The Fifties

by David Halberstam

In the years that followed, the Shah became increasingly grandiose in his view of Iran’s geopolitical importance and its military might; in that he was encouraged by Washington, which generally offered him the latest in American military hardware. But he was perceived by many in his own country as a mere pawn of the West, and his government finally collapsed in 1979. Though he had spent billions to create an army and air force loyal to himself, barely a shot would be fired in his defense. The easy success of the coup in Iran was a powerful inducement to the Eisenhower administration to run more covert operations. If the Cold War was at a stalemate in Europe, then third world countries, with their vulnerable political institutions and comparatively strong military organizations, became irresistible targets for American policymakers, thereby offering an expanded role for the CIA.