The Pittsburgh Press (December 9, 1943)
Iran ‘tricked’ by Roosevelt
People expected gala show, blaring trumpets
By Gault MacGowan, North American Newspaper Alliance
Cairo, Egypt –
President Roosevelt’s visit to Iran disappointed the Persian people on the whole. The average man on the streets, getting his news from conversation instead of from a steady flow of newspaper editions containing many pictures, expected to see the President of the fabulous rich country across the seas in a gorgeous uniform as Commander-in-Chief of U.S. forces.
The display-loving everyday people naturally looked forward to a triumphal arrival with all the ceremonials of an oriental welcome they got, instead of the unostentatious plunking down of a plane at a dusty airport, with the security police discouraging even spontaneous and informal demonstrations.
Two Persians overheard discoursing on the subject expressed with a fine flourish of words the fairly general impressions of their countrymen.
One of them exclaimed:
What? He wears no uniform! What trick is this they play upon us?
His friend said:
Perhaps they bring someone in the likeness of the President to deceive malefactors. Possibly we should look for his coming by a later sky carriage.
The first Persian said:
No, it is indeed he. See how they salaam him. But he has not even a trumpeter.
The other commented, with an evident attempt to look on the bright side of a somewhat disheartening situation:
The expansion of his smile is exceeded only by the width of his shoulders.
The man who had opened the chat wanted to know:
What is this lie of the fine coffee of America? There is no serving of coffee here.
A Kurd would give a better welcome, it cannot be denied.
And no spreading of carpets.
As to that, America has no carpets like Persia, and probably has not learned the custom of carpet spreading.
What is the gain of being Shah of 48 states, which they say America has, when your caravan is poorer than that of the Sheikhs of Mohammerah?
The allusion was an effective one, for Mohammerah is the oil country of Persia and a symbol of wealth in Persian household talk.
The more cheerful of the two was forced to grant:
Magnificence has truly gone from the world.