Oral Histories Archive - Foundation for Iranian Studies

Aalam, Abdol-Madjid

zah7d — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:09:25 +0000

Family and educational background; recollection of first meeting with “Mohammad Reza Khan,” son of then Reza Khan Sardar Sepah; recollection of first presentation to Crown Prince Mohammad Reza; childhood friendship with the Crown Prince; on Crown Prince’s character, habits, customs; recollection of first presentation to Mohammad Reza Shah in 1945; on the Shah’s relations with personal friends; on the Shah’s manner and routine of passing his leisure time in the 1940s; recollection of the Shah during the Mosaddeq era; on the Shah’s close friends in the 1940s; on the Shah and his personal friends–Amir-Hushang Davallu, General Karim Ayadi, General Mohammad Khatami, Professor Yahya Adl–in the 1960s and 1970s; on the Shah’s habit of separating work and leisure; Shah’s assessment of his own personality; on the Shah’s character traits; on the Shah’s reaction to General Khatami’s death; on the last evening before the Shah’s departure from Iran in 1979; on teaching at Tehran University in the 1940s; on Mehdi Bazargan as the Dean of the School of Technology at Tehran University; on the relationship between the private sector and the Plan Organization; on the directors of the Plan Organization: Ahmad Zangeneh, Abolhasan Ebtehaj, Khosro Hedayat, and Safi Asfia; on Professor Yahya Adl.

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Abasalti-Mirhashem, Pari

zah7d — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:09:25 +0000

Family background and educational history; recollections of the early years of Ettela`at-e Banovan Magazine; experiences with the Women’s Organization of Iran;on clashes between the women’s rights groups and the ulama; educational problems facing Iranian women; participation in the parliamentary elections as candidate of the Rastakhiz Party from Tehran; recollections of the Majles during the Rastakhiz period; on the confrontation between the revolutionary forces and Ettela`at Newspaper; Majles during the Revolution; Iranian women and the Revolution; on life in exile.

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Afkhami, Gholam Reza

zah7d — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:09:25 +0000

Family and educational background; student politics in Tehran in the 1940s and early 1950s; on Mosaddeq’s premiership and the nationalization of oil; role of leftists, nationalists and religious elements in the nationalization of oil movement; character and extent of socioeconomic development of Iran during the last twenty years of the Shah’s regime; factors important in the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79; on the Rastakhiz Party; 1975 parliamentary elections under Rastakhiz; on Prime Minister Hoveyda’s tenure of office; working with Jamshid Amuzegar in the Ministry of Interior; theory, strategy and organization of Iranian national campaign against illiteracy; on the debates over the issues of decentralization of power and political participation in Iran in the 1970s; on the Shah’s character traits; on the Revolution.

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Afkhami, Mahnaz

zah7d — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:09:25 +0000

Founding of the Organization of University Women; history and structure of the Women’s Organization of Iran (WOI); meeting with Princess Ashraf and the role of the Princess in women’s issues; evolution of a free electoral process in WOI; evolution of the ideology and organizational structure of WOI; WOI’s School of Social Welfare; legal reforms, the Family Protection Law and the opposition to it; the Shah’s opinions on the women’s issues; WOI’s presence in the rural areas; rural cooperatives and literacy; consciousness raising as the most notable achievement of WOI; WOI and women in the labor force; National Plan of Action: its concept, structure and implementation mechanisms; WOI’s audience; veiling and the politics of dissent; role as Minister of State and utility of influence in government circles for women’s affairs; decision-making process in the cabinet; on the Shah and the cabinet ministers; Hoveyda’s character and performance; Jamshid Amuzegar as prime minister; recollections of Queen Farah and Princess Ashraf; on the Shah’s personality; importance of the presence of women in high government positions for the advancement of causes advocated by women; on the causes of the Revolution of 1978-79; role of women in the Revolution.

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Afshar-Qasemlu, Amir Aslan

zah7d — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:09:25 +0000

Childhood years and educational background; WWII years in Germany; employment in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the mission in the Netherlands; memories of Mohammad Mosaddeq and his aides; on the White Revolution and U.S.’s role in Iran’s Land Reform; as Ambassador to Austria, U.S. and West Germany; on the regime’s critics and the Confederation of Iranian Students in the U.S.; on the West’s attitude towards Iran’s economic development; as Grand Master of ceremonies of the Imperial Court; on General Azhari’s appointment as prime minister; on the Shah’s last public speech; Shah’s attitude towards General Ziaul-Haq of Pakistan; Zolfaqar Ali Bhutto’s message to the Shah; Shah’s intercession on Bhetto’s behalf; on the Shah’s last meeting with Iranian politians; on the Shah’s decision to leave Iran; on the Shah’s illness and state of mind; Queen Farah’s influence on the Shah; recollections of the Shah’s stay in Egypt, Morocco and Panama; Shah’s impressions of various world leaders; on oil and oil prices; on the Shah’s personal contacts with the Iranian public; recollections of the Crown Prince Reza’s stay in Morocco; on the Shah’s last days in Egypt; Shah’s personal traits; on the West’s role in Iran’s political upheavals.

