Office of the Historian

294. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson1

Washington, June 12, 1968.

SUBJECT

  • Checklist for Your Talk with the Shah—12:30 p.m. Today

We hope the following will have been covered in your talks:

1.
We will stretch this year’s arms sale to the full $100 million. (You approved $75–100 million. Defense has found funding for the full amount, and Secretary Rusk recommends you tell the Shah.)
2.
We’ll do our best to help with his future arms purchases, though we can’t commit ourselves beyond what Congress authorizes. You’re confident any US Administration will recognize Iran’s importance.
3.
You’re glad the Shah saw King Faisal. Stability in the Persian Gulf depends on their cooperation. (When they had a tiff earlier this year, you urged cooperation. This will show your approval.)
4.
Approve attached joint statement.2

Here are answers on subjects the Shah raised last night:

1.
If he asks about USAF technicians for Phantoms, you might suggest he hire civilians. Even aside from Vietnam demands, we can’t do this under our military assistance program.
2.
We’re not sure which telecommunications problem he’ll raise:
  • —If it’s financing his new national military communications system, we could consider military credit.
  • —If it’s aircraft control and warning, he could shave a few months by dealing directly with US suppliers rather than through USAF.
3.
He may ask you to lean on American oil companies to lift more Iranian oil. We want Iran’s revenues to increase, but we stick to the line that we have to leave this to our private companies. He may also ask help in letting more Iranian oil into the US to barter for US goods. We’d hate to commit ourselves on an oil import quota without knowing what he proposes. You might suggest that the oil expert with him (Mr. Fallah) talk to Tony Solomon.

W.W. Rostow 3
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, NSC Files of Harold Saunders, Visit of Shah of Iran, June 11–June 12, 1968. Top Secret.↩
  2. Attached but not printed; for text, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1968–1969, Book I, p. 712.↩
  3. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