266. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson1
SUBJECT
- Appointment for the Shah of Iran
The Shah is coming to receive an honorary degree at Harvard on June 13. He would naturally like to drop in for a short chat with you.2 With the British withdrawal from the Persian Gulf now a certainty, he will want to stay in close touch with you, and we have an interest in his cooperation with his Arab neighbors to prevent an undue increase in Soviet or Arab radical presence.
Secretary Rusk recommends that you invite the Shah to an office meeting and a small working lunch either June 12 (Wednesday) or 14 (Friday) so he can stop in on his way to or from Cambridge. We realize you just had him for a more formal visit last August and would not have recommended another meeting so soon. But since he’s coming on a private invitation for a laudable purpose, it’s hard not to pay him some attention.
An additional reason for the meeting is that, as you know, we maintain our relationship with the Shah via periodic contact of this sort—more frequent than is normal in other cases. Right now he is having another periodic case of annoyance and nervousness over some serious problems and decisions he faces.
In short, he’s at another point of needing reassurance that he can count on us. He isn’t getting what he wants from the oil companies; the British are vacating the Gulf leaving him face to face in a dispute with Saudi Arabia over tremendous oil reserves under the Persian Gulf; his military sales agreement with us is pending; Kosygin is coming in April, and the Communist clandestine radio is raking him over and appealing to his opposition; he’s not doing too well with the Arabs, and he may be feeling generally isolated at the moment.
Your schedule would permit an office chat and small lunch on either June 12 or 14.3
- Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Iran, Memos & Miscellaneous, Vol. II, 1/66–1/69. Confidential.↩
- In telegram 3437 from Tehran, February 21, Meyer had reported that the Shah had decided to accept the invitation to receive an honorary degree at the Harvard commencement, and that Court Minister Alam had expressed the belief that the Shah would also want to meet with the President. (Department of State, Central Files, POL 7 IRAN)↩
- Approved for June 12.↩