Lt. Robert O. Goodman, with the Rev. Jesse Jackson standing alongside, speaks during a ceremony to welcome him back from Syria in January 1984. Goodman was held by the Syrians after his A-6E Intruder aircraft was shot down over Syrian-controlled territory in Lebanon. (National Archives)
Navy Lt. Robert Goodman marked Christmas Day 1983 under detention of Syrian forces. The A-6 Intruder, a fixed-wing attack plane he was flying with Lt. Mark Lange, had been shot down by Syria on Dec. 4, 1983, while on a retaliatory mission over the mountains east of Beirut, Lebanon.
Lange did not survive the ejection from the aircraft. Syrian troops took Goodman into custody, holding him first in a basement cell, then in a bedroom of sorts near an office, he recounted in a 2023 article he co-wrote for “Windscreen,” a magazine for the A-6 Intruder community.
Soon after Christmas, a group of men came to his room and asked, “Do you know Jackson?”
Unsure what they were getting at, Goodman wrote that he responded, “Jesse, Michael or Reggie?”
The language barrier left him confused, but Goodman soon learned that the men were referring to the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Jackson had written the Syrian president about Goodman and led a delegation to Syria in what he called a “mission of mercy” that ultimately freed the pilot.
“I’ve been eternally grateful to Rev. Jackson and his family for his efforts in securing my release,” Goodman, 69, now a retired commander, said Tuesday after learning of Jackson’s death at age 84.
Jackson’s presence and influence throughout decades of American history and politics have sometimes overshadowed the significant role he played negotiating the release of military service members held overseas.
Twice he secured the release of American troops, first helping Goodman and more than a decade later helping three soldiers held by Serbian forces.
James Thomas Jones III, associate professor of African American History at Prairie View A&M University in Texas, said Jackson’s secret sauce may have been his ability to come in with a plea and a reminder that the entire world was watching — not presenting a military perspective.
“If you’ve had war, conflict, and what have you, this little token, this one moment, is something that can prove to be very valuable to you as far as the historical memory goes, and also in regards to how you’re viewed by your contemporaries at this present moment,” Jones said. “Are you willing to work with anyone? And to deny Jackson would be a missed opportunity for a lot of people.”
As Jackson worked to release Goodman, he was also running for president in the Democratic primary, which led to a tense but celebratory White House news briefing Jan. 4, 1984, with President Ronald Reagan, who was up for reelection.
Goodman had been freed one day earlier with no concessions from the U.S. government. Jackson worked outside of it.
In Jackson’s decision to go, Jones did not see Jackson’s motivations as related to race — because Goodman is a Black man — but more about politics and strategy.
“In many ways, he was going to show that he was capable of being presidential and accomplishing things that the sitting American president could not do,” Jones said.
Jackson described his three days of negotiations with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in Damascus to CBS on the 30th anniversary of Goodman’s release.
“I leaned heavily upon him to not let us go back empty-handed,” Jackson said. “Our mission was noble. It was for the best in our own country and for the best of Syria at the same time and because of that, Mr. Assad let him go.”
This sat in contrast to the efforts made by the Reagan administration, Jones said.
“You have Reagan, and you have American military leaders who believe that might is right,” he said.
Jackson instead presented an opportunity “where humanity can show it can reign,” Jones said.
Jackson continued from there to get involved in negotiating the release of Americans held in Cuba, Iraq, Gambia and during the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985. His work again involved detained military troops in 1999 when three soldiers were captured by Serbian forces.
From left, Spc. Steven M. Gonzales, Staff Sgt. Christopher J. Stone, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Staff Sgt. Andrew A. Ramirez on May 2, 1999. (Hrvoje Knez/AP)
Staff Sgt. Christopher J. Stone, Staff Sgt. Andrew A. Ramirez and Spc. Steven M. Gonzales were on a NATO observation patrol on March 31, 1999, when Serbian troops took them by force and accused them of crossing illegally into Yugoslavia along the Macedonia border.
Jackson led a religious delegation that secured their release on May 2, 1999.
Maj. Gen. David L. Grange, then-commander of the 1st Infantry Division, stated in an Army release he was grateful for Jackson’s help.
“[Jackson] had told me it was a ‘tough sell,’ but that he would be successful — and he was,” Grange said.
Gonzales later told PBS about his release and said he didn’t believe it was real until “we were able to walk across that floor, and go hug Rev. Jackson, and then call our families.”
Jackson again, Jones said, brought a persuasive power that was not associated with military forces.
“He’s an individual who was able to insert himself in a lot of religious, political moments,” Jones said.
