The first part of the issue spotlight in understand to cus on the 1953 coup. It led to muhammad mosedai. He was succeeded by the shah. In his book qull at the shahs man Stephen Kinser explores the u. S. Iran relationship today. This took place in 2003. [applause] thank you. Its great to be here in oak park. Not just being here in the library. We actually did do a good deal of research for this book. But also being in the hometown of earnest hemingway for a writer cannot fail to stir some emotion. I actually live only about two blocks from the home in which Ernest Hemingway where he was in high school and did his first writing. Im hoping that some of the karma will blow over towards my side of the block. The readers have to be the judge whether or not any of that succeeded. I doubt that hemingway found a story that was as exciting as the one that i uncovered and tried to put together while writing this book. It was just 50 years ago in august of 1953 that the c. I. A. Overthrew a government for the first time. That was the democratically elected government of muhammad mozadek. The Prime Minister of iran. Now that episode was hardly noticed in the world press and certainly the involvement of the United States the truth of what really happened was completely unknown at that time. At the time this coup was launched it seemed like a success in the United States. We had gotten rid of someone we didnt like and put in someone we did like for 25 years the period that the shah was in power, we could still from the perspective of the u. S. Government consider this to be a success. Its only now looking back on it from the perspective of 50 years of history that we can begin to understand what fundamental turning point this 1953 coup was. This was an episode that really shaped the whole second half of the 20th century. And had a great influence on the violent currents that are racing through the world today. It would not have been possible to realize this even a few years ago. Its only now that were able to understand the meaning of this episode and for that reason it teaches us a real object lesson in the longterm consequences of foreign intervention. This isnt just a story about foreign policy. This is a wild spy story in which a reallife james bond set out almost single handedly to overthrow the government of a foreign country. The cast of characters is truly amazing. And one of the things that i had the most fun doing in writing this book was piecing together all the different accounts and the different interviews and the different mentions and various books and articles that had been made of this episode and try to reconstruct almost on an hour by hour basis what happened during those days and nights in august of 1953. I had always asked myself how one actually does go about overthrowing a government. If you have the sign. To go into a foreign country and overly to the government . What do you do . What do you do on the first day . Then what do you do on the second day . Now i know. In fact, im available for consulting. [laughter] let me talk first about why this coup took place. Then i want to talk a little bit about how it happened. And finally a look back on it from the perspective of today. A long the way i want to try to introduce to you to some of these larger than life characters who populate this fascinating drama. In the years after world war ii in the late 40s and early 50s. , the currents of anticolonialism were sweeping through africa and asia and latin america. And now in iran nationalism had one meaning. Independent meant the desire of iranians to retake control over their own oil resources. Iran sits on one of the greatest seas of petroleum in the world. It was very early in the 20th century that a small group of visionary british politicians led by the Young Winston churchill who was at that time first lord of the admirality realized that oil was going to be the key to domination in the 20th century. Winston churchill saw world war i on the horizon. He knew that he was going to have to transform his ships from coal fired to oil fire. He knew that the country that controlled oil would have the decisive advantage in the coming war and that it would also have the ability to dominate the world after the war. But britain does not produce any oil nor did britain have nicole nis that produced any colonys that produced oil. This led officials to concentrate great attention on this problem. It was in iran that they managed to seize control of a huge newly discovered oil resource. The british did this by bribing the three iranian negotiators at the table. They signed a fantasticically lucrative agreement which gave them 100 monopoly on all of the production extraction refining and sale of iranian oil. In exchange for this they were to pay iran 16 of the profit. These profits were calculated after the company had paid a huge tax to the British Government and since the company was owned principally by the British Government this was essentially paying taxes to the company itself. So even when the iranians asked to see the books as to how the 16 of what was remaining calculated they were not allowed to do that. So naturally during the period of the late 40s and early 50s as iranians became more and more aware of this injustice of this arrangement, seeing the british at the peak of world power while iranians lived in some of the worst conditions in the world their resentment continued to grow. Winston churchill knew exactly what he was getting when he signed this very unequal agreement. He called iranian oil a prize from fairy land beyond our wildest dream. It was that oil that maintained britain at a High Standard of living all during the 1930s, and 1940s. Iran started to change with bitterness. It was this bitterness that propeled to power Muhammad Mosad ek. He shook the world in the middle of the 20th century. In 1951 Time Magazine chose him