Nation: Who Helped the Shah How Much?

Pinning down the roles of Kissinger and Rockefeller

As the Administration struggled to extricate the hostages—and the U.S. —from the Iranian blackmail abroad, a bitter, backbiting controversy arose at home. It revolved around three questions: 1) Had the deposed Shah's two most prominent American friends, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Chase Manhattan Bank Chairman David Rockefeller, exerted excessive pressure to get the Shah into the U.S.? 2) After long advocating that the Shah be given sanctuary in the U.S., had Kissinger then tried to score political points by publicly criticizing the...