blanched at the cost: Alam (1991), p. 143.
on his own initiative: Ibid., p. 166. Alam’s diary makes clear that he had already signed the contracts with Jansen before the Queen accepted patronage of the Celebrations Council.
“to prove that the times we are living in now”: Farah Pahlavi, An Enduring Love: My Life with the Shah (New York: Miramax Books, 2004), p. 216.
“whatever was European was good, noble”: Charlotte Curtis, “Tent City Awaits Celebration: Shah’s Greatest Show,” New York Times, October 12, 1971.
“Of all the tasks that fell to me”: F. Pahlavi (2004), p. 217.
$100 million: Quinn, “A Sumptuous Party of Parties.”
$22 million: Kadiver, “We Are Awake.”
$300 million: Ibid.
“Why are we reproached”: Curtis, “Tent City Awaits Celebration.”
eighty thousand Iranian mothers and children: Quinn, “A Sumptuous Party of Parties.”
one-third of children admitted to hospitals: Ibid.
Hamid Ashraf: To learn more about his life see Abbas Milani, Eminent Persians: The Men and Women Who Made Modern Iran, 1941–79, vol. 1 (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press: 2008), pp. 96–102.
“Theoretically the guerrillas must have hoped”: Jonathan Randal, “The Shah’s Iran: Arms, Debt and Repression Are the Price of Progress,” Washington Post, October 10, 1971.
established the Anti-Terrorist Joint Committee: Author interview with Parviz Sabeti, September 21, 2013.
special holding facility at the national police headquarters: Ibid.
“kept a retinue of cannibals”: “Cruelty No Stranger in Persia’s History,” Chicago Tribune, January 10, 1978.
the male population blinded: Ibid.
“God shall torture in the next world”: Ervand Abrahamian, Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), p. 18.
“an array of corporal punishments”: Ibid., p. 17.
the prisons of Reza Shah: Abrahamian notes that when Qasr Prison was opened in the 1920s “the first transfers from the Central Jail were impressed by its cleanliness, sunlit windows, wide corridors, spacious courtyards, flowered gardens, and, most of all, running water and shower rooms.” Ibid., p. 27. To learn more about prison conditions and detention of political prisoners during the reign of Reza Shah see ibid., pp. 17–72.
thrown young Ardeshir Zahedi in prison: Author interview with Ardeshir Zahedi, October 27, 2012.
Though the Shah was not aware: No evidence has emerged to suggest the Shah was aware of the details of interrogation techniques applied by the security forces to political detainees. In exile, he spoke at length on the subject to television interviewer David Frost and admitted that he first learned of torture practices used inside Iran from external sources, presumably the Red Cross task force he invited to travel to Iran in 1976 to investigate prison conditions and recommend reforms. See Gholam Reza Afkhami, The Life and Times of the Shah (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009), pp. 385–388. In his book, Afkhami provides a detailed account of the Shah’s relationship with Savak.
the boom of a 101-gun salute: Karen Schickedanz, “Iran Opens Lavish Celebration, Marks 2,500 Years as Empire,” Chicago Tribune, October 13, 1971.
“O Cyrus”: “The Torch Has Never Died,” Kayhan International, October 13, 1971.
“With that … a huge sand storm”: Sally Quinn, “Splendor in the Dust,” Washington Post, October 13, 1971.
Cigarettes and tranquilizers: Farah Pahlavi, My Thousand and One Days: The Autobiography of Farah, Shabanou of Iran (London: W. H. Allen, 1978), p. 91.
“quite thin, drawn and tired”: Sally Quinn, “It Isn’t Easy Being Empress of Iran,” Washington Post, October 8, 1971.
saw crowds gathered: “Sovereign, Empress Meet People of Shiraz,” Kayhan International, October 13, 1971.
“This is a fine place for a murder”: Quinn, “Splendor in the Dust.”
“Little by little, the guests”: Ibid.
“a regime founded on oppression”: Imam Khomeini, Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini (1941–80), trans. Hamid Algar (Berkeley, CA: Mizan Press, 1981), p. 200.
“And then, of course, everyone meets informally”: McWhirter, “We All Meet at the Club,” p. 30.
“Calling cards and small gifts”: Ibid.
“If I did go”: “Iran: The Show of Shows.”
“The Queen does not go on international jamborees”: Habib Ladjevardi, director, interview with Peter Ramsbotham, Harvard University Center for Middle East Studies, Iranian Oral History Project, October 18, 1985, tape 1, p. 23.
