President Nixon the only U.S. dignitary at the Shah's last rites,

walks in funeral procession with the late King of Iran's family and Egyptian President Sadat

Nixon was furious with the State Department, with other governments who declined to send delegations, but particularly with Carter, whose behaviour during the Shah's wandering exile he had yet to forgive. To a crowd of waiting reporters, he pronounced Carter's handling of the Shah "one of the black pages of American foreign policy history." It was "shameful" said Nixon, that the Administration didn't even have the grace to point out that he had been an ally and a friend of the United States for 30 years." He paused to glare at the journalists. Then he added "I think President Sadat's guts in providing a home for the Shah in his last days at a time when the U.S. turned its back one one of its friends is an inspiration to us all."

Excerpts from "Exile,"  a book on President Nixon by Robert Sam Anson - Simon & Schuster . New York.