Bruce Laingen was the senior U.S. diplomat held in Tehran during the Iran Hostage Crisis from November 1979 to January 1981.

He received a M.A. in International Relations from the University of Minnesota. During World War II Laingen served in the U.S. Navy, and in 1949 he joined the U.S. Foreign Service. He served until 1987 at posts in Germany, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. He was appointed ambassador to Malta in 1977. Laingen was then sent back to Iran as the U.S. chargé d’affaires, but within months of his arrival the U.S. embassy was overrun by student protesters. He and two other American officials were at the Iranian Foreign Ministry at the time of the assault and were trapped and held there for the next 14 months. After his ordeal, Laingen was awarded the State Department’s Award for Valor along with several other recognitions.

Ambassador Laingen’s papers are at the Minnesota Historical Society. They are a valuable resource for anyone interested in international relations, U.S.-Iran relations, diplomacy, the U.S. Foreign Service, and especially the Iran Hostage Crisis. The papers contain personal and official correspondence and photographs from his entire Foreign Service career, and papers from Laingen’s experience during the Iran hostage crisis. Highlights include appeals written by Laingen to Iranian government officials, letters written to Laingen by children, personal and official correspondence, pages from Laingen’s journal kept during the crisis, solitary confinement writings, and a map of the ministry rooms, drawn by Laingen, where he was kept hostage.