of him, one of many foreign ambassadors working quietly in distant posts around the world, this one in Tehran Iran.
Except that in 1979 Iran was in turmoil. The Shah had been overthrown and the radical Ayatolloah Khomeini was the de facto head of the country which was in the throes of an Islamic revolution. Anti-American sentiment was high along with a general anti-western sentiment.
Revolutionaries had overrun the American embassy and taken the staff hostage. At great personal risk Ken Taylor however sheltered six Americans who had escaped.
Eventually persuading the Canadian government to take the highly unorthodox step of issuing them Canadian passports. Taylor also arranged to get them out with some help from the CIA.
The event was known as the Canadian Caper, and Taylor was later awarded the US Congressional Medal of Honour, and he was also named an officer in the Order of Canada.
In 1981 he became Consul General in New York, a position he held until he left in 1984 to take up positions in business.
Friends said he never made too much of the crucial role he played in saving the Americans. He did however, in his most diplomatic way, mildly rebuke the film Argo in 2013 which exaggerated the CIA and American role, while downplaying the major effort of Canada. It prompted star Ben Affleck to add a little note at the end of the film mentioning Canada’s role.
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