November 30th, 1979: Mondale to resign as US Secretary of State once successor is confirmed by the US Senate
Following weeks & months of speculation, US Secretary of State Walter Mondale announced he plans on stepping down once the Dem-controlled United States Senate confirms his successor following a swift confirmation process in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Some foreign policy experts think it might've had something do with the Brown administration's disastrous handling of the Iranian Hostage Crisis, where 62+ American diplomats & the US Embassy personnel employees have been held hostage since November 4th. During a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House, President Brown thanked Mondale for his years of serving the administration at the State Department including highlighting several of Mondale's diplomatic efforts in several foreign ventures, etc., Brown also asked Deputy Secretary of State Cyrus Vance to come to the podium to join him & Mondale by announcing he plans on nominating Vance to succeed Mondale at the State Department once the Senate confirms him, hoping for a swift confirmation. As for Mondale, there's growing speculation that he might be considered as a future VP contender on the Democratic side, preferably Vice President Carter, whom many view as the likely Democratic Party presidential nominee next year.
December 6th, 1979: Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearings of US Deputy Secretary of State Cyrus Vance smooth sailing; pressure on the Senate to confirm him as next US Secretary of State
Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Frank Church (D-ID) led the confirmation hearings for US Deputy Secretary of State Cyrus Vance before the committee on national television: where majority of the questions from the committee members was about the Iranian Hostage Crisis including other foreign hot-spots such as Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Cuba, etc.,
December 11th, 1979: Inside Scoop: President Brown secretly instructing Pentagon to evaluate military options
According to the Washington Post, citing anonymous sources within the US Defense Department, revealing that President Jerry Brown has secretly given the go-ahead for the Pentagon to begin evaluating specific military options against the Islamic-controlled government of Iran, in an attempt to resolving the ongoing Hostage Crisis. Both risky maneuvers in freeing the hostages are reportedly according to the Washington Post report, under strong consideration, as well as the broad operation in targeting the Islamic regime of Islamic leader Ayatollah Khomeini. However, what's unclear is how would look like since not everyone inside the Iranian military has come out in supporting the Islamic dictatorship.