Abstract
ABSTRACTIt appeared that as 1977 dawned, the political climate in the United States might render multi-billion dollar arms sales into unstable regions a thing of the past. Jimmy Carter triumphed in the presidential election of November 1976 on a popular platform of arms control and the introduction of human rights considerations into American foreign policy. His transition from that idealistic candidate to the president who agreed to sell Iran a fleet of highly advanced AWACS aircraft, as part of a record breaking $5.7 billion arms package, is therefore outwardly confusing. Yet, when examining the entrenched policy path that Carter inherited regarding arming Iran, and the larger needs of Cold War containment, the logic of Carter’s decisions essentially to betray his own policies in this case becomes clear.
Highlights
Jimmy Carter’s experiences with Iran during his one term in office between 1977 and 1981 form a major component of his administration’s legacy
As tentative diplomatic contacts were being made between the Shah and the new administration, Carter set into motion Presidential Review Memorandum (PRM) 12 into general U.S arms transfer policy, which was chaired by Cyrus Vance.[21]
Turner’s testimony had caused high-level alarm in the Senate, it was merely the straw that broke the camel’s back. This short sighted response treated Congressional opposition as a technical issue that could be solved by compromise, rather than fully anticipating the deep alarm that the aggregation of years of multi-billion dollar arms deals with Iran had generated within Congress
Summary
Jimmy Carter’s experiences with Iran during his one term in office between 1977 and 1981 form a major component of his administration’s legacy. As an autocrat who was supressing political opposition in Iran, it seems surprising that the Shah was able to win support from the Carter administration for a major arms sale. It appeared that as 1977 dawned, the politics of a new president and the gathering momentum of a resurgent Congress, keen to introduce moderation in arms sales which had destabilised the Middle East, might make multi-billion dollar arms sales into unstable regions a thing of the past. The episode yields a new insight into Carter’s personal disposition as his designs for a new turn in U.S foreign policy became unmoored during his first year in office
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