O I L , S U B T E R F U G E , A N D T H E OV E RT H R O W O F M O H A M M A D M O S A D D E Q

“A NATION OF POTTED PLANTS”

Presented by Nate Levine

INTRODUCTION

THESIS

• Despite decades of amicable relations with Iran, the Eisenhower administration orchestrated the 1953 coup in order to:

1. Secure access to Iranian oil

2. Advance US economic interests

ROADMAP

• Background AIOC and IranNationalization

• Initial reactions: Great Britain & the U.S.

• Operation TPAJAX

• Aftermath (benefits for the U.S.)

IRAN BEFORE OIL

Persia

Islam

Dark Years

Qajar

1906 Constitutional Revolution

1908 Oil

AIOC AND IRAN

• Living conditions of Iranian workers

• Lord Curzon: Allies “floated to victory on an ocean of oil”Division of Profits

IranAIOC

AIOC AND IRAN

1941 194502468

1012141618 Oil Production

Oil Production (in millions of tons)

NATIONALIZATION

• Political situation chaotic• Mohammad Mosaddeq and the National Front• Nationalization supported unanimously

MOSADDEQ

INITIAL REACTIONS

• Great Britain furious, threatened Shah• Approached the UN• Boycott of Iranian oil • Approached the U.S. (Truman administration)

DON’T FORGET THE COLD WAR

THE COUP

• CIA justification• Bribery• Psychological campaign• Economic sabotage• Anti-Mosaddeq forces

AFTERMATH & BENEFITS FOR U.S.

1. Access to Oil• Oil Production

1945 1953 19650

1020304050607080 Oil Exports

Exports of Iranian Crude Oil (in mil-lions of tons)

AFTERMATH & BENEFITS FOR U.S.

2. U.S. Benefits • Trade Deficits (standard of living)• Oil concessions• Money, money everywhere

1951-52

1952-53

1953-54

1954-55

05

101520

Cost of Living (based on Price Indices)

Cost of Liv-ing (in percent-ages)

CONCLUSION

• Despite years of amicable relations (Iranians viewed U.S. as alternative to imperialism), Eisenhower supported the 1953 CIA coup in order to:

1. Secured access to Iranian oil -enjoyed “ocean of oil” pre-nationalization

-Cold War concerns2. Advanced U.S. economic interests -trade deficits -oil concessions

BIBLIOGRAPHYBerman, Morris. Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire. New York: Norton, 2007.

Gasiorowski, Mark J. and Malcolm Byrne, eds. Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2004. 

“Iran Paves Way to Nationalize its Oil Fields: British Firm Faces Loss of Concession.” Chicago Daily Tribune, March 19, 1951. http://ezproxy.umw.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.umw.edu/docview/178027651?accountid=12299

Kinzer, Stephen. All The Shah’s Men. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2003.

Marsh, Steve. “Continuity and Change: Reinterpreting the Policies of the Truman and Eisenhower Administrations toward Iran, 1950-1954.” Journal of Cold War Studies 7, no. 3 (Summer 2005): 79.

Mokhtari, Fariborz. “Iran’s 1953 Coup Revisited: Internal Dynamics versus External Intrigue.” Middle East Journal 62, no. 3 (Summer 2008): 457.

Ramazani, Rouhollah K. The Foreign Policy of Iran: A Developing Nation in World Affairs 1500-1941. Charlottesville, VA: The University Press of Virginia, 1966.

TIME Magazine. “Mohammed Mossadeg, Man of the Year, Jan. 7, 1952.” TIME Man of the Year. Accessed November 30, 2013. http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19520107,00.html

Towfighi, Parviz S. From Persian Empire to Islamic Iran: A History of Nationalism in the Middle East. Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, Ltd., 2009.

Wilber, Donald. “Document 1: CIA, Clandestine Service History, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, November 1952-August 1953.” The National Security Archive (1954), accessed November 15, 2013,http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB435/#_ftn1