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{
    "localId": "218719182",
    "label": "Memorandum from R. D. Muir to Matthew Connelly, with Attachment and Related Material",
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    "id": "218719182",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Memorandum from R. D. Muir to Matthew Connelly, with Attachment and Related Material",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/218719182",
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        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
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    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "logicalDate": "1949-01-01",
            "year": 1949
        }
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    "seq": 3,
    "pageIndex": 0,
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    "ocrText": "- 2 -\ninviting either the Shah of Iran or the President of\nPanama. I understand, further, that the President of\nBrazil will be invited to visit the President during\nMay 1949 and that strong reasons have not been advanced\nby the Department for inviting the President of Panama\non March 30. There are, in my opinion, strong reasons\nwhy the President should invite the Shah of Iran to\nvisit this country at that time.\nThe primary objective of U. S. policy toward Iran is\nto prevent the domination of that exposed, oil rich, and\nstrategically located country by the Soviet Union. The\nShah represents the most influential and only stable\nelement in Iran. It is important that he be constantly\nencouraged to keep Iran firm in the face of continuing\nSoviet pressures which threaten United States security\ninterests in the Middle East. A visit by the Shah to the\nUnited States--the first by any Iranian Shah to this\ncountry--would, in my opinion, go far toward achieving\nthat objective.\nWhile the situation in Iran is never sufficiently\nstable to make it ideal for the Shah to be absent from\nhis country, it is felt that this spring is as propitious\nas any which can be anticipated in the predictable future.\nThis opinion is confirmed by informal conversations with\nthe Iranian Ambassador in Washington. If the Shah should\nleave Iran this spring, late March would be a particularly\nauspicious time. No Ruz, the Iranian New Year and most\nimportant holiday season in Iran, begins on March 21 and\nlasts for ten days. For the Shah to leave Iran after\nMarch 21 but during the No Ruz season would, in the Iranian\nmind, be a particularly good omen for the people of Iran.\nSpring in the United States would, of course, be a most\nsatisfactory time for the Shah to visit Washington and\nsignificant places in the United States which would be\nimpressive in terms of the Shah's personal and patriotic\ninterests.\nRECOMMENDATION:\nThat the President invite the Shah of Iran to visit\nthe United States to be his guest at Blair House March 30,\n1949.\nDECLASSIFIED\nE. O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and 5(D) or 8\nDept. of State letter, A 7-15-25\n- RECORDE HATIONAL\n.\nSERVICER\nBg. NLT. He , NARS Date 9-9-76"
}