1 The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign ...

MILLER: Yes, I had friends who were teaching at AUB like Malcolm Kerr.
Q: American University Beirut.
MILLER: Yes, and so we talked about the changes taking place throughout the Middle
East, and change was very evident – but it became increasingly evident that the tensions,
in many ways, and the changes taking place in the Middle East, certainly in Cairo, where
the military presence of the new regime was evident, (this was the time of Nasser).
Although Nasser’s Arab nationalism didn’t in any way impinge on the romantic character
of Cairo and environs. We had a wonderful time staying in ancient Cairo hotels such as
the since destroyed Semiramas, with its twenty-five foot ceilings and the floor to ceiling
windows, from which we would watch the kites flying overhead, and to hear the
wonderful sounds and smell the exotic smells of Cairo.
Q: Kites being the birds.
MILLER: Yes, great hawk-like predators, a raptor. Yes, not the other kinds of kites that
fly over Tiananmen Square or even Washington.
Each of these stops was further evidence of change, and of a kind I that I knew I had to
understand in some way, and that I didn’t understand at that point, the military character
of these new regimes, the alienation from the British or French colonial backgrounds of
the immediate past. Suzanne and I had a wonderful time on the trip to Iran, it was just the
best of Foreign Service notions coming to reality by way of not only traveling, but the
freedom to explore and learn and experience. So we arrived in Tehran …
Q: Just one other thing. In Baghdad, was Qassem in?
MILLER: Yes, Qassem.
Q: Were there any aftermaths from just a year before when…
MILLER: No, only that we found it was the most guarded place we encountered. There
were more military in evidence and Baghdad was a less prepossessing city than any of the
others. In this atmosphere of military coup and military – I won’t say occupation –
military governance, it was a less than open atmosphere, although it’s a very interesting
city, and birthplace of many of the world’s great cultures and of course has wonderful
museums. At that time of year it is very pleasant.
We arrived in Tehran late at night, at about midnight or so, and lo and behold no one’s
there from the Embassy to meet us. We had no real grip of the language, no money,
barely knowing the address of the embassy, just orders to report with a note saying,
“You’ll be met at the airport,” but there was no one there. Our plight was overheard by a
British business man, I think an MI5 person, named Michael Collins. He very kindly took
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