(AP PHOTO)
President Richard Nixon with the Shah of Iran at the White House, April 1, 1969. Nixon admired the Shah, who was in Washington to attend the funeral of former president Dwight Eisenhower.
(AP PHOTO)
President Richard Nixon with the Shah of Iran at the White House, April 1, 1969. Nixon admired the Shah, who was in Washington to attend the funeral of former president Dwight Eisenhower.
(AP PHOTO)
The Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Great Britain withdrew its military shield from the Gulf by the end of 1971, leaving the vital oil fields and shipping lanes vulnerable. The Shah offered to protect them in exchange for arms and higher oil prices.
(AP PHOTO)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Earle Wheeler (left) and Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird opposed Nixon’s plan to grant the Shah a blank check in the Persian Gulf.
(COURTESY NIXON LIBRARY)
King Faisal of Saudi Arabia visited the White House in 1971, the year when U.S. imports of oil from the desert kingdom increased sixfold. Unlike the Shah, King Faisal was sensitive to the price of oil, but also unlike the Shah, he strongly opposed U.S. support for Israel.
(AP PHOTO)
Washington Post columnist and muckraker Jack Anderson hounded the Nixon and Ford administrations with revelations about secret oil and arms deals with the Shah. Administration officials Henry Kissinger and William Simon used Anderson to settle scores with the Shah and with each other.
(AP PHOTO)
The oil crisis of the mid-1970s began prior to the outbreak of the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Panic buying caused shortages of gasoline and home heating oil.
(AP PHOTO)
When the U.S. rushed aid to Israel during the 1973 war, Arab states led by Saudi Arabia imposed an oil embargo on the U.S. in retaliation.
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On November 9, 1973, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and King Faisal met to discuss the oil embargo. Kissinger and Defense Secretary James Schlesinger were discussing breaking the embargo by occupying Abu Dhabi. With the Shah’s approval, a U.S. naval task force was steaming toward the Persian Gulf.
(COURTESY GERALD FORD LIBRARY)
On November 13, 1974, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Alan Greenspan (left), Chairman of the Federal Reserve Arthur Burns (center), and Treasury Secretary William Simon conferred after meeting with President Gerald Ford to discuss how to respond to the oil shock rattling the U.S. economy. “There isn’t a brain between them,” Kissinger scoffed. “I think I understand economics as well as they do.”
(COURTESY GERALD FORD LIBRARY)
President Ford conferring with West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. Schmidt alerted Ford to the danger of failing banks and political instability in Europe. The Chancellor wanted to confront the oil-producing states.
(AP PHOTO)
Henry Kissinger never hid his contempt for Saudi Oil Minister Sheikh Zaki Yamani. But in September 1975, Kissinger was forced to travel to Saudi Arabia to ask King Khalid for relief on oil prices. Yamani embarrassed Kissinger by revealing that the Shah had confided that all his price increases had been approved in advance by the White House.
(AP PHOTO)
Treasury Secretary Simon holding forth on Air Force One while Kissinger sits alongside. The rivalry between the two men ensured gridlock on oil policy within the Ford administration.
(COURTESY GERALD FORD LIBRARY)
National Security Advisor Gen. Brent Scowcroft regarded the Shah as an American ally but expressed ambivalence about the way U.S.-Iran relations had been conducted under Kissinger. He approved the plan to try to break OPEC from within with the help of the Saudis.
(COURTESY GERALD FORD LIBRARY)
King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain at the White House. Spain’s economy was crippled by high fuel costs, and the country faced a debt crisis as well as political violence on the left and military revolt on the right. In Italy the Communist Party was on the verge of forming a new government amid worsening economic conditions and political paralysis. Kissinger was deeply concerned about the various crises in Europe.
(COURTESY GERALD FORD LIBRARY)
The Shah’s refusal to provide price relief gave Simon the opening he had sought to improve U.S. relations with the Saudis. On July 9, 1976, President Ford received Saudi Ambassador Alireza (center) and Prince Abdullah, brother of King Khalid, to discuss oil prices, missile sales, and the Middle East peace process, among other topics.
(AP PHOTO)
Kissinger’s last visit to Iran as secretary of state failed to resolve disagreements between the United States and the Shah, as is evident from the faces of the two men at this press conference. There was concern over the Shah’s health. Kissinger warned Ford, “If we get rid of the Shah, we will have a radical regime on our hands.”
(COURTESY GERALD FORD LIBRARY)
On September 17, 1976, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud bin Faisal al-Saud spoke with President Ford and senior officials at the White House. The Saudis wanted to see progress on arms sales and trade legislation before agreeing to the plan to try to break OPEC and oppose the Shah’s proposed oil price increase. The president assured the prince of his support.
(COURTESY GERALD FORD LIBRARY)
President Ford and Betty Ford exchange a hug as election returns on November 2, 1976, showed Ford being defeated by Jimmy Carter. The recession, oil prices, and unemployment cost Ford his job.
(COURTESY GERALD FORD LIBRARY)
A month after the election President Ford met with Iranian Ambassador Zahedi to issue a final appeal on oil prices. The meeting ended without an agreement. Zahedi reminded Ford that the Shah and Kissinger had struck a deal to delay price increases until after the election and Iran needed the revenue now.
(AP PHOTO)
Tear gas wafts across the lawn of the White House, stinging the eyes of the Shah, Empress Farah, Rosalynn Carter, and President Carter as United States Park Police tried to contain hundreds of pro- and anti-Shah demonstrators. The fuse of revolution had been lit.
