John Foster Dulles Politics Against Iran - Research Paper Example

John Foster Dulles: relations with Iran John Foster Dulles was a Republican and served as the US Secretary for State during the years 1953 to 1959. He is renowned not only for his six years tenure as the Secretary but also for his participation in many events like the American Commission to Negotiate Peace (1918-1919). Best known for his shrewdness and grasp on foreign policy, Dulles is a major name in the politics staged between Iran and America during and after the Second World War. Being an anti-communist, Dulles sought to protect states that bordered the former USSR, and hence supported many conservative but pro-American political figures like Reza Shah Pahlavi in Iran. In the politics that ensued the Baghdad Pact of 1955, and the threats of losing office faced by Reza Shah by the then Prime Minster of Iran Mohammad Mossadegh, Dulles actively participated in the removal of the Prime Minster from office. Dulles opposed communism and his political policies revolve around thwarting the USSR. This paper explores John Foster Dulles political motives and his policies towards the Iranian Prime Minister, Mossadegh, and the one of the supporters of the US, Reza Shah of Iran. The more one learns about John Dulles, the more intricate his personality becomes (Divine, 2007). In the first part of the paper, Dulles political background is touched upon. The later part of the paper discusses the foreign policies of Dulles towards Iran. By researching on this topic, I have gained insight into the politics that surrounded the US and the Iran. Researching on this topic has helped me hone my reading skills and the ability to filter through data; it has also taught me how to extract useful and relevant information and shape it in an essay. Since this is an open-research question, I have learnt the technique about researching the general, and then zooming in to the picture and exploring more specific topics. Dulles political insight was enhanced by many events. It is necessary to know the background of his political career in order understand his politics against Iran. During the Eisenhower government, Dulles has performed many exceptional feats in the arena of foreign politics. His expertise on foreign policy was developed and promoted by exposure to politics from an early age. He was not the first one to pursue politics. One of his grandfathers had remained the Secretary for State during the administration of the US president Benjamin Harrison. Dulles uncle has also run the office of Secretary for State during the rule of the Woodrow Wilson, who was the President governing US during World War I. due to the influence of his family, he was involved in international developments from an early age (Kirby, 2008). Like his relatives, Dulles gained firsthand know-how of foreign affairs by being part of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace at Versailles in 1918. His political acumen was further enhanced by his representation in the San Francisco conference of 1945 as a legal advisor; the conference was the founding body of the United Nations (UN), therefore, Dulles played a part in the formation of the UN. Dulles was nominated as the acting chairman of the US delegation during the 1948 session of United Nations General Assembly. Dulles contribution to foreign policy of the US is not limited to these conferences. He had acted in the capacity of an advisor on a myriad of international visits after the Second World War and was also nominated by Harry S. Truman as a negotiator for peace in Japan that eventually led to the signing of the Japan Peace Treaty. Dulles is also attributed for negotiating peace pacts and treaties with countries of the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The 1953 Iranian coup d'état was a political rebellion to remove the Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh from power. It is also known as the 28 Mordad coup d'état. It took place on the 19th of August. The organization largely responsible for the overthrow was the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). John Dulles brother, Allen Welsh Dulles, was the Director of the CIA during the years 1953 to 1961. Both brothers conspired together to overthrow Mossadegh. The details of the operation were not made public. The reason for the removal of Mossadegh from power was that rumors were rife that the USSR would take over Iran. Both Eisenhower and John Dulles were against the communist regimes of USSR and sought out to protect democracies that were under the threat of communist rule of Moscow. With the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, Mossadegh was increasingly being seen as a disruptor of the democratic setup of Iran. The impracticality of a military invasion in Iran, coupled with the increasing tensions of the Korean War, necessitated immediate interventions in order to prevent the USSR from taking over. According to Dulles, Mossadegh was a madman and he decided to take care of that. The Director of Central Intelligence, Allen Dulles presided the operation and appointed Kermit Roosevelt as the head of the operation in the capital of Iran. Kermit Roosevelt was the grandson of Theodore Roosevelt. He was designated the job of the Special Activities Division political action officer to supervise the CIA operation in Iran. The operation was named as Operation Ajax. The operation devised the coup that led to the fall of the democratically-elected Prime Minister. The operation led the Shah of Iran to succeed Mossadegh. The politics behind the