All the Shah′s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror

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But the author′s real accomplishment is his suspenseful account of Persia′s centuries–old military, political, cultural and religious heritage, in which Mossadegh′s face–off with London comes as the stirring climax to a drama that began with "Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes, titans whose names still echo through history." By the 1930s, most Iranians had come to regard the abject misery they plunged into with every passing decade of exclusive British control of their one great natural asset as another passing calamity in a long history of the same. But with the global stirring of post–World War II nationalism, Anglo–American Oil pushed them to the breaking point. Kinzer′s book offers a cautionary tale for our current leaders...not all such changes go according to plan..." ( The Scotsman, 16 August 2003)

The press played the showdown like a prize fight, "the tremulous, crotchety Premier versus Britain′s super–suave representative, Sir Gladwyn Jebb," in Newsweek′s account. The Daily News groused, "Whether Mossy is a phony or a genuine tear–jerker, he better put everything he′s got into his show if he goes on television here." Time magazine had made him its Man of the Year. Now came "the decisive act in the dramatic, tragic and sometimes ridiculous drama that began when Iran nationalized the Anglo–American Oil Co. five months ago." In writing All the Shah’s Men, Stephen Kinzer takes the reader through a historical outline of the 1953 Iranian coup d'état in which the CIA aided British forces in overtaking Mohammed Mossadegh’s regime. Throughout his analysis, the themes of political ideology, economics and international diplomacy are recurrent. Kinzer offers different levels of analysis from a domestic Iranian point of view all the way to what was going on in Washington. The inherent struggle for military commitment from the US on behalf of Great Britain was ultimately rooted in the oil industry that Mossadegh was nationalizing. Ultimately, the US caved into international pressure from Great Britain and aided in Operation Ajax to overthrow the Iranian leader and re-install the Shah as its rightful leader. In his final analysis, Kinzer argued that while it is inconclusive whether the threat of communism was a realistic threat for intervention, the whole ordeal resulted in tensions and negative diplomatic relations amongst the US, Great Britain and Iran. While Prime Minister Clement Attlee argued for action based on imperialist principles, Churchill realized that Eisenhower would not be swayed by such arguments. He instead contended that Iran could easily fall under Communist sway, becoming a second Korea and allowing Iran's oil wealth to fall into the hands of the Soviet Union. This argument found ready supporters in the Eisenhower administration, mainly the Dulles brothers, who headed the Department of State and the CIA. While Eisenhower signed off on the coup, code named Project Ajax, he did not want to dirty his hands with the planning. Thus the Dulles brothers and their British counterparts were free to act as they saw fit. Kinzer cares about Iran and his trip to Tehran for visiting the house that Mosaddeq stayed and lived his final years (which he chronicles in the epilogue of this book), shows that he is passionate about Iran and its fate. His passion is palpable in the account that he offers. The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the sphere of suffering shared, and in this case extended to the death march itself, there is no spiritual or emotional legacy here to offset any reader reluctance.The truth might be in the middle: the CIA did that, but probably not on the scale that is often reported, and thanks to the help of many other powerful local groups. Why did you Americans do that terrible thing?" a relative of Mossadegh demands of Kinzer. "We always loved America. To us, America was the great country, the perfect country, the country that helped us while other countries were exploiting us. But after that moment, no one in Iran ever trusted the United States again. I can tell you for sure that if you had not done that thing, you would never have had that problem of hostages being taken in your embassy in Tehran. All your trouble started in 1953. Why, why did you do it?" Conveniently enough, the secretary of state could ask his brother to do the dirty work. Allen Dulles was then running the newly founded C.I.A., which had grown out of the wartime Office of Strategic Services. The C.I.A.'s man in Tehran was Kermit Roosevelt, an affable young O.S.S. veteran who had inherited his grandfather Theodore's taste for adventure. After masterminding the 1953 coup, Roosevelt began his victory speech by crowing, ''Friends, Persians, countrymen, lend me your ears!'' Finally all efforts to find a compromise failed and the Eisenhower administration gradually relented to British pressure for ousting Mosaddeq. To some extent it can be said that the Eisenhower administration did so in the interest of safeguarding its alliance with Britain; not because of a real threat of communist takeover but because the United States needed British support in the international scene and knew that a failure to support them in this case will undoubtedly alienate the British government and will weaken their unified stance against the Soviet Union and China. Roger Goiran, the CIA chief in Tehran, vehemently opposed the coup and given the fact that he was responsible for dealing with the communist threat, it only strengthens the argument that the danger of a communist takeover was mostly a fabrication.

