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The returnees turned out generally to be a surprisingly stable group. Dr. Jerome Korcak, the State Department's medical director, reported that no major physical ailments caused by captivity had been detected among the 52. Some suffered "posttraumatic stress," he said, but all cases were treatable. None, he said, would be "permanently disabled." He reported that none of the Americans had developed any tendency to become emotionally dependent on their captors, and that early brainwashing efforts by the Iranians had been "completely unsuccessful." A few felt some guilt about "statements they made under duress," and some would feel "many stresses" in adjusting to normal living, but, predicted Korcak, all "could cope with what awaits them back home."
Before heading home, the Americans faced an emotional test of a different sort in Wiesbaden. They assembled in a brilliantly lighted community room on the hospital's third floor to meet Jimmy Carter. He had boarded a helicopter in Plains at 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday to get back to SAM 27000 at Robins Air Force Base, where some of his former top officials, including Mondale, Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, Treasury Secretary G. William Miller, White House Counsel Lloyd Cutler, Jordan and Powell awaited him for the 8½-hour flight to Frankfurt.
At Wiesbaden, there was tension in both parties as Carter met the former hostages whose lives he had, in a sense, held in his hands. He did not know how they felt about his failure to free them sooner. Stiffly and nervously, the former President and his top aides shook hands with the returnees one by one. Suddenly a former hostage impulsively wrapped his arms around Carter. The tension snapped. Said Muskie later: "The mood turned warm and personal." Added Jordan: "You could feel your emotions tugging you."
Now Carter chatted more easily, holding up three newspapers, which bannered the release of the hostages and gave Reagan's Inauguration secondary play. "As you can see," said Carter, "we've had a change of presidency, but even that was second in people's minds." The returnees laughed heartily. Carter urged the former hostages to return home as a group. "Some of you are ready to leave," he said, "but some are not. You all need a chance to get acquainted with freedom and lend each other your support." All of them, he said, were "heroes."
Then he fielded questions. Why had he not tried a rescue mission sooner? asked a Marine. Carter took full blame for the desert tragedy, and drew applause. He told them that relatives of those who died in their mission had expressed to him their joy at the release of the 52. Carter concluded with a defense of the agreement reached with Iran. He noted that Iran had received only about $3 billion of the $12 billion in assets he had frozen, and joked: "I was afraid you'd be upset that they didn't get more of their money." Carter was applauded once again. If any of the returnees had reservations about that deal, none expressed them.