American diplomats, he leaned heavily on the United States for support and guidance. In late 1978, faced with incipient rebellion and debilitated anticancer drugs, the Shah waffled between violent repression and conciliation. He turned to Washington for direction.
The Carter administration, say the authors, gave him conflicting signals. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski urged the Shah to maintain control at any cost. Cyrus Vance's State Department be- lieved the Shah was doomed and...