aforementioned Coup is complicated. In the late 1940s and the early 1950s, the Iranians were in favor of the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) since they were not paid enough wages and exploited. Despite the 1933 agreement with Reza Shah, the AIOC had not improved the wages and other benefits to its workers. The AIOC was owned by the British. In 1951, the Iranian parliament nationalized the AIOC and elected Mossadegh as the Prime Minister. Mossadegh was not particularly supportive of the nationalization, considering it as a path to Iran’s predicament. In his words, the Iranians had unearthed a treasure which was being guarded by a dragon. As a result of the nationalization, countries from all over the world refused to carry out any oil transactions with Iran. The British were infuriated by the nationalization and withdrew the AIOC from Iran. The US was not keen on being involved with Iran; however, they needed the support of British in the Korean War and so strived to negotiate the issue. Reza Shah had passed away by then, and had abdicated power to his son, the Shah of Iran, also known as Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Mossadegh tried his best to appease the British, trying to negotiate deals with them like a commission of one-quarter of the profits of the oil business. However the British did not fall for any of these deals. They wanted the AIOC to operate in Iran again, and were enraged at the impudence of Mossadegh to disobey them. The British put an economic blockade on Iran, which plunged the country into dire economic conditions. The economic cut-off was buttressed by the US government. This support was pronounced during the rule of Eisenhower. Winston Churchill promulgated the view that Mossadegh was a supporter of communism and was inching Iranian politics towards the USSR regime in an era where Cold War tensions were high. Therefore, the US and the British collectively started publicizing that Mossadegh’s policies were detrimental to the Iranian cause. In October 1952, Mossadegh officially cut off relations with the British. Later in the year, both the British government, under Churchill, and the US government, under Eisenhower, contrived a scheme to overthrow Mossadegh. Roosevelt simplified the scheme and got it approved by the Dulles brothers (Keddie & Richard, 2006). They appointed John Dulles as the head of the operation. Three months later, Dulles ratified US$1 million to overthrow Mossadegh. John Dulles was particularly against the government in Iran at that time. For him, Iran was the embodiment of everything that he disliked about politics. He disliked Iran for its unambiguous and indifferent approach to the Cold War, its partiality towards the USSR and its prohibition of the operation of free market, as illustrated by the nationalization of the AIOC. Therefore, he saw Mossadegh as a weird madman and launched an operation to oust him fro power. Both Dulles and Eisenhower made use if inflammatory rhetoric against the USSR (Tudda, 2006). The Operation Ajax was aimed at the expulsion of Mossadegh from power by the issuance of a decree by the Shah of Iran. The Shah was initially hesitant to proceed with such a huge coup; however he complied after much persuasion by the US and the British. Funding a campaign of black propaganda and corruption, both the American and the British intelligence agencies, along with the support of the Shah of Iran, were able to overthrow Mossadegh and establish the Fazlollah Zahedi as the ruler (Dube, Kaplan & Naidu, 2008). After Zahedi came into power, the AIOC was allowed to operate again in Iran, and its name changed to British Petroleum. Two years later, Zahedi was deposed by the Shah of Iran, and ruled on for the next 26 years. Moreover, the coup led the US to get 40% of the share in the British Petroleum. Soon afterwards, the Dulles brothers led a coup in Guatemala over agricultural rights. For many years, the US denied any claims of being involved in the Iranian Coup. However, the New York Times revealed a document that exposed the truth. In defense, the CIA agents stated that the conditions of Iran necessitated the Coup. In conclusion, Dulles was part of a conspiratorial coup in Iran. His rhetoric is imbued by the anxious Cold War mood of the American public during the 1950s (Harrell, Gaustad & Boles, 2005). He was head of the Operation Ajax that led to the ousting of the Iranian Prime Minister from power. His foreign policy shows his hatred for communism. Reference List Divine, R. A., 2007. John Foster Dulles: What You See Is What You Get. Diplomatic History, [Online]. 15 (2), Available at: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119992016/abstract [Accessed 2 June 2010]. Dube, A., Kaplan, E. & Naidu, S., 2008. Coups, corporations, and classified information. Law and Economics Workshop paper, [Online]. Available at: http://people.su.se/~ekapl/coups.pdf [Accessed 2 June 2010]. Harrell, D. E., Gaustad, E. S. & Boles, J. B., 2005. Unto a Good Land, Volume 2: A History of the American People: From 1865. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. Keddie, N. R. & Richard, Y., 2006. Modern Iran: roots and results of revolution. Yale University Press. Kirby, D., 2006. John Foster Dulles: moralism and anti-communism. Journal of Transatlantic Studies, [Online]. 6 (3), Available at: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a906424318&db=all [Accessed 2 June 2010]. Tudda, C., 2006. The truth is our weapon: the rhetorical diplomacy of Dwight D. Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles. Louisiana: LSU Press. Read More