Jimmy Carter, the Shah, and the Ayatollah

History As It Happens

Jimmy Carter (1924-2024) was hailed as an exemplary leader on human rights whose presidency was ruined by crises outside his control, none worse than the hostage crisis in Iran. This favorable view elides critical events that took place during the years before the U.S. embassy was seized in Tehran in Nov. 1979. President Carter acted like the previous presidents he had criticized. He embraced the brutal Shah of Iran, sold him weapons, and stuck with him to the very end. Then the Carter administration avoided making contact with Iran's new revolutionary, Islamist leaders headed by the Ayatollah Khomeini. What if Carter had made different moves? Would U.S.-Iran relations be different today? In this episode, historian and Eurasia Group senior analyst Gregory Brew delves into the Cold War origins of the U.S.-Iran relationship and why Jimmy Carter made a human rights exception for the Shah.

Further reading:

The Struggle For Iran: Oil, Autocracy, and the Cold War, 1951 to 1954 by Gregory Brew and David S. Painter

America and Iran: A History, 1720 to the Present by John Ghazvinian

Further listening:

Operation Ajax (podcast featuring interview w/ Gregory Brew)