... foreign powers (especially the US) were still not enough to prevent Muhammad Reza's overthrow in 1979, in a revolution led by an Islamic leader named Ayatollah Khoimeini. In 1963, the Shah came up with a series of reforms that he believed would help modernize Iran "along Western lines"1. His goals were welcomed among the Iranian public and the Western world alike, the two most important being land reform and the establishment of a literacy corps. The latter was more successful and in fact, between 1963 and 1977 enrollment in elementary schools more than doubled and university enrollment increased seven-fold2. When the land reform program ended in 1971 it had helped about 2 million people become landowners. Other positive developments that resulted from the White Revolution included improved health care leading to a lower infant mortality rate and better internal and external communications. Women were even given greater equality in the legal ...

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