Canadian Caper
Hardcover novel by Jean Pelletier about the joint covert rescue by the Canadian government and the (CIA) of six American diplomats in Tehran.
Learn MoreExclusive Artifacts
“The trick is that you have to believe the lie and believe it so much that the lie becomes the truth.” - Tony Mendez
Before ARGO was a dramatic Ben Affleck-directed film, it was a story in Wired Magazine. But long before that, it was also known as the “Canadian Caper” — a rescue mission coordinated by the CIA and the Canadian government to rescue six U.S. diplomats from Iran, by disguising the six hostages as a Canadian film crew shooting a fabricated sci-fi flick titled “Argo” as cover.
The script – signed by director and star of the film Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman and Alan Arkin – joins several artifacts from the real mission, including magazine ads, movie posters and business cards from the pseudo-production company, all created to validate the existence of a film that served solely as the cover story for an intricate extraction plan. The collection of Argo artifacts can be found in the Museum's Covers and Legends gallery.
See Highlights from the Museum's collection of Argo artifacts:
Window Dressing
The Script
The script for the fake CIA movie Argo was actually from an unmade adaptation of Roger Zelazny's sci-fi novel Lord of Light.
Learn More
False Documents
False documents created the identity of Kevin Harkins, and appropriate pocket litter helped make the identity credible.
Learn More
Intelligence Star of Valor
Admiral Stansfield Turner, then Director of Central Intelligence presented the award to Tony Mendez for his role in rescuing the diplomats.
Learn More