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Rumpus Book ClubLetter From Iran
In the end of 1978 Josheph Kraft, a reporter for the New Yorker, went to visit Shah Pahlavi. He was greeted in a ballroom on the second floor of the Niavaran Palace by a man wearing, “a double-breasted suit whose blackness suggested mourning.” From the December 18, 1978 issue, “Letter From Iran.”:
I further noted that, while there was obvious unrest in the country, the Shah himself had lifted the lid by easing up on security and initiating reforms. Maybe all that was required was a slower pace and more publicity for the changes he had made. I mentioned that one of the problems was corruption in the royal family. He had decreed a new code of conduct for royal behavior, but it had not been published. Could I get a copy? The Shah agreed—with a weary air.
If worst came to worst, I went on, there was always the Army. The military was strong, and its leaders were loyal. The Shah said that force had its limitations. “You can’t crack down on one block and make the people on the next block behave,” he said.
I asked him if the Army leaders realized that. “I hope so,” he said. He went on to mention his son and heir, Crown Prince Reza, who, at eighteen, is now an air cadet in Lubbock, Texas. The Shah said that he might not be able to pass all his powers on to his son, but he could at least pass on the throne.
I remarked that I had never seen him so sombre, and asked when the black mood had begun.
“Sometime in summer,” he said.
“Any special reason?”
“Events,” he said.
I intimated that maybe he was overdoing the blues to elicit sympathy and perhaps support from the United States. “What could America do?” he asked.
I said that that depended upon what happened, and asked him what he thought that might be. “I don’t know,” he said.
I asked him what his advisers thought was going to happen. “Many things,” he said, with a bitter laugh, and he rose, indicating that that was all he had to say.
…more (via the New York Times)
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