From Professor’s Classroom:
Most Americans think that the history of Iran and the US began in 1979….a popular misconception.
To help educate my reader on the country of Iran we need to step into the “way back” machine and travel to the year of 1951.
In that year, one Mohammad Mossadeq was elected prime minister of Iran…the key word in that sentence is “elected”. This year is at the height of the Cold War where commies were everywhere. Mossadeq was elected by the Iranian people to lead the country…he was a moderate and was to lead a popular form of Iranian nationalism. This form of nationalism was festering a hatred for the US Soon after his election Mossadeq lead the vote in the Iranian parliament to nationalize the oil industry. And then the Anglo-Iranian Oil Comapny was shut down. Not a good move and prompted the CIA to come up with a plan to replace Mossadeq.
In 1953, the Shah, who at this time was nothing more than a simple figure head removed Mossadeq from power with the help of his American “friends”. Thus the Shah came to power simply because he was pro-western and an anti-nationalist and was the choice of the CIA as their man in Tehran.
Once the Shah became the favorite son he began to consolidate his power and influence until he became the despot that was overthrown in 1979. The Shah retained power because of his willingness to take orders from the CIA and oil interests and his willingness to shed Iranian blood to keep opposition down. The US reaped a bunch of a willing ally in the region to help fight the advance of communism.
In the 1960’s, the Shah was depending exclusively on the US to keep him in power.
In 1979, after 26 years of oppression from the Shah, the Iranian people had had enough. They started having those darn pesky nationalistic thoughts once again and the US was the best known enemy of the people. Why? The US was allowing their man in Tehran to rule with an iron hand and every time there was bloodshed it was the fault of the US, at least that is rhetoric of the time.
Enter a little known mullah exiled in France. And the rest is history, as they say….whoever “they” are.