Nixon Global Forum: Nixon, Kissinger, And The Shah. Discussion With Roham Alvandi
September 17, 2015: In this groundbreaking study Roham Alvandi offers a new account of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi's relationship with the United States by examining the partnership he forged with President Nixon and Henry Kissinger in the 1970s. Based on extensive research in the British and U.S. archives, as well as a wealth of Persian-language diaries, memoirs, and oral histories, this work restores agency to the shah as an autonomous international actor and suggests that Iran evolved from a client to a partner of the United States under the Nixon Doctrine. "Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah" offers a detailed account of the key historical episodes in the Nixon-Kissinger-Pahlavi partnership that shaped the global Cold War far beyond Iran's borders. This work of American diplomatic history, international relations, and Middle Eastern Studies provides critical historic background on Iran's ambitions for primacy in the Persian Gulf, its nuclear program, and what a US-Iran strategic partnership might look like in the future. This program was moderated by Jonathan Movroydis, the Richard Nixon Foundation's Director of Research.