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decision was made in the time of Prime Minister Ali Amini, on the question of an IMF
(International Monetary Fund) debt repayment. It was an amount of debt something like
$20 million, which, if we had given him a delay on debt payment, Amini would have
survived. The decision was made not to support Amini’s request, but rather to support the
shah, so the shah became the “linchpin of stability” at that point. That marked the end of
independent, democratic parties. The shah, from that point on, put in place a shah chosen
one-party system. There were elections for the representatives of one party. The
nationalists democrats were prevented from that point on by the shah from holding office.
Q: When was this?
MILLER: 1963, ‘64.
Q: So while you were still there. I think probably this is a pretty good time to stop.
MILLER: Well, we haven’t gotten very far.
Q: Well, we’re moving, it’s all right. We’ll pick this up really when you went to Tehran,
and we’ll pick that up in 1961?
MILLER: Sixty-two.
Q: There might be some more …
MILLER: There’s a lot.
Q: Do you want to put down, here, some of the other things, here, so we won’t forget that
you’d like to cover them?
MILLER: The importance of field trips. The value of mentoring by senior ambassadors.
The great utility of well trained, able locals. The work of the diplomat in such places as
Isfahan.
Q: And also, I didn’t really go into how we viewed and what was the Tudeh party at the
time.
MILLER: Yes, and other countries’ influences like that of the Soviets and the British.
***
Q: Today is April the 25 th 2003. Bill, let’s talk a little bit about – you said you wanted to
talk about, particularly the work of a consulate and all, about the value of field trips.
MILLER: There is some present day relevance to the pro-consuls that are in place in
Afghanistan, or are being put in place in Iraq. Isfahan was not a primitive place. It was a
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