“Why should we, having all this abuse hurled at us”: Habib Ladjevardi, director, interview with Denis Wright, Harvard University Center for Middle East Studies, Iranian Oral History Project, October 10, 1984, tape 4, p. 5.
“What’s the panic?”: Sally Quinn, “The Party’s Over,” Washington Post, October 16, 1971.
fifteen hundred imported Cyprus trees: John I. Hess, “Made in France—Persia’s Splendorous Anniversary Celebration,” New York Times, October 5, 1971.
fifty thousand carnations: Ibid.
“acres of other floodlit flora”: Ibid.
“The entire area looks like the Berlin Wall”: Quinn, “A Sumptuous Party of Parties.”
seventy miles: “Iran: The Show of Shows.”
poisonous snakes, scorpions, and lizards: Kadiver, “We Are Awake.”
“The entire tented city”: Randal, “The Shah’s Iran.”
“pissing on the Shah’s party”: Author interview with Jonathan Randal, September 14, 2014.
“All the butter, cream, eggs”: “Iran: The Show of Shows.”
literally bumped heads: McWhirter, “We All Meet at the Club,” p. 30.
“a rather dowdy man”: Ibid.
shuffled around in his suspenders: Ibid.
“the Shah’s revenge”: Quinn, “The Party’s Over.”
“Does anyone know where the hell I have to go?!”: McWhirter, “We All Meet at the Club,” p. 30.
“The reception room for the arrivals”: Sally Quinn, “A Tent Full of Royalty,” Washington Post, October 13, 1971.
“At last, a woman in a decent dress”: Cynthia Greinier. “Iran: Catching a Bite to Eat at Anniversary Celebration,” Los Angeles Times, October 17, 1971.
“Kind of swimsuit halter top”: Ibid.
“Most [guests] had remarkably little to say”: Quinn, “The Party’s Over.”
When Marie Antoinette said, ‘Let them eat cake’”: Loren Jenkins, “Iran’s Birthday Party,” Newsweek, 25, 1971, p. 59.
“The conspicuous consumption of this thing”: Ibid.
“Whose foolish idea was it”: Author interview with Kambiz Atabai, August 15, 2014.
twenty water buffalo: Quinn, “A Sumptuous Party of Parties.”
“The setting was spectacular”: Charlotte Curtis, “Neighbors Go Visiting in Iran’s Tent City,” Kayhan International, October 16, 1971.
“After 25 centuries”: Ibid.
“crimes, Iran’s poverty, the wide chasm separating the economic classes”: Afkhami (2009), p. 413.
“the many buildings, hotels, roads”: “We Stand on Our Own Feet.”
“We stand on our own feet”: Ibid.
“For goodness sake”: Alam (1991), p. 246.
Imam Musa Sadr: To learn more about the life of Imam Musa Sadr the following publications are helpful. The most detailed text, and the one that perhaps best reflects the complexity of the man and his times, is Majed Halawi, A Lebanon Defied: Musa al-Sadr and the Shia Community (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1992). Fouad Ajami wrote a well-received biography of Musa Sadr in the 1980s that the Imam’s family has since disavowed: Foaud Ajami, The Vanished Imam: Musa al-Sadr and the Shia of Lebanon (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1986). An essential scholarly text is H. E. Chehabi, ed., Distant Relations: Iran and Lebanon in the Last 500 Years (London: Centre for
Lebanese Studies in association with I. B. Taurus, 2006). Considering the controversy surrounding the life and disappearance of Imam Musa Sadr, the author hewed closely to the Halawi book and two chapters in Distant Relations by H. E. Chehabi and Majid Tafresjhi (chapter 6) and by W. A. Samii (chapter 7). The interviews in this book offer important new revelations about the personal struggles of Imam Musa Sadr, one of the most compelling figures in the modern history of Shia Islam.
“[He was] tall, very tall”: Halawi (1992), p. 127.
“an exquisite slightly self-disparaging”: Ibid.
“He was different, he was open”: Author interview with Khalil al-Khalil, June 21–24, 2013.
$30 million: Chehabi (2006), p. 176.
“Ah yes, Khomeini”: Jerome (1986), p. 84.
“We had a mutual friend”: Author interview with Parviz Sabeti, September 21, 2013.
Djahinbini insisted: Author interview with Kiomars Djahinbini, March 25, 2013.
“This undoubtedly happened”: Author interview with Kambiz Atabai, June 18, 2013.
“He was very happy”: Author interview with Parviz Sabeti, September 21, 2013.
