Kenneth Douglas Taylor was the Canadian Ambassador to Iran during the Iran hostage crisis and revolution in 1979. Iranian students invaded the United States embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979 (Iran hostage crisis). During the riot, six Americans managed to escape. They hid for four days before reaching the Canadian embassy where they met Taylor who devised the plan (with assistance from the CIA) to get them out of Iran safely. The other 52 American hostages were released on the last day of President Jimmy Carter's term in office, in January 1981. Taylor helped the six Americans escape from Iran during the hostage crisis by contacting Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark and getting him to help issue the Americans Canadian passports to fool the Iranians into believing they were Canadians in a covert operation called the Canadian Caper. Canada's Parliament convened its first secret session since World War II to give permission to issue Canadian passports for the six Americans. The CIA prepared a set of forged Visas to go with the passports. Disguises and cover stories were invented for a series of scenarios. They eventually claimed that they were a Hollywood advance crew who was scouting locations for a movie. On January 27, 1980, the American diplomats, now travelling on Canadian passports, boarded a flight to Zurich, Switzerland, leaving from Tehran. The Canadian embassy staff also left and closed the Embassy. After returning from Iran, Taylor was appointed Canadian Consul-General to New York City. In 1980, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, and was also awarded the United States Congressional Gold Medal. Taylor completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto. He later returned to the university for several years as the Chancellor of Victoria College. Ambassador Ken Taylor was first inducted into the Academy in 1980, and then participated in the 1982 Achievement Summit in New Orleans, where he spoke to the student delegates about his life as a diplomat and international relationships and international law.