57. Memorandum From the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Newsom) to Secretary of State Vance1
SUBJECT
- Condition of the Shah
Joseph Reed called again this morning to ask whether I had any advice for him to give to the Shah.
Reed said he had spent two hours with the Shah last night. He found him sad and dejected and looking worse than the medical reports suggested that he was.
He found him anxious to do whatever is necessary to help resolve the present impasse. He is prepared to move right away if that would be helpful and could, with difficulty, move before Tuesday. He can only walk short distances and any such move would have to be accomplished by the use of wheelchairs and helicopters.
If the Tuesday operation is successful, the logistics could be in place for the Shah to return to Mexico on Friday.2 As before, the Rockefeller organization would arrange for the transportation and would turn to us for necessary liaison with the Mexican officials on formality.
Reed said the Shah is aware of how complicated his departure will be under the best of circumstances. He would like to do so with the utmost of secrecy and the least fanfare possible although he realizes this would be difficult.
The Shah expressed to Reed several concerns:
—over the security of his children and the possibility of their being kidnapped here in the United States;
—over the security of the Shabbanu, although he considers her in less danger than his two sons;
—facing up to the realization of the possibility of death from his cancer, concern over whether he would be allowed back into the United States for further treatment if that were necessary;
—whether if he returns to Mexico the Shabbanu and his children will be permitted to go back and forth between the two countries.
I told Joe that, as far as the movement of the Shabbanu and the children were concerned, we had already established that that was [Page 151] possible. I said I could not yet promise when an answer might be possible on the other matters that he raised.