“charismatic, a smart man, but not principled”: Ibid.
9. THE PAHLAVI PROGRESS
“Our lives pass from us”: Abolqasem Ferdowsi, Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings, trans. Dick Davis (New York: Penguin, 2006), p. 764.
“They told me it was treatable”: Author interview with Robert Armao, October 20, 2014.
“four-square, lofty white cube”: Lesley Blanch, Farah, Shahbanou of Iran (Tehran: Tajerzadeh, 1978), p. 85.
drop peanuts … on the heads of guests: Author interviews with Farah Pahlavi, March 23–25, 2013.
“In this vast, bright room”: Farah Pahlavi, An Enduring Love: My Life with the Shah (New York: Miramax Books, 2004), p. 163.
“We put restrictions”: Author interview with Kiomars Djahinbini, March 15, 2013.
Djahinbini’s fear: Author interview with Kiomars Djahinbini, March 25, 2013.
intercepted his telephone conversations: Ibid.
“We had electronic devices”: Ibid.
spent a month in the Élysée Palace: Ibid.
“It was very important”: Author interview with Kambiz Atabai, February 8, 2013.
“There was always great excitement”: Ibid.
Farah placed a bet: Author interview with Farah Pahlavi, April 19, 2013.
“I’m not there”: Ibid.
“the security, Iranian and Swiss”: Ibid.
“Mashad is like nowhere else”: Blanch (1978), p. 129.
new Islamic university: Author interview with Hossein Nasr, August 21, 2013.
“dark and gloomy”: F. Pahlavi (2004), p. 162.
“That was the time”: Author interviews with Farah Pahlavi, March 23–25, 2013.
“We arrived at 9 a.m.”: Author interview with Fereydoun Djavadi, July 13, 2013.
“In the first year our bed was on a tilt”: Author interviews with Farah Pahlavi, March 23–25, 2013.
“It was very casual”: Ibid.
“hanging from parachutes”: F. Pahlavi (2004), p. 188.
“Why are you taking it down?”: As witnessed by Mahnaz Zahedi, the Shah’s granddaughter, during her vacations to Nowshahr. Author interview with Mahnaz Zahedi, November 4, 2014.
Mahnaz returned to Iran: Ibid.
five palaces and twelve hundred staff: Author interview with Kambiz Atabai, February 8, 2013.
“Often I have instructed the staff”: “My Lifetime Goal Is to Serve the Nation,” Kayhan International, October 15, 1977.
“The rumors were that my mother”: Author interview with Reza Pahlavi, March 26, 2013.
hands that resembled duck feet: Habib Ladjevardi, ed., Memoirs of Fatemeh Pakravan, Iranian Oral History Project, Center for Middle Eastern Studies (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1998), pp. 97–98.
rumors of muteness: Author interview with Kambiz Atabai, August 16, 2014.
“They said absolutely anything”: Ladjevardi, Memoirs of Fatemeh Pakravan, pp. 97–98.
“Do you know how many miles”: Author interview with Reza Pahlavi, March 26, 2013.
“In another life”: Ibid.
“I was far more scrutinized”: Ibid.
Farah bit her lip: F. Pahlavi (2004), p. 191.
barely concealed satisfaction: Ibid.
sped off in his Mini Cooper: Author interview with Reza Pahlavi, March 26, 2013.
covered over the dozen security cameras: Ibid.
in the music stores: Ibid. The Prince told me that among his favorite haunts were the music stores along Pahlavi Avenue.
“She was a real tomboy”: Author interview with Farah Pahlavi, November 13, 2014.
keen interest in the lives: F. Pahlavi (2004), p. 194.
“If she came across people”: Ibid.
standing at the palace gates: Author interview with Farah Pahlavi, November 13, 2014.
spending time with her father: Ibid.
flung bread pellets: Ibid.
jumped into a barrel of tar: Ibid.
“He was so naughty”: Ibid.
his first day at nursery school: F. Pahlavi (2004), p. 159.
“People will say”: Author interview with Farah Pahlavi, November 13, 2014.
“free love”: F. Pahlavi (2004), p. 159.
“Pray for rain, Leila joune”: Ibid., p. 161.
“I like it when the sky is gray”: Ibid.
“Her father has passed on his love”: Ibid.
“I physically didn’t see”: Author interview with Reza Pahlavi, March 26, 2013.
“Basically, we were never able”: F. Pahlavi (2004), p. 186.
