{"id":8408,"date":"2019-11-26T15:17:16","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T20:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thediplomaticenvoy.com\/?p=8408"},"modified":"2019-11-26T15:17:16","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T20:17:16","slug":"nixon-kissinger-and-the-shah-lecture-by-dr-roham-alvandi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2019\/11\/26\/nixon-kissinger-and-the-shah-lecture-by-dr-roham-alvandi\/","title":{"rendered":"Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah Lecture by Dr. Roham Alvandi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Ali H. Aljarrah<\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><strong><i>Staff Writer<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On Thursday, November 7, the College of Arts and Sciences\u2019 Middle Eastern Studies Program organized a lecture on Dr. Roham Alvandi\u2019s book <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah: The United States and Iran in the Cold War<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Alvandi, an Associate Professor at the London School of Economics\u2019 International History Department, said that he began his research on this project while writing his doctoral dissertation. His goal for the book was to challenge the narrative of the Shah being a \u201cpuppet for the United States.\u201d\u00a0In conducting his research, the distinguished Professor explained that he used a multitude of resources including declassified files from Nixon\u2019s Presidential Library, the U.S.\u2019s National Archives, and available Iranian sources.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The lecture, like the book, is divided into three parts: the first regarding Iran\u2019s relationship with the United States from the 1960s through the 1970s; Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah\u2019s personal and political relationship; and Iran\u2019s eroding relationship with the United States from Watergate to Carter\u2019s presidency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Alvandi began by describing how the United States filled the void left by the British when they pulled out of the Middle East in the 1960s due to cuts in defense spending. As a result, the Johnson administration chose to continue the British policy of maintaining the balance of power between Iran and Saudi Arabia.\u00a0When Nixon entered the White House, his administration continued the policy of maintaining the balance of power until 1970 when they extended unlimited Foreign Military Sales (FMS) credit to the Shah, which in effect gave Iran primacy in the region. Given the establishment of the Richard Nixon Doctrine, Nixon and Kissinger believed Iran was best capable to counteract Soviet influence in the region compared to Saudi Arabia\u2019s weak government.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Delving further into their relationship, Dr. Alvandi described Nixon\u2019s view of the Shah as a \u201cpartner\u201d in the region, compared to the \u201cclient\u201d view of previous administrations. He continued to state that both men were, \u201cgeopolitical strategists who hated the same people and came from similar backgrounds.\u201d With Iran\u2019s new primacy in the region, Nixon infamously whispered, \u201cProtect me,\u201d to the Shah, as a sign of both Nixon\u2019s expectations or Iran and a warning to the Shah\u2019s rule.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">With his status as a \u201cpartner\u201d, the Shah convinced Nixon and Kissinger to help fund various military operations in or near the region, such as Iraq and Pakistan. Dr. Alvandi stated that the Shah understood that his region was vulnerable to Soviet influence and would make a case that Iran would counterbalance any Soviet threat. The Shah made the argument that because Iraq\u2019s Baathist government is backed by the Soviets providing military aid through Iran to Iraqi Kurds, for their insurgency against the Iraqi government, would offset the Soviet threat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Alvandi stated that the Shah\u2019s ultimate ambition was to become a power player on the international stage. With the increase in oil revenues during the 1970s, he utilized the money to set Iran into action by providing foreign aid to other countries and designing grand naval strategies in the Indian Ocean.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">However, as the Nixon White House was rattled by Watergate, so was the Shah\u2019s partnership. Despite his ambition to become an influential member of the large international players, Nixon\u2019s exit signified a return to the \u201cclient\u201d view of the Shah, as U.S. policy would cause him to cut back on his bold plans. Furthermore, the investigation of the Nixon Administration\u2019s showcased Congress\u2019s dissatisfaction with Iran\u2019s big military purchases and human rights violations. The entrance of the Carter Administration and their Human Rights Campaign in 1977 reflected Congress\u2019s feelings towards the up and coming nation and pivoted U.S. policy to focus mainly on Iran\u2019s domestic conduct.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In his closing, Dr. Alvandi stressed that although the Shah is depicted as many things, the Shah wasn\u2019t a \u201cmegalomaniac\u201d or a \u201cpuppet for the United States.\u201d\u00a0Yet two years after Carter was sworn in the Shah was deposed during the 1979 Revolution.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday, November 7, the College of Arts and Sciences\u2019 Middle Eastern Studies Program organized a lecture on Dr. Roham Alvandi\u2019s book Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah: The United States and Iran in the Cold War.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4611,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[546,1810,383,1576,389],"tags":[396,918,1842,1843],"class_list":["post-8408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-spotlight","category-november-2019","category-us","category-1576","category-diplo-news","tag-iran","tag-middle-east","tag-president-nixon","tag-henry-kissinger"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah Lecture by Dr. Roham Alvandi - The Diplomatic Envoy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2019\/11\/26\/nixon-kissinger-and-the-shah-lecture-by-dr-roham-alvandi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah Lecture by Dr. Roham Alvandi - The Diplomatic Envoy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Thursday, November 7, the College of Arts and Sciences\u2019 Middle Eastern Studies Program organized a lecture on Dr. Roham Alvandi\u2019s book Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah: The United States and Iran in the Cold War.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2019\/11\/26\/nixon-kissinger-and-the-shah-lecture-by-dr-roham-alvandi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Diplomatic Envoy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-26T20:17:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ali H. Aljarrah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ali H. Aljarrah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/26\\\/nixon-kissinger-and-the-shah-lecture-by-dr-roham-alvandi\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/26\\\/nixon-kissinger-and-the-shah-lecture-by-dr-roham-alvandi\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ali H. 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