181. Memorandum From the Department of State Executive Secretary (Battle) to the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)0
SUBJECT
- Iran: Proposed State Visit by the Shah of Iran1
The Department recommends that the Shah of Iran be invited to the United States for a state visit this autumn. Ambassador Holmes feels that an invitation is essential to bolster the Shah’s morale and confidence in Western support against Soviet threats and subversive pressures. The internal stability of Iran, as well as its foreign policy, is for the present and the near future almost entirely dependent upon the resolution, courage, and common sense of the Shah. He is under heavy domestic and foreign pressure to abandon his openly pro-Western stance.
The Shah has let it be known that he desires an invitation, and the coming visit of the Special Representative of the President, Ambassador Bowles, to Tehran affords an excellent opportunity to extend the invitation under the best possible circumstances. The Department suggests that a letter of invitation from the President be handed to the Shah by Ambassador Bowles on his forthcoming visit to Tehran. The Department understands that the period September 25–October 4 is open on the White House schedule.
No negotiations are contemplated during the visit. The issue of greatest importance to the Shah is the level of United States military assistance to Iran. This matter will have been settled by the suggested time of the visit. Furthermore, the Third Development Plan of Iran will have been launched by late September, thus providing recent and concrete evidence of the Shah’s role as a forward-looking leader of his people.
A state visit, rather than a more informal one, is necessary because the Shah personally likes pomp and because President Nasser, his deadly personal enemy, is scheduled for a state visit; any lesser treatment of the Shah would appear to him and his people as a personal insult.
[Page 451]Attached is the suggested text of a letter from the President to the Shah, to be delivered to the Shah by Ambassador Bowles.2
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 788.11/1–3062. Secret. Drafted by Bowling; cleared by Talbot, Meloy (G), and King (U/PR). A typewritten marginal notation indicates that the White House approved the recommendation on January 31.↩
- Iranian Ambassador Zahedi first raised the question of a Shah visit to the United States with Walt Rostow during a dinner party on August 11, 1961. (Memorandum of conversation; Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Country Series, Iran, 8/1/61– 8/14/61)↩
- The text of the letter reads in part: “I have long observed the role you have played in leading the Iranian people through the years toward material progress, national unity, and the preservation of the independence and integrity of your nation. Your personal observations on world conditions and on matters of cooperation between our two nations would be of great value to me in these difficult times, and the American people would welcome the prospect of receiving you and your gracious Queen as honored guests.”↩
- Printed from a copy that indicates Brubeck signed the original above Battle’s typed signature.↩