as the man of the year. They chose him over winston churchill, harry truman, and dwritheines hour dwight eisenhower. And they were correct because he had a greater influence than any of the other men. He rose to power at a time when he was advanced in aged. He had been educated in europe. He was the first iranian to have a doctor of law at a european university. He came from a royal family. He was known as highly incorruptible. He never accepted a salary from the government. His political platform had two planks. One was democracy which meant in iran that the shah should rule as a figurehead National Symbol while political power would be exercised by the elected parliament and Prime Minister. The second plank was nationalism. And that meant nationalism the angelo Iranian Oil Company which had been for years making valuable profit by sucking out irans most valuable resource. On the day that he was elected before accepting the honor, he made a condition that the parliament should vote for the bill that he had prepared nationalizing the british oil company. The parliament did so unanimously. He rode on to power on a huge wave of popularity. It was based on the consensus that he would be the one who would carry out this transcendent act of nationalizing the british oil company. Now besides being a visionary nationalist most of that was a highly unusual personality. He was extremely emotional. He would break down into tears literally on the floor of the parliament while giving speeches about the suffering of iranians. Sometimes he would even fake dead away from the strain. On occasion he was known to wink at the doctor from the floor. He had a great sense of political theater. And although he had many physical ailments, all during the period i was writing this book, i was never really able to tell where the physical ailments ended and where the psycho somatic ones began. He used to receive diplomats in his pajamas. These were used in the west to ridicule mosadek and immediate him seem like an unserious person. But actually in iran y shiite practices have sent people on public displays of emotion, this only happened to endear him even more. He seemed to suffer with them even as he was chastising them. Mosadek offered the british the chance to carry out the nationalization of the oil company according to british law. If you can remember in the late 1940s and 1950s the british were nationalizing their own industry. They were nationalizing the coal and the railway industry. They had a very elaborate system to develop who has to compensate who. So lets just put it in front of what is your tribunal and well decide who owes who money. The man of the oil company was abstinent. The friends of the oil company in iran had by urging the oil company to avert this crisis and compromise. The american con sorshume consortium reached a deal with saudi arabia and they gave saudi arabia a 5050 split. This was an agreement that had the air of fairness that a common person could understand. And many of the probritish people who iran heard angelo iranians to make this concession. The chairman of the company flatly refused. And simply said when they need more money they will come crawling to us on their belly. Now, how did the british react to the unanimous vote of the iranian parliament, carrying out the nationalization of their oil company. This oil company bare in mind was the largest British Commercial enterprise in the whole world. Its principle asset, the refinery was the largest one in the world. This was not outpost of the british empire. This was an operation that was central to british political, social and military power. The first british reaction was disbelief. They thought mosadek was just trying to blackmail them for a few million. That became not true. It became quickly clear. When it was clear, they decided that as they had been conditioned to do. They would simply invade iran. I actually discovered two invasion plans. One plan to take over all of iran and a more limited one just to take over the oil field and the refinery at abadan. When harry truman heard about this he went nuts. He told the british this is absolutely out of the question. The americans could never tolerate britain landing troops in iran. Then the british decided they would bring the matter to the Security Council. Americans warned them not to do this. If your case comes forward and the iranian case comes forward youre not going to look good in this. But theyre dismiss ogt. They believe that they had been robbed of an oil company and everyone would understand this. Well, back in tehran, mosadek love the idea of the whole thing take on the the u. N. He decided he personally would fly to new york and present the iranian case. When he got to new york he called a media sensation. It was sort of an excentric figure. While headed with enormous arms, a very big nose. One of his american translators says he makes jimmy duranti look like an amputee. He gave a lot of speeches on american tv comparing the nationalization of the oil company to the american revolution. He seemed very much like youre very endearing mildly excentric uncle. He made a huge impression at the Security Council. Bear in mind that this was more or less the first time that the voice of a poor country has been raised in such a setting. Challenging the rule of law in the world. He made such an impression that the Security Council refused to accept the resolution. It was the first debate in the history of the u. N. After the triumph mosadek was invited by president truman to gom to washington to negotiate and consider the compromises. The scene arriving at the train station in washington is a wonderful example of the way mosadek carried himself. He seemed completely unable to move or even speak. So it was as he was carried off at the train on union station. He was leaning heavily as a train. And hi son who was a doctor. Essential