October Surprise

Carter was at the time dealing with the Iranian hostage crisis[?] and the hostile regime of the Ayatollah Khomeini. Sick alleges that certain Republicans with CIA connections, including George H. W. Bush, arranged to have the hostages held (through October, thus the "surprise") until Reagan could defeat Carter in early November, and then released upon Reagan's inauguration. The hostages were in fact released on that day.

If this is how events happened, some believe that is would have been an act of treason - dealing with a hostile foreign government to achieve the defeat of a domestic administration.

According to Sick's analysis, Oliver North was more or less a fall guy, taking the responsibility in order to conceal the treason of Reagan and Bush.

See also: George Bush family conspiracy theory, Iran-Contra, Iranian hostage crisis[?]