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

he had been chief of protocol, among other things, so everything was in the old style and
was done right. As ambassador’s aide I was tutored not only by him but by Mrs. Holmes,
who made sure I understood how to set a table, that I put the right people next to each
other, and to be sure guests were well cared for. It didn’t hurt to have to do these things.
And, of course, there were many funny encounters along the way.
Holmes liked to travel, but more comfortably than I was used to. He had a DC-3. So he
would fly all over the country. His children visited him, all of whom were interesting.
Allen came, and his sister, Elsie, who was an archeologist. These trips were their first to
Iran, and since we were all good friends we traveled throughout Iran together. So it was a
very happy situation. The residence was still being furnished and landscaped. They
allowed me to help them with getting trees planted. We planted several thousand trees in
the compound. We got them out from the Ministry of Agriculture, through the aid
program. As it turned out these trees had grown to such a height and density of cover that
they would have prevented helicopters from coming in if that was attempted after the
seizure of the embassy and the taking of hostages in 1979.
Q: Wasn’t there – the Iranians coming from an arid based country, trees are very
important in the culture.
MILLER: Sacred! If a mayor planted trees, he was said to be a good mayor.
Q: Isn’t there a Persian proverb, “Your life is successful if you have a son, plant a tree
and write a book.”
MILLER: If there wasn’t such a proverb they would have created it. It was certainly apt.
They did plant all the time. The water courses were all lined with trees and gave pleasure
and beauty in a very arid landscape.
Q: Did you sense yourself, or within the embassy, any disquiet about the huge American
presence there, or the aid, the military, the CIA and all this?
MILLER: Yes, there certainly was unease about that. It also created a great sense of
generosity on our side, we were at the height of our generosity, that is, the amounts of aid
and the benign character of it, I would say, even though it was complicated by the support
of the suppressive organizations like the secret police, and the support of the shah without
temperance, and the bringing Earl Warren to speak on the rule of law to a group of judges
and lawyers that was doing the opposite.
Q: Earl Warren being at that time …
MILLER: The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. You can imagine the resonance of that
kind of ...
Q: Was is Sharia law or was it shah law in Iran?
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