i143243688 |b1080006496429 |dculnb |g- |m |h1 |x1 |t0 |i0 |j18 |k220701 |n02-13-2023 19:17 |o- |aDS318 |r.K49 2008 The great mob that surged through the streets of Tehran on August 18 was partly mercenary and partly a genuine expression of people’s loss of faith in Mossadegh.” T]he United States gave its go-ahead for Operation Ajax, or Operation Boot as the British continued to call it. The governments in London and Washington were finally united in their enthusiasm. One [Britain] looked forward to recovering its oil concession. The other [The United States] saw a chance to deliver a devastating blow against communism." (164).Half a century ago, the United States overthrew a Middle Eastern government for the first time. The victim was Mohammad Mossadegh, the democratically elected prime minister of Iran. Although the coup seemed a success at first, today it serves as a chilling lesson about the dangers of foreign intervention.In this book, veteran New York Times correspondent Stephen Kinzer gives the first full account of this fateful operation. His account is centered around an hour-by-hour reconstruction of the events of August 1953, and concludes with an assessment of the coup's "haunting and terrible legacy." Despite the appalling living conditions of workers at the company's huge oil refinery in Iran, as British directors lived nearby in luxury, Jebb sputtered on patronizingly about how the company's profiteering in Iran "must arouse the greatest admiration from the social point of view and should be taken as a model of the form of development which would bring benefits to the economically less-developed areas of the world." Kinze who has written an entirely engrossing, often riveting, nearly Homeric tale, which, if life were fair, would be this summer′s beach book." ( The Washington Post, Sunday, August 3, 2003) Moreover, blaming the C.I.A. and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company for the Iranian revolution lets later American administrations (and the shah himself) off the hook. Most cold war presidents relied too heavily on the shah for Persian Gulf stability while doing too little to press him to reform. John F. Kennedy, who did push Iran to liberalize, proved an honorable exception. In April 1962, he told a somewhat baffled shah to learn from the example of Franklin Roosevelt, who ''was still regarded almost as a god in places like West Virginia'' for siding with the common citizen.

This book is about the 1953 British and American ouster of the democratic government of Iran and reinstatement of a despotic monarchy. It is also the story of PM Mossadegh, elected in 1951 and deposed in 1953. He was educated in Europe, Iran's first law PhD, a fighter for secular democracy and against foreign domination since 1905. From 1909 the Anglo-Persian Oil Co., called by Winston Churchill 'a prize beyond our wildest dreams' had been owned by Britain. Reza Shah, a strongman from northern Iran, overthrew the Qajars in 1926 collaborating with Britain as the Bolsheviks renounced claims on Iran. An admirer of Ataturk, Reza built roads, rails and banks, banned foreign property sales and constrained religion by authoritarian fiat. A fan of Mussolini and Hitler he ran afoul of the west in WWII, abdicating in 1941. Postwar profits from the Anglo-Persian Oil Co. soared as protests proliferated, leading to the rise of nationalists. However, the events are relevant in terms of a booming United States economy in the post WWII era. As the oil reserves and industry of the middle-east was both lucrative and profitable, it was a rational move in terms of economics. Great Britain clearly held personal interest in the whole affair because they had been effectively monopolizing the oil industry through their oil company, eventually renamed British Petroleum (BP). This was why the Iranians labeled the British as acting in an imperialist nature towards them. Nonetheless, the US gained economically from the whole ordeal. After gaining 40% ownership of the company among five different United States corporations, domestic economic goals were accomplished, albeit they may have been utterly unintended. This accurately reflects the US legacy of capitalism and free markets. Just as the open door policy in China opened up trade across the Pacific, this was yet another way for the US to develop its international economy as well. Therefore, the content of the book related to and supported the class material we studied relating to US superiority, both economically and diplomatically. Finally, US initiatives surrounding military intervention to stop the potential spread of communism abroad also coincided with our class material. The subject of this book is a coup aimed at overthrowing Mohammad Mossadegh, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran. The author delves into the details of the coup and explores its ramifications that continue to be felt to this day. In August 1953 the CIA with the help of some influential figures in Iran orchestrated a coup against Mossadegh. They encouraged and organized the mass protests against Mossadegh that resulted in chaos in the capital city of Tehran.Mossadegh was overthrown and, later, arrested. The Shah, who had been forced to flee Iran, returned and embarked on consolidating dictatorial power. That was the path that led to the Islamic revolution in 1979. More people are reading the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Our independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too. Their decision to make Iran the first battleground of their crusade may or may not have been wise, but they deserve to be judged harshly for the way they made it," he writes. "Even before taking their oaths of office, both brothers had convinced themselves beyond all doubt that Mossadegh must go. They never even considered the possibility that a coup might be a bad idea or that it might have negative consequences. History might view their action more favorably if it had been the result of serious, open-minded reflection and debate. Instead, it sprang from petulant impatience, from a burning desire to do something, anything, that would seem like a victory over communism. . . . Iran was the place they chose to start showing the world that the United States was no longer part of what Vice President Richard Nixon called 'Dean Acheson's college of cowardly Communist containment.' "

