from Iran's Shahanshah, Mohammed Resa Pahlavi

As part of our Bicentennial observance, TIME asked the leaders of nations round the world to speak to the American people through the pages of TIME on how they see the U.S. and what they hope, and expect, from it in the years ahead. This message from Mohammed Reza Pahlavi Shah of Iran is the third in 'the series.

The 200th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. is a welcome opportunity for me to send my warmest greetings to the American people and to wish them ever increasing happiness and success. It is also my ardent wish that America's greatness will continue to abide and grow, procuring for the people of the U.S. unparalleled welfare and prosperity.

In no more than two centuries, the U.S. has been able to lay the foundations of astonishing technical achievements and immense material progress, the like of which no society or nation has been able to equal or surpass. In this relatively short period, America has succeeded in transforming a huge continent, blessed with almost unlimited natural resources, from the simplest beginnings into the wealthiest and most powerful country the world has seen.

The American people possess those outstanding qualities of respect for humanity and love of individual dignity of which they are rightly proud and which are a source of admiration to their friends. It was due to these very qualities that in the first World War they sacrificed their lives for the maintenance of freedom, and subsequently initiated the highly efficient philanthropic crusade that saved the devastated countries from poverty.

Then again during the second World War, America threw her weight on the side of freedom and humanitarianism against Fascism and the totalitarian states, paying for the freedom of the world with her blood. Once the cataclysm was over, she again mounted a vast program of generous aid and assistance to Allied countries, as well as to former enemies. This had no parallel in the annals of mankind and eventually transformed the destinies of those nations. It is also a sign of the great resilience of the American nation that out of all the upheavals of the past 200 years in which she has been involved she has emerged stronger and more powerful than before.

In the case of Iran, America has at all times symbolized right and justice, and this attitude has always been spontaneous on her part and heartening to us. This was best exemplified by the invaluable and truly generous assistance offered to my country through President Truman's Point Four and other aid programs, which were of inestimable and timely help to us in the critical postwar years.

Furthermore, after the second World War, America had to assume leadership over those countries known as the free world. This position imposed upon her a sense of responsibility toward those countries and induced her to interfere in situations that demanded her intervention. In certain cases her judgment may have been erroneous, and, worse, her intervention lacking in decisiveness. The ultimate judgment we must leave to history, but I doubt whether every American is in a position to analyze and diagnose every complex situation that may arise, just as Viet Nam and Watergate were the results of faulty judgment and doubtful decision.

In the beginning of the Viet Nam affair, America's intervention in that country was halfhearted and was not aimed at achieving any definite and clear-cut goals. Following this initial stage, I believe America should have withdrawn from Viet Nam after the downfall of Sukarno in Indonesia in 1968.

I sincerely hope that the American people have drawn the right conclusions from Viet Nam and Watergate, and trust that they will soon forget those events, so as to be able to devote their talent and might to the world responsibilities that have devolved upon them in our turbulent epoch. It is my firm belief that America cannot dissociate herself from the rest of the free world.

Meanwhile, precious time has unfortunately been lost in the settlement of international problems, which may prove more formidable and vital than ephemeral and passing internal squabbles and disputes.

In this regard, the establishment of a just and sound world economic order -a paramount necessity, one that includes cooperation in the development of alternative sources of energy -is. a matter to which America must devote her urgent attention. In her leading position in the world economy, America should aim at a fair and farsighted policy that would not become the target of justified criticism by others.

After 200 years the U.S. has acquired, thanks to the dynamism of her people and the special circumstances that God has provided for them, a position unique in the annals of mankind. Such a God-given privilege should make it plain that in an ever shrinking world where one man's problem is every man's problem, the U.S. does not belong to herself alone. That is the great lesson that has been taught us throughout these 20 decades, especially during the past 60 years.

I am fully convinced that in facing the future, while remaining strong in your defensive forces, the talented, industrious and essentially kind and benevolent American people will be able to continue to advance toward their goal of attaining the highest level of development in all fields of human endeavor, especially that of science and technology. I am confident that it is you Americans who will eventually be able to solve the question of energy for the benefit of yourselves and others. I also firmly believe that it is you Americans who can make a lasting contribution to the maintenance of world peace based on dignity and freedom. The name of America has always conjured up in our minds the respect for, and championship of, human values and right and justice, and it is these very principles that you must safeguard and preserve with the greatest care and concern for the benefit of yourselves and that of all mankind.

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