Herbert Hoover, Jr. to Pres. Eisenhower (Dec. 1954)
| Arash Norouzi The Mossadegh Project | August 31, 2018 |
Under Secretary of State Herbert Hoover, Jr. summarized his Dec. 15th conversation with the Shah of Iran to President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the following message.
The Shah had been in Washington, DC to meet with various U.S. officials and seek further military and economic assistance. He arrived Dec. 13th and met with Eisenhower at the White House the same day.
788.11/12–2154
No. 508
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Hoover) to the President [Eisenhower]
[Washington,] December 21, 1954.
SECRETAt the conclusion of his visit, the Shah [Mohammad Reza Pahlavi] asked me to report to you orally as follows:
He very greatly appreciated your interest, courtesy and hospitality, and was deeply impressed by the understanding of Iran’s problems which he found in Washington. The sense of cooperation which he felt everywhere was most encouraging.
He said that the only questions remaining in his mind were dependent upon decisions yet to be reached in our military groups, which he set forth as follows:
(1) A final decision would have to be reached by the United States to see a “balance of power” between Turkey, Iran and Pakistan.
(2) If the decision was affirmative, as he had reason to hope was the case, the United States would have to give financial help for the military program, in addition to military hardware, over the next three years until oil revenues had reached their normal levels.
(3) The military budget and plans for conscription had to be formulated by February, which was the beginning of the Iranian fiscal year. He was troubled that our decision was dependent upon our plans for evaluation, and that he could not yet proceed with confidence. He said that economic matters were now progressing satisfactorily, and that he was most grateful for all of the help we had given to his country.
Herbert Hoover, Jr.
• [Annotations by Arash Norouzi]
• Source: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Iran, 1951–1954, Volume X (1989)
• “Drafted by Hoover. The information conveyed to the President was from a conversation between Hoover and the Shah on Dec. 15. (788.11/12–1554)” — State Department Office of the Historian
Related links:
U.S. Says Oil Deal Is A “Significant Victory” For Iran (Oct. 28, 1954)
Sec. Dulles and Anthony Eden’s Messages on Iran Oil Deal (Aug. 1954)
Shah “Distrusts” Premier Zahedi | NSC Briefing, Jan. 13, 1955
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