Sources

The editors of the Foreign Relations series have complete access to all the retired records and papers of the Department of State: the central files of the Department; the special decentralized files (“lot files”) of the Department at the bureau, office, and division levels; the files of the Department's Executive Secretariat, which contain the records of international conferences and high-level official visits, correspondence with foreign leaders by the President and Secretary of State, and memoranda of conversations between the President and Secretary of State and foreign officials; and the files of overseas diplomatic posts. When this volume was being compiled, the Department of State records consulted were still under the custody of the Department, and the footnotes citing Department of State files suggest that the Department is the repository. By the time of publication, however, all the Department's indexed central files for these years had been permanently transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration (Archives II) at College Park, Maryland. Many of the Department's decentralized office (or lot) files covering this period, which the National Archives deems worthy of permanent retention, are in the process of being transferred from the Department's custody to Archives II.

The editors of the Foreign Relations series also have full access to the papers of President Johnson and other White House foreign policy records. Presidential papers maintained and preserved at the Presidential libraries include some of the most significant foreign affairs-related documentation from the Department of State and other Federal agencies including the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In preparing this volume, the editor made extensive use of Presidential papers and other White House records at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library. Numerous White House memoranda, including memoranda to the President, testify to President Johnson's concern with issues relating to Iran, especially the maintenance of personal ties with the Shah. The bulk of the foreign policy records at the Johnson Library are in the country files and other component parts of the National Security File.

The Department of State arranged for access to the many audiotapes of President Johnson's telephone conversations that are held at the Johnson Library. These audiotapes include substantial numbers of telephone conversations between President Johnson and Secretary of State Rusk, Secretary of Defense McNamara, the President's Special Assistant for National Security Affairs McGeorge Bundy, and key members of Congress. The editor of this volume selected for publication one audiotape of a President Johnson telephone conversation dealing with Iran. A transcript was then prepared. Although the transcript gives the substance of the conversation, readers are urged to consult the recording for a full appreciation of those dimensions that cannot be captured fully in a transcription, such as the speakers' inflections and emphases that may convey nuances of meaning.

Second in importance only to the White House records at the Johnson Library were the records of the Department of State. The Department's central files contain the cable traffic recording U.S. diplomatic relations with Iran, memoranda of diplomatic conversations, and memoranda proposing action or providing information. Some important documents are found only in the Department's lot files. The Conference Files maintained by the Executive Secretariat contain briefing materials as well as records of conversations. Documentation on initiatives that were not approved is often found only in desk or bureau files. The Rusk Files contain records of Secretary Rusk's telephone conversations.

The Central Intelligence Agency provides access to Department of State historians to high-level intelligence documents from those records in the custody of that Agency and at the Presidential libraries. This access is arranged and facilitated by the History Staff of the Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, pursuant to a May 1992 memorandum of understanding. Department of State and CIA historians continue to work out the procedural and scholarly aspects of identifying the key portions of the intelligence record. This volume includes a limited number of intelligence records. Among the intelligence records reviewed for the volume were files of the Directors of Central Intelligence, especially Richard Helms, CIA intelligence reports and summaries, and the CIA Registry of National Intelligence Estimates and Special National Intelligence Estimates.

Almost all of this documentation has been made available for use in the Foreign Relations series thanks to the consent of the agencies mentioned, the assistance of their staffs, and especially the cooperation and support of the National Archives and Records Administration.

The following list identifies the particular files and collections used in the preparation of this volume. The declassification and transfer to the National Archives of these records is in process. Many of the records are already available for public review at the National Archives. The declassification review of other records is going forward in accordance with the provisions of Executive Order 12958, under which all records over 25 years old, except file series exemptions requested by agencies and approved by the President, should be reviewed for declassification by 2000.

