Gerald R. Ford presided over the last period of peaceful U.S. relations with Iran. After Richard Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal, Ford largely continued Nixon’s policy toward Iran from 1974 to early 1977. Many Iranians reflect fondly on the 1970s and long for a return to their golden years of peace, prosperity, and security. President Donald Trump, a fan of the 1970s, seems ready to help.
In his first address to a Joint Session of Congress, Ford pledged continuity in foreign policy. Avoiding another war in the Middle East and the possibility of another Arab oil embargo were chief among the issues the president mentioned in his address. Ford mentioned Iran 16 times in his address.
“Over the past five and a half years in Congress and as vice president, I have fully supported the outstanding foreign policy of President Nixon. This policy I intend to continue,” Ford told Congress.
In his plain-spoken way, Ford said, “There will be no change of course, no relaxation of vigilance, no abandonment of the helm of our Ship of State as the watch changes.” Perhaps no world leader needed to hear this more than Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran.
Ford directed parts of his address to “allies and friends in Asia” and other parts to political adversaries such as the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China. His remarks and policy statements on the Middle East, especially regarding the Persian Gulf states, are timely given the war with Iran.
“To the nations in the Middle East, I pledge continuity in our vigorous efforts to advance the progress which has brought hopes of peace to that region after 25 years as a hotbed of war. We shall carry out our promise to promote continuing negotiations among all parties for a complete, just, and lasting settlement [of the Arab Israeli situation],” the president said.
The 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and a coalition of Arab states claimed an estimated 20,000 lives. Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger worked tirelessly to negotiate an end to the war. Due to U.S. support of Israel, the Arab members of OPEC embargoed oil exports.
Recognizing the difficult negotiations used by Nixon and Kissinger to end the Yom Kippur War, Ford used a quote from John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address: “Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.”
In his address, Ford highlighted Iran’s stability in the Middle East. He discussed U.S.-Iran trade and military relationships to secure “vital oil routes.” He noted Iran’s security assistance to Oman and Kuwait. Ford reminded Congress that “the shah has stated he hopes to make Iran an industrialized nation, comparable to France by the end of the century.” This is the future that Iranians never realized.
The 1976 elections brought drastic political changes to Washington, especially in foreign policy. Jimmy Carter, during a New Year’s 1977 visit to Tehran, said, “Iran, because of the great leadership of the shah, is an island of stability in one of the more troubled areas of the world.”
Based on this, the Shah might have expected Carter to follow the Nixon/Ford foreign policy in Iran, including defense agreements. Carter, inexperienced in foreign policy, foolishly abandoned the shah. After the 1979 Iranian revolution, the shah, exiled in Egypt and dying of cancer, was a man without a country. He still had a friend in Gerald Ford.
In January 1979, former President Ford traveled to Aswan, Egypt, for a five-hour meeting with the shah and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. United Press International reported that the shah was “disappointed” that the Carter administration had little concern for Iran. The shah died in 1980.
After the shah, the newly formed Islamic Republic of Iran began a five-decade “Death to America” crusade that radicalized terrorists, jeopardized “vital oil routes” mentioned by Ford in 1974, spread terrorism across the Middle East, and enriched enough uranium to produce 10 nuclear bombs. Trump’s bold leadership is needed to correct the policy failures of many former presidents, beginning with Carter.
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It is said that Ford was a caretaker president, or one who took office temporarily, without a full mandate, to maintain continuity of government until a president was elected. Ford did much more. He successfully managed a difficult and demanding foreign policy.
The future of Iran is uncertain. Freedom-loving Iranians should know that Gerald R. Ford, the unelected president without a mandate, was a true friend. Unlike his elected successor, Ford stayed the course with Iran. Trump has a rendezvous with history.
James Patterson, a former U.S. diplomat, is a foreign affairs writer, analyst, and commentator based in Washington, D.C.