All the Shah's Men

The book discusses the 1953 Iranian coup d'état backed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in which Mohammed Mossadegh, Iran's democratically elected prime minister, was overthrown by Islamists supported by American and British agents (chief among them Kermit Roosevelt) and royalists loyal to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.The Eisenhower administration agreed with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's government to restore the pro-Western Shah to power.Mossadegh was successfully overthrown and spent the rest of his life on his country estate under house arrest, and Iran remained a staunch Cold War ally of the West.Regarding US policy as it developed towards Iran in the early 1950s, the book portrays it as having been variously driven by the fear of annoying the British, an attempt to be an honest broker, or an effort to stop the spread of Communism.The fact, stated at the end of the book, that US companies were granted the majority of the oil concessions from the Shah's government after the coup, does not feature significantly in the earlier part of the narrative.
Stephen Kinzer1953 Iranian coup d'étatJohn Wiley & SonsjournalistCentral Intelligence AgencyMohammed MossadeghKermit RooseveltroyalistsMohammad Reza PahlaviReza ShahAnglo-Persian Oil CompanyWorld War IIInvasion of IranMohammad Reza Shahdemocratically electedthe Haguedid not have jurisdictionPersian GulfStrait of HormuzMohammad MosaddeghSoviet UnionEisenhower administrationWinston ChurchillCold WarWayback MachineC-SPAN