Unpublished Sources

Department of State

Central Files. During 1964–1968 the Department's central files were filed according to a subject-numeric system. The records were divided into broad categories: Administration, Consular, Culture and Information, Economic, Political and Defense, Science, and Social. Within each of these divisions were subcategories. For example, Political and Defense contained four subtopics: CSM (communism), DEF (Defense), INT (intelligence), and POL (politics). The subcategories were divided into numerical subdivisions or, in many cases, country files, with numerical subdivisions. The POL series began with files with numerical subdivisions on international issues, such as issues relating to international rivers, and continued with country files. These files have been transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park Maryland, Record Group 59.

AID 6 IRAN: Communist bloc aid, Iran

AID (US) IRAN: general policy, U.S. aid to Iran

BG 6 TEHRAN: buildings and grounds acquisition, Tehran

DEF 1 IRAN: defense policy, Iran

DEF 1–4 IRAN: air defense, Iran

DEF 1–5 IRAN: alert measures, Iran

DEF 6 IRAN: armed forces, Iran

DEF 12–5 IRAN: procurement and sale of armaments, Iran

DEF 15 IRAN–US: bases and installations, Iran-U.S.

DEF 15–3 IRAN–US: status of forces, Iran-U.S.

DEF 12–5 US–IRAN: procurement and sale of armaments, U.S.-Iran

DEF 19 US–IRAN: military assistance, U.S. -Iran

DEF 19–3 US–IRAN: defense organizations and conferences, U.S.-Iran

DEF 19–8 US–IRAN: defense equipment and supplies, U.S. -Iran

DEF 19–9 US–IRAN: advisory and training assistance, U.S. -Iran

DEF 19–6 USSR-IRAN: U.S.S.R. military assistance to Iran

E 2–2 IRAN: economic review, Iran

E 8 IRAN: economic conditions, Iran

E 12 IRAN: land use, land reform, Iran

EDU 9–3 IRAN: educational system, institutions, college and university, Iran

EDX 12 IRAN: educational cultural exchange, youth programs, Iran

FN 16 IRAN: revenue, taxation, Iran

ORG 7 S: organization and administration, Secretary's visits

PET 2 IRAN: petroleum general reports and statistics, Iran

PET 6 IRAN: petroleum companies, Iran

PET 17 USSR-IRAN: petroleum trade, USSR-Iran

POL 33 PERSIAN GULF: waters, boundaries, Persian Gulf

POL ARAB–IRAN: political affairs and relations, Arabs-Iran

POL ARAB–ISR: political affairs and relations, Arabs-Israel

POL 27 ARAB–ISR: military operations, Arabs-Israel

POL IRAN: political affairs and relations, Iran

POL 2 IRAN: general reports and statistics, Iran

POL 2–3 IRAN: politico-economic reports, Iran

POL 7 IRAN: visits, meetings with Iranian leaders

POL 12 IRAN: political parties, Iran

POL 13–2 IRAN: students, youth groups, Iran

POL 15–1 IRAN: Iranian Head of State

POL 23–1 IRAN: internal security, counter-insurgency, plans and programs, Iran

POL 23–9 IRAN: rebellion, coups, Iran

POL 30 IRAN: defectors and expellees, Iran

POL IRAN–SAUD: political affairs and relations, Iran-Saudi Arabia

POL IRAN–US: political affairs and relations, Iran-U.S.

POL 17 IRAN–US: diplomatic and consular representation, Iran-U.S.

POL 1 US: general policy and background, U.S.

POL 7 US/HARRIMAN: visits, meetings of W. Averell Harriman

POL 7 US/McCloy: visits, meetings of John J. McCloy

POL 15–1 US/Johnson: Head of State, Executive Branch, President Lyndon B. Johnson

POL 15–1 US/NIXON: Head of State, Executive Branch, President-elect Richard M. Nixon

POL 7 USSR: visits, meetings with Soviet leaders

POL 27 VIET S: military operations, South Vietnam

SOC 13 IRAN: social conditions, population, Iran

UN 6 CHICOM: question of Chinese representation in the United Nations

Lot Files. These files have been transferred or will be transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park Maryland, Record Group 59.