lip carrying him on his left side. Gingerly he was able to raise his head a bit. And he looked down on the plat fomplet an official delegation had come to me. And who was at the owned of the the end of the day it was the president of the United States. He was so thrilled to see him. He pushed his son aside. Threw his cane on to the railroad tracks. Marl lee embraced me. [laughter] during this day in washington no compromise is able to be reached. The british after their defeat of the United States have resolved that the last resort was to stage a coup and overthrow mosadek. They othered them to begin to make a coup. And most of the deck caught wind of this. He heard of what was going on. And he did the only thing he could have done. To protect himself. He closed the british industry and he sent all the british democrats home. Among them were all of the secret agents who were planning to they had no diplomatic tools left. Even the world tool had thrown out their case. They had no agents on the ground to stage a coup. The only thing left to them was to afeel america. And Prime Minister then 77 years old and starting to fade but still a read product of the immaterial long time lover of clandestine operation. Appeared directry to president truman. Truman resisted all of churchhills pressure. Help eventually told him, the c. I. A. Has never yor thrown a government before. We dont want to get into this. We dont understand. Were not going to interview in his Political Development withoutinessing it. Scombr in one of this diary interests he was afraid american gus tapo to dwhribe he fears the c. I. A. Could finish. They had no tools to go get it out back. And the americans wouldnt help them. The story might have ebbed there had it not been for the election of 1952 in that election, was elected. And brought with me a team that has during the campaign denounced the incumbent Truman Administration. Communism an other secret d threats abroad. News electrified the plilt Foreign Office and the British Secret service. They were so excited. They that couldnt gevene even wait for august making their appeal again. Two weeks after the election, the british sent one of their top agents, actually a guy who hat been the chief of the in tehran before most of that closed. His job was is to present the new plan with the houp and see if they can suggest them that the Truman Administration has rejected. No, the agent who is came to make this abiel later i wrote. And in this memoir he mentions this police. And this is what he writes as i paraphrase it. I knew that our traditional argument would not move america. Our traditional government, is please dont overthrow him before we can have our company back. This would not have a move. I knew i needed a different argets. And i know what argument he used. Most of the deck is a possibility of a communist takeover. Thats the one that this agent used. The dulles brother secretary of state and his brother allen but the inwoman canning c. I. A. Director jumped at that argument. Before even allowing that british agent to go home. More than two months before the inauguration theyve given him an informal time that the United States would not change its policies. President and all the other members of administration who had a voice in these matters. Agree. In planning but alone on the ground in iran. Now as i said earl yes i reinstructed in great deal deal everything that happens in iran. I dont want to go through all the details now. The c. I. A. Has one of the most prepid agent. To sneak into iran in late july 1953 and began organizing the koup. First of all, he would be bribing columnists an rorpter who is write all sorts of dough familiar mary lines about most of the top on the history. Members of parliament and leaders of Political Party that were part of his edition so they would quit the dem police. He began bribing mullet so that at friday prayers in the month people would hear that because hes being eants religious against the islamic state. Very they began bribing mid ranking military officers. So they would be ready for their unit to join the yg. One of the most Brilliant Ideas that he has so upheaval on streets of tehran. We got into the mobs are us business. He was able to recruit several street gang laiders. Inl in tehran. In tehran. He ran a protection in the vegetable market. Looking to win a few extra bucks or reals at the time. He said id like you to get several hundred men and i want them to rampage through the treats of tehran. I want you to smash windows, fire theyre guns and mine. And shout we love long live peoples republic of iran. Then in the further inspiration rosa hired another mom to attack this mom thereby giving the expressions the treats were in case out. They lost complete control of their situation. During this time he was sneaking into the palace at midnight. Concealed arent and secure his participation in the coup. The shah at that time was a very meek and cowardly. Was terrified anything that might endanger him. Given the power of the u. S. And britain he really had no choice in the end. I had to use had to use a lot of pressure. None of them was general swars cop of. General swars cough has been a very flamboyant figure when the shah was a great young man. Their meeting was amazing, the state department had given him a mission of visiting installations in the region so that his visit to iran wouldnt yrouse suspicion. He immediately figured out what was up and printed a story denouncing i. He waited to meet with the shah in the palace but the shaw was terrified of microphones that he wouldnt say a word and he jus guess chured. He pulled away from the wall at the palace. He pulled it out in the mid to feel room presumably furthest possible away from microphones. He climbed up on the chair. He gestured to general swars koch who sat down at that table. Through these and a series of other