The US backed an autocrat in 1953. Shah-nanigans ensued

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In 1975, the economy of the richest country on Earth was broken. Unemployment in America was worse in 1975 than in 2020, and at the same time inflation was also out of control. According to rudimentary economics, that’s not supposed to happen. The Vice President gave a speech that year saying one person ought to teach the US government how to run a country, and that was the Shah of Iran.

Iran was a radically different place in the 70s. This Middle-Eastern monarchy was secular, it was urban, women went to universities sporting short skirts and big hair. Some of its social welfare policies were more progressive than Sweden, Sweden, and it was getting rich. The middle class was booming, the Shah was handing out loans to Britain and the United States. The country’s GDP per capita was only seven years behind contemporaries like Germany or Japan, and that gap was closing in fast.

That lasted until 1978. And in 1979, Iran was a dystopian police state at the mercy of a Supreme Leader whose main export is human rights violations. Revolutions are always complicated but this one is… weird.


Music (in order of appearance):
Basspartout - That 70s Sound
Kevin Macleod - Hidden Past
Remstunes - Jazz Swing 70s
Black Sea Music - 70s Disco
Penguin Music - Dark Cinematic Documentary
Orchestralis - The Middle East
Anthem of the Imperial State of Iran
Mohammadreza Shajarian - Gonbad-e-mina