This episode examines the dramatic collapse of the Shah of Iran and rise of Ayatollah Khomeini through the experiences of Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States, and Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. Carter, a peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia who became president as a born-again Christian outsider, found himself toasting the Shah's regime just days before its violent overthrow.

The story explores how Iran's ancient monarchy, rooted in thousands of years of Persian kingship as celebrated in Shahnameh (The Book of Kings), collided with Shiite Islamic revolution. The Shah's modernization efforts and oil wealth created massive social upheaval, while Ayatollah Khomeini's exile in Iraq allowed him to become a symbol of resistance. The episode traces the revolutionary cycle that began in January 1978 and would ultimately transform Iran from America's closest Middle Eastern ally into an implacable enemy.

The Shah's Gilded Palace and Carter's Fateful Toast

On New Year's Eve 1977, Carter toasted the Shah at Tehran's Niavaran Palace, calling Iran 'an island of stability' and praising their 'mutual military security' partnership just eight days before revolution erupted.

Tehran had exploded from 500,000 to 5 million people since WWII due to oil money, creating infrastructure collapse with notorious traffic and constant blackouts that made the city barely functional.

The banquet featured caviar, Dom Perignon, and rose partridge with 'gigantic ice cream flambé' - Carter called it 'Versailles in the days of Louis XIV' and praised the Shah's 'wisdom, judgment, sensitivity and insight.'

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi: The Anxious King of Kings

Born in 1919, the Shah was the 'classic textbook anxious, shy, reserved son of an overbearing, terrifying military father' who became crown prince at age two after his father's British-backed 1921 coup.

The concept of monarchy was fundamental to Iranian identity, as reflected in Shahnameh (The Book of Kings) by Ferdowsi - 'when the Shah stands up there, he is correctly conscious of himself as the heir of thousands of years of rule by monarchs.'

By the 1970s he had developed a personality cult with military uniforms and enormous sunglasses, elevating himself to 'Shah and Shah' (King of Kings) and throwing the famous 1971 Persepolis party with food flown in from Maxims of Paris.

His corruption was extensive - 'the bloke who books his escorts is given the caviar export monopoly' and a British Foreign Office report after his fall confirmed the ayatollahs hadn't exaggerated the court's decadence.

Jimmy Carter: The Peanut Farmer President

Carter was born in 1924 to a peanut farmer in Plains, Georgia, becoming an autodidact who 'comes home late at night, then learns Spanish in the evening' after working on nuclear submarines.

After losing his 1966 Congressional race, Carter had a massive existential crisis, 'probably sank into depression' and was born again, turning to evangelical Christianity that northerners mocked as backward.

His 1976 presidential campaign promised 'a government that is as good and honest and decent and competent and compassionate and as filled with love as are the American people.'

As president, Carter was a notorious micromanager who famously controlled White House tennis court bookings and appeared on national TV in a cardigan asking Americans to turn down their thermostats.

Ayatollah Khomeini: The Austere Revolutionary

Born around 1900 in Khomein, Khomeini was 'a very clever boy' who 'began reading the Quran when he was six' and 'was very good at football' while studying Greek philosophy at the seminary in Qom.

He 'always wears this black robe, this black turban' with 'hypnotic, unwavering stare' and 'never is seen smiling or laughing in public' - maintaining austere dignity unlike the Shah's French luxuries.

In the 1960s, Khomeini opposed the Shah's White Revolution, calling him 'a tyrant' and 'puppet of the United States and Israel' before being exiled to Najaf, Iraq in 1964.

From exile, his supporters 'make tape recordings of his lectures and sermons, and they smuggle them into Iran' where he became a symbol of resistance to the Shah's westernization.

The Shiite Foundation of Revolution

Shiite Islam centers on the martyrdom of Hussein, grandson of Prophet Muhammad, at Karbala - commemorated on Ashura as 'essentially their Good Friday' and seen as the 'primal catastrophe' when evil triumphed over good.

As explained in Apocalyptic Islam and Iranian Shiism by Abbas Amanat, Shiites await the hidden Imam (Mahdi) who 'will initiate an apocalyptic battle of cosmic proportion that precedes the day of resurrection and the end of time.'

Shiite clerics traditionally served as judges, teachers, and authority figures in local communities, often acting as counterweights to state power rather than aspiring to control it, as detailed in Khomeini Life of the Ayatollah by Baqer Moin.

The belief that 'all temporal rulers are illegitimate until the return of the hidden Imam' inspired clerical opposition to the Shah while creating the theological problem of who could legitimately govern.

The Revolutionary Cycle Begins

On January 7, 1978, a government newspaper attacked Khomeini as 'a tool of red and black imperialism' controlled by communists and British, calling rural clerics 'parasites, engaged in sodomy, usury, and drunk most of the time.'

The article triggered protests in Qom where police fired into crowds, killing an uncertain number - historian Michael Axworthy in Revolutionary Iran suggests contemporary reports of 30-40 deaths were 'probably exaggerated and it might have been like five people.'

A 40-day memorial cycle began: 'Every 40 days, there are memorial services for the people who were killed in the last outbreak of rioting. And there's more rioting, and so there'll be more memorial services in 40 days' time.'

The August 19 Abadan cinema fire killed 500 people when 'four men barred the doors of the cinema, poured petrol onto the doors and then lit the doors with a match' - blamed on the Shah's secret police regardless of actual perpetrators.

American Intelligence Failures

The CIA 'don't have one prepared' profile for Ayatollah Khomeini 'because they just don't think he's that big a factor' - focusing instead on traditional politicians and communist threats.

US network news 'typically discussed Iran for five minutes a year' focused on 'coverage of the Shah's dinners or him going skiing' rather than political developments.

Even as the Shah suffered from leukemia, the US Embassy reported to Washington: 'There are rumors about the Shah's health... our sources indicate there's no doubt the Russians are spreading the stories. To the best of our knowledge, the Shah is fine.'

Ambassador Sullivan's November 9 cable titled 'Thinking the Unthinkable' warned 'the Shah is finished' and recommended America 'ditch the Shah right now' and 'do a deal with the Ayatollah Ruhola Khomeini.'