Most America united, but one politician stood alone In 1979 Iran took 70 Americans hostage for 444 days. President Jimmy Carter and Sanders, along with the following text: The meme featured black-and-white photographs of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the Islamic revolution of 1979 and became Iran’s supreme leader former U.S. and 2020 Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders. In January 2020, we received multiple inquiries from readers about the accuracy of a social media meme that made striking claims about the past record of U.S.