Views of Iran & the Iranian Revolution

Following this survey of State Department documents, a similar survey is undertaken of New York Times editorials and commentaries regarding Iran. These, too, are organized in a generally chronological sequence, but because of the larger number of documents considered and the broader range of topics discussed, they are considered by subject emphasis, chronologically within each subject, with the subjects themselves arranged in a broadly chronological manner as each subject came to the fore. (For example, an early focus of concern for Times editorial writers was arms sales to Iran. With the fall of the Shah, arms sales ceased to be a principal topic, but some discussions continued to appear at later times.) This principle of organization is followed and illustrated by the references list for this study.

Once we have examined the Department of State Bulletin documents and the New York Times documents separately, we will be in a position to discuss how they relate to each other and what they illustrate of the dialo

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uring the period of this study. More than half deal with the 197981 hostage crisis; the balance cover a range of issues. Most of the items studied were unsigned editorials; a few were signed "opinion" pieces, so identified in the reference list. The series of New York Times editorials used in this study begins somewhat later than the State Department Bulletin: the first is dated August 11, 1976. Before that time, Times editorialists showed no perceptable interest in Iran. In 1976, their interest was sparked not by any internal development within Iran, or by concern over excessive U.S. dependence upon the Shah's regime, buy by a general concern over excessive U.S. arms sales abroad, especially to Third World countries: Arms sales to Iran started the practice of providing third world countries with arms so new that they were still entering the American forces when shipments abroad began  a far cry from the handmedown arms trade of the past. Iran, for example has bought and begun to receive 80 F14 jet fighters ... a weapons system so complicated that it has been handled with difficulty in the American forces.... ... Iran will be dependent on
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Department Bulletin, York Times, Iran Times, Shah's Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, Atherton House, Iran December, Third World, East Times, Times Department, hostage crisis, iranian revolution, york times, department bulletin, shah's regime, human rights, arms sales, times editorials, ayatollah khomeini, shah's iran, york times editorials, august 11 1976, arms sales iran, president richard nixon, embassy hostage crisis,
Approximate Word count = 5791
Approximate Pages = 23 (250 words per page)