“Behind me, in class”: Farah Pahlavi, My Thousand and One Days: The Autobiography of Farah, Shabanou of Iran (London: W. H. Allen, 1978), p. 135.
“Is it true that you bathe in milk”: Ibid.
“I am never photographed”: Ibid., p. 139.
“Flatterers everywhere!”: Asadollah Alam, The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran’s Royal Court, 1969–77, introduced and edited by Alinaghi Alikhani (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991), p. 472.
“had done nothing”: Ibid., p. 244.
“His Majesty and I”: Ibid., p. 246.
“For example”: Author interviews with Farah Pahlavi, March 23–25, 2013.
“His Majesty banished it from the residence”: Ibid.
“It’s very difficult for me”: “My Lifetime Goal.”
“I have watched her dash out”: Blanch (1978), pp. 84–85.
“Farah and the Shah”: Gholam Reza Afkhami, The Life and Times of the Shah (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009), p. 53.
clientele: William Stadiem, “Behind Claude’s Doors,” Vanity Fair, September 2014, p. 310. Author William Shawcross wrote about the Shah’s affairs in The Shah’s Last Ride: The Fate of an Ally (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988), pp. 339–341.
“Often a conversation”: Afkhami (2009), p. 53.
“If I don’t have this recreation”: Abbas Milani, The Shah (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), p. 315.
“At times she would grumble or cry”: Afkhami (2009), p. 53.
welcome divorce: Author interview with Ardeshir Zahedi, October 27, 2012.
“divorce insurance”: Laurie Johnston, “Feminism and Empress Farah Diba of Iran,” New York Times, May 20, 1975.
“to have some security”: Ibid.
Empress Farah Foundation: Information on the activities of the foundation comes from Abdolmajid Majidi, “A Brief Overview of the Empress Farah Foundation,” trans. Dariosh Afskar, Rahavard Quarterly Persian Journal, issue 98 (Spring 2012).
“They told me it was treatable”: Author interview with Robert Armao, October 20, 2014.
10. EMPEROR OF OIL
“My problem”: Farah Pahlavi, An Enduring Love: My Life with the Shah (New York: Miramax, 2004), p. 266.
“This is the juice of a sick mind”: Author interview with Ali Kani, February 23,
2013.
“Ten years before the revolution”: Author interview with Abolhassan Banisadr, July 11, 2013.
“The way we looked at Khomeini”: Ibid.
“You do not know these people”: Ibid.
agreed to Ghotzbadegh’s request: Author interview with Jonathan Randal, September 14, 2014.
“to discuss certain related”: Imam Khomeini, Governance of the Jurist: Islamic Government (Tehran: Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Words, 2008), p. 1.
Gestetner photostat machine: Amir Taheri, The Spirit of Allah: Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution (Bethesda, MD: Adler & Adler, 1986), p. 159.
five hundred mutjahid: Said Amir Arjomand, The Turban for the Crown: The Islamic Revolution in Iran (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), p. 98.
twelve thousand religious students: Ibid.
“The Persian Gulf delivers”: “A False Sense of Security Will Destroy You,” U.S. News & World Report, March 22, 1976, p. 57.
“But I like him, I like him”: “Conversation Among President Nixon, Ambassador Douglas MacArthur II, and General Alexander Haig, Washington, April 8, 1971, 3:56–4:21 PM,” Foreign Relations of the United States 1969–76, vol. E-4.
“Our economic progress”: Frances Fitzgerald, “Giving the Shah Everything He Wants,” Harper’s 249, no. 1494 (November 1974): 77.
every cannon fired: Asadollah Alam, The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran’s Inner Court, 1969–77, introduced and edited by Alinaghi Alikhani (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991), p. 290.
“These are the people”: Ibid.
“What a farce”: Ibid., p. 250.
capsules of Valium: Author interview with Colonel Kiomars Djahinbini, March 25, 2013.
insomnia: Alam (1991), p. 250.
“I believe that the peasantry are with me”: E. A. Bayne, Persian Kingship in Transition (New York: American Universities Field Staff, 1968), p. 52.
“reform popular attitudes”: Alam (1991), p. 341.
Amir Abbas Hoveyda: To learn more about his life see Abbas Milani, Eminent Persians: The Men and Women Who Made Modern Iran, 1941–79, vol. 1 (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2008), pp. 193–204, and Abbas Milani, The Persian Sphinx: Amir Abbas Hoveyda and the Riddle of the Iranian Revolution (Washington, DC: Mage, 2004).
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