What Led the United States to Encourage Authoritarian Governments in Iran and Saudi Arabia
Journal: Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University)
Year: 2016

This study investigates the process by which the United States became the main supporter of authoritarian governments in Saudi Arabia and Iran during World War II. Prior to the war the U.S. had little involvement in the Middle East, but that changed during the war as America slowly but surely became a superpower all over the world. Additionally before the war the British were the main foreign backers of Reza Shah in Iran and the ruling monarchy in Saudi Arabia. However, the decline of British po