In 1950 communists advanced across Korea. The prior year the USSR tested a nuclear weapon and Mao won the civil war in China. Countries across eastern Europe had governments imposed by Moscow. Truman thought the developing world would adopt Marxism if the west didn't accept nationalism. Iran was at risk due to British refusal to compromise on oil leases. Churchill was PM again in 1951 and Eisenhower president in 1953. Britain needed oil to pay US war debts. When Kinzer traces a direct line from the 1953 coup to 9/11, it seems to me that he is drawing over-simplified lines through history. When he says that Islamic terrorism has its roots in 1953, he is visualizing “roots” that might be a bit too short. All the Shah's Men)‏ عنوان کتابی از خبرنگار امریکایی استیون کینزر است. این کتاب کودتای ۲۸ مرداد را در قالب روایتی داستانی و رمان‌گونه مورد بررسی قرار می‌دهد. provides an able and often vivid summary of our knowledge..." ( BBC History Magazine, December 2003)

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An exciting narrative. [Kinzer] questions whether Americans are well served by interventions for regime change abroad, and he reminds us of the long history of Iranian resistance to great power interventions, as well as the unanticipated consequences of intervention." D]rawing conclusions about causes and effects is always dangerous.” But he has evidently ignored his own warning in writing his narrative. The intervention and military involvement of the US stemmed from sour Iranian-US relations, communist fears and economic interests. Mossadegh argued vehemently that the US “once upheld moral principles but was wilting in the face of British pressure” (100). As Eisenhower was elected into office, he willingly accepted involvement on behalf of GB. Not only would this aid their Atlantic counterpart, help stop the potential spread of communism but also gain entry into the middle-east’s lucrative oil industry. Consequently, while the first coup failed, the team of CIA agents as well as Brits was successful four days later (166). They utilized propaganda, the press and local mobs to encourage domestic instability in Iran. As the streets were turned into battlegrounds for a new leader to come in, the CIA succeeded and Mossadegh was forced into house arrest for the remainder of his life. A Quasi-Victory for America After a century of involvement in Iran, Britain did not remain idle in the face of this loss. So when Mossadegh's administration expelled the British diplomats, they turned to their American allies for assistance. Author Stephen Kinzer firmly pointed his finger at specific employees of the British and American governments. President Harry Truman opposed any military intervention on behalf of British economic interests. But in 1952, Truman was replaced by Dwight Eisenhower, who heeded the anti-Communist strategies of his Secretary of State John Dulles [the one for whom the Washington DC Airport is named] and brother Allen Dulles [who became the head of the CIA]. With the approval of POTUS Eisenhower and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, a coup d'état (codenamed "Operation Ajax") had been successfully orchestrated against Iran's Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in August 1953.