Conference Files: Lot 66 D 110

Records of official visits by heads of government and foreign ministers to the United States and international conferences attended by the President, the Secretary of State, and other U.S. officials, 1961–1964, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat of the Department of State.

Conference Files: Lot 68 D 453

International Conference chronologies, May 10, 1967, through December 29–January 11, 1968, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat of the Department of State.

Conference Files: Lot 70 D 418

Official visit chronologies, January 1968 through December 1969, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat of the Department of State.

NEA/IRN Files: Lot 69 D 30

Iran Subject Files for 1964, as maintained by the Office of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.

NEA/IRN Files: Lot 69 D 95

Iran Subject Files for 1964, as maintained by the Office of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.

NEA/IRN Files: Lot 69 D 178

Iran Subject Files for 1964, as maintained by the Office of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.

NEA/IRN Files: Lot 69 D 426

Iran Subject Files for 1965, as maintained by the Office of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.

NEA/IRN Files: Lot 69 D 484

Iran Subject Files for 1965, as maintained by the Office of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.

NEA/IRN Files: Lot 69 D 489

Iran Subject Files for 1965, as maintained by the Office of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.

NEA/IRN Files: Lot 69 D 490

Iran Subject Files for 1965, as maintained by the Office of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.

NEA/IRN Files: Lot 69 D 513

Iran Subject Files for 1964 and 1966, as maintained by the Office of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.

NEA/IRN Files: Lot 70 D 330

Iran Subject Files for 1966, as maintained by the Office of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.

NEA/IRN Files: Lot 70 D 552

Iran Subject Files for 1965, 1966, and 1967, as maintained by the Office of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs (after July 1, 1966, Country Director for Iran), Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.

Rusk Files: Lot 72 D 192

Files of Secretary of State Dean Rusk, 1961–1969, including texts of speeches and public statements, miscellaneous correspondence files, White House correspondence, chronological files, and memoranda of telephone conversations.

S/P Files: Lot 72 D 139

S/P and S/PC Country Files; W. Rostow and H. Owen memoranda.

S/S Files: Lot 68 D 475

Official State visit chronologies of foreign heads of state and government and ranking foreign officials June–November 1967, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat of the Department of State.

Central Intelligence Agency

Job 78–03805R, U.S. Government, Special Group, CI, and 303

Job 79–R01012A, ODDI Registry of NIE and SNIE

Job 79–T00430A, Current Intelligence Memoranda

Job 79–T00472A, OCI Intelligence Memoranda

Job 80–00105A, Iran

Job 80–B01285A, DCI Files, DCI Helms Chrons

Job 80–R01580R, DCI Files

Library of Congress, Manuscript Division

Harriman Papers

Special Files; Public Service, Kennedy-Johnson Administrations, 1958–1971.

Washington National Records Center, Suitland, Maryland

Record Group 330, Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense

OASD/ISA Files: FRC 68 A 306

Secret and lower-classified general files of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, 1964.

OASD/ISA Files: FRC 70 A 6648

Secret files of the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, and Special Assistants, 1966.

OASD/ISA Files: FRC 72 A 1498

Secret files of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, 1968.

OSD Files: FRC 70 A 4443

Secret files of the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, and Special Assistants, 1966.

OSD Files: FRC 72 A 2468

Secret files of the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, and Special Assistants, 1967.

OSD Files: FRC 73 A 1250

Secret files of the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, and Special Assistants, 1968.

Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas

Papers of President Lyndon B. Johnson

National Security File

Country File, Iran

Agency File, Department of State

Special Head of State Correspondence File

Files of the Special Committee of the NSC

Memos to the President, McGeorge Bundy, Walt W. Rosto

Files of Robert W. Komer

Files of Walt W. Rostow

W. Howard Wriggins Memos

NSC Files of Harold H. Saunders

White House Central Files

President's Daily Diary

Papers of Robert W. Komer

Transcripts of Telephone Conversations, Alpha Series, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

Published Sources

U.S. Department of State. American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1961–1967. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965–1969.

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson. 5 vols. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965–1969.