pressures the shaw was finally brought onboard and his job was to sign a degree decree signing him into office. Only the particlement has the right to hire an fire the Prime Minister. The order to the officer who was to order this decree was when he resist you arrest him. And we proclaim our own guy as the Prime Minister. The c. I. A. Had chosen the iranian officer as the designated savior of iran. What happened on the night of august 15th, 1953 the officer who had been chosen to deliver this decree came to mosadeks door and out of the shadows came other soldiers and they betrayed him. The officer who was supposed to arrest him was himself arrested. So now the coup had failed. The shah had signed this on the condition that he could leave tehran immediately. He wanted to be near an airport. He was a pilot himself. Sure enough at 6 00 a. M. The next morning when he heard that he was still in power he ran across the tarmac into his private plan with a little veliz, flew to baghdad and later on to rome where he was looking for work where he wasnt able to look for work any time soon. Back in tehran mosadek and the people around him assumed that the shah had been behind this coup. Now the sha was gone. So as far as they knew the danger was over. Mosadek didnt have an idea that these people existed and they were working intensely to overthrow him. I honestly think if he came back and a chance to read my book he would be shocked. He had no idea how involved that resulted in his overthrow. The c. I. A. In washington sent an urgent cable to Kermit Roosevelt telling him you better get out of there in a big hurry before they find out who you are and kill you. But they were not in moment to moment communication with langley or anywhere else. And Kermit Roosevelt, now having to ditch the plan that taken british and american spymasters weeks to draw up, give up with another plan of his own. After four more days of rioting and enunciations, he struck again. On august 19 1953, a fateful day that every iranian those my heart. The streets of iroan were full of protesters, many paid by roosevelt. Many joining in without realizing what was going on. There were gunbattles, as military units have been bribed. Government buildings were attacked. The climactic battle happened at night, in front of his house. Wonder people were killed in the battle alone. By midnight, his house was in flames. He has led, and the two had succeeded. A couple of days later, just before leaving ironic, he stopped in to meet the shop for one last time. This time, he was able to come sitting up wearing the suit instead of wearing a blanket. And the shah said this, having come back from rome, where he was sitting in a restaurant when he learned of the success of the second coup. I own my throne to god, by people, my army, and you. Which was exactly right. Although i think he may have reversed the order. Now, Kermit Roosevelt came back to washington to great acclaim. He gave a briefing at the white house. President eisenhower later denied in his memoir that this meeting ever took place. But he did take the metal. Roosevelt later wrote about the session in the white house. He said one member of my audience, secretary of state john foster dulles, had a wide grin on his face. He was purring like a giant cat. My instinct told me he was planning. Sure enough, a few weeks later he was called into his boss office, you did such a great job, we decided we dont like that kind on guatemala. Couldnt you go down there and do it again . Well, another group was found and less than a year after the elected government of iran was overthrown, the elected government of one of mullah was overthrown elected government of guatemala was overthrown. It left over 30 years. This sets the United States out in the direction of covert action and regime change. It was not inevitable that the cia would become an agency that was involved in overthrowing government and destabilizing countries. In fact, it became so only after the established policy set by president truman was reversed by the eisenhower administration. So much of history stemmed from those few weeks in tehran. Let me talk a bit about what i mean. As i said earlier, that coup could have been a consi dered success. The shah was in power and serve as a faithful ally of the United States. But lets look at it from the perspective of today. The shahs repressive regime shut off all political alternatives for anybody who was against dictatorship. The only place that had a principled opposition, and that was rooted in the masses, was the fundamentalist branch of islam. Fundamentalism began to attract people disillusioned with the possibility of change. The shahs repressive regime led to the explosion of the 1970s that we call the islamic revolution. It brought to power a group of fanatic antiamerican clerics who proceeded to launch a campaign of terror against american and other western targets. That regime also inspired fundamentalists in many other countries, including nextdoor afghanistan. Where the taliban came to power and gave sanctuary to Osama Bin Laden and al qaeda. This is why you can say it is not farfetched to draw a line from the 1953 coup in iran, through the dictatorship, through the islamic revolution, to al qaeda and the fireballs that engulfed the World Trade Center in new york. The world has paid a terrible price for the lack of democracy in the middle east. Why is there such a lack of democracy there . When the United States there are many reasons, of course. I was studying history in college, i was warned not to draw causeandeffect relationships. I hope my teacher is not in the room. [applause] we sent a message in 1953 that resounded through the middle east. The message was that the United States, which is the rising power to replace the fading british in this region, does not want to see the emergence of democratic government. We want stron