Walter Smith Quotes
We now have to take a whole new look at the Iranian situation and probably have to snuggle up to Mosaddegh if we’re going to save anything there.
Mohammad Mosaddegh had been elected Prime Minister of Iraq. However, he was left leaning in the midst of the Cold War and some of our policy strategists thought that he could hurt the U. S. interests which were large there. Iran had huge oil reserves and American and British companies were active in operating the oil drilling and export. The new Prime Minister was threatening the British with oil nationalization to get a larger share of the oil revenue. The Shah, with CIA support, fired Mosaddegh, but that backfired and the Shah had to flee the country. This was when Smith sent this note to President Eisenhower. We were prepared to try and work with Mosaddegh. However, our chief ally did not agree and wanted to oust Mosaddegh. At the request of the British MI6 intelligence service, the CIA implemented a “spontaneous” coup d’etat to overthrow the popularly elected Iranian President Mohammad Mosaddegh. This enabled the Shah to return and take over. Ironically, although he was anti-Communist, he threatened the American and British Oil Companies and forced them to “renegotiate” their contracts with Iran and pay the Shah more money. The Shah was very unpopular with Iranians, and over the years the Iranians who opposed the Shah, blamed the United States for the fact that Mosaddegh had been overthrown and the Shah returned to power. See {637008} and {637007}.
Walter Smith, 1895–1961, Chief of Staff to Eisenhower as Supreme Commander in Europe, Ambassador to the Soviet Union, General and Head of the Central Intelligence Agency, Under Secretary of State, Secret Note to President Dwight Eisenhower, 1954
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The poet was a close friend of Iranian Principal Leader Ali Khamenei. See {637008} for an example of the lasting effect of this coup.
This coup has been the biggest trauma for the Iranian people in the last centuries. The blowback from it, has soured relationships between America and Iran for decades. Khamenei personally was traumatized by the coup and publicly refers to it quite frequently. Ironically, reasons and policy logic for the CIA orchestration of the coup are even today murky. The desires of the British may well have been the main reason. “Arrogance” is the term Khamenei uses to describe the British-American alliance and their propensity to try and shape the affairs of other nations.
Walter Ferguson Smith OBE is a Scottish former football player, manager and director. He is primarily associated with his two spells as manager of Scottish club Rangers.