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Ahmadi, Ahmad-Ali

zah7d — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:09:25 +0000

Family and educational background’ first experiences with the Iranian governmental bureaucracy; joining the Khuzestan Water and Power Authority; David Lillienthal’s role in planning and administering KWPA; problems and processes of dam construction on the Dez and Karun Rivers; structural and functional characteristics of the Mohammad Reza Shah Dam on the Dez River; development of electric power grids; Haft-Tappeh Sugar Cane Project; on methods of improving techniques of cutting canes; on water-shed management; on developing human resources to replace foreign experts; on various agro-business associated with KWPA; on Abdorreza Ansari’s qualities as manager and leader; on Hasan Shahmirzadi and other collagues at KWPA; on organizational relations with central ministries and Khuzestan governorate; on the various managers of the Plan and Budget Organization; on Minister Rowhani; on the Natural Resources Ministry’s mission; on Minister Naser Golsorkhi’s role in Environmental Protection; on the International Agro-Business Corporation of Iran and its operations in Khuzestan; working as consulting engineer for Dasht-e reorganizing the Ministry; concepts and principles governing the reorganization process; on the Amuzegar cabinet; assessment of the agriculture policy and development in Iran in the 1960s and 1970s.

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Ahrar, Ahmad

zah7d — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:09:25 +0000

Educational Nackground and early career; problems encountered by journalists in Iran before the revolution; on censorship; government and the press in the Pahlavi regime; government and the press in post-revolutionary period; Khomeini and Bazargan; Khomeini and Teymur Bakhtiar in 1963-64; Shapur Bakhtiar and the press; General Huser’s trip to Iran.

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Alavi-Kiya, General Hasan

zah7d — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:09:25 +0000

Career during the Mosaddeq premiership and recollections of the events of 1953; on the disappearance and murder of General Mahmud Afshartus; relations between Mosaddeq and the military intelligence units; on the decision to establish SAVAK; Tudeh Party operations after the events of 1953; divisions within the Tudeh Party; on Mozaffar Baqa’i-Kermani; relations between Ali Amini and SAVAK; Tudeh Party’s infiltration of the armed forces; joining “Kuk” secret organization in the military; on the structure and history of the Iranian armed forces; methods of intelligence gathering and infiltration of the Tudeh Party; on training Iran’s intelligence officers and agents; structure and mode of organization of SAVAK; characteristics and psychology of SAVAK officers and agents; relations between SAVAK and military intelligence; on General Vali Mohammad Qarane’i; General Hosein Fardust’s role in the security establishment; on the meeting between General Teymur Bakhtiyar and President John F. Kennedy and its aftermath; on General Hasan Pakravan’s tenure as chief of SAVAK, and the events of 1963-64; SAVAK’s operations in Europe; infiltration of the Confederation of Iranian Students; on General Ne`matollah Nasiri’s management of SAVAK; Parviz Sabeti’s role in SAVAK; SAVAK’s operations among religious and ethnic groups, foreign intelligence operations, relations with other intelligence agencies; SAVAK’s relations with the Shah.

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Alimard, Amin

zah7d — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:09:25 +0000

Recollections of childhood, family and education; on the Russians in Tabriz during the Allied occupation of Iran; on activities in school during the war; coming to Tehran; School and university in Tehran; involvement in literary activity; employment in the National Railroad System; recollections of military service; editing Jahan-e No literary journal; on Iranian intellectuals during the 1940s and 1950s; on the Tehran political scene in the 1940s; on getting scholarship to the American University of Beirut; education in Beirut; Public Administration Program at the University of Southern California; teaching at the newly established National University of Iran; as deputy minster of interior for political and parliamentary affairs in 1974-75; on Baqer Namazi, Mostafa Alamuti, Holaku Rambod, Gholam Reza Afkhami; on Prime Minister Hoveyda; on Jamshid Amuzegar as Minister of Interior and as Prime Minister; as Secretary General of the State Organization for Administration and Employment; streamlining state administrative system; David Lillienthal’s Development and Resources Organization in Iran; on John Macy; vision of Iran’s future; on the Sharif-Emami cabinet; serving with General Gholam Reza Azhari; keeping appointment with Shapur Bakhtiyar on his last day in office; on the Iranian Revolution; on the Shah; on Queen Farah.

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Amini, Ali

zah7d — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:09:25 +0000

Joining Mosaddeq’s cabinet; Mosaddeq’s views on monarchy and his feelings for the Shah; Mosaddeq’s personal traits; relations between Ahmad Qavam and Mohammad Mosaddeq; oil and Iranian politics; on the events of 1953; on General Fazlollah Zahedi; negotiations over the oil consortium agreement; relations between the Shah and General Zahedi; Shah’s personal traits; events leading to his premiership; personal relations with the Shah; on President John F. Kennedy’s support for his premiership; an assessment of the intelligence-gathering capabilities of the state; Shah’s views on military budget and arms procurement policies; on the origins of the land reform program of 1963 and its consequences; U.S.’s position on the land reform issue; on Hasan Arsanjani; on the events of 1963-64; on the Shah’s decision-making in the months leading to the Revolution; politics of choosing a prime minister in the months preceding the Revolution; role of the military in the revolutionary ordeal; on the Shah’s illness; crises created by the Shah’s close associates; President Jimmy Carter’s position on Iran’s revolutionary situation; Shah’s aversion to the use of force in situations of crisis; on Hoveyda’s premiership; on OPEC, the Arabs, the Iranian armed forces, and the future of Iran.

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