Did The Shah Really Say This To Kermit Roosevelt?
| Arash Norouzi The Mossadegh Project | August 19, 2024 |
We are gathered here today to analyze and attempt to verify one of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s most famous quotes.
The line in question attributed to the Shah derives from the 1979 memoir of CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt, Jr., who in August 1953 helped topple the government of Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh on behalf of the Eisenhower administration.
The climax of Countercoup features the melodramatic scene where Roosevelt and the Shah meet for the first time since the victory of Operation AJAX. At midnight on August 23, Roosevelt arrived at the palace by invitation and was escorted to the second floor to see the Shah, who waved him inside as a courtesan supplied vodka and caviar. As Roosevelt told it:
“The first words he said were spoken gravely, solemnly. “I owe my throne to God, my people, my army—and to you!” He picked up his glass and raised it, as if in a toast, to me. I raised mine in return, and we both drank. Then he smiled broadly.”
What did the Shah mean? Or was this just another self-serving (if not contrived) anecdote from the old buckaroo?
Roosevelt certainly wanted people to know about the moment—he not only capped the book with the quote but opened with it in his Foreword. Here, on the very first page, is how he interpreted the Shah’s tribute:
“This book ends in triumph. The Shah, having made a “successful” flight in good Moslem tradition, returned a victor. Ardeshir Zahedi, later to be his son-in-law and later still ex-son-in-law, played a “successful” hero’s role. (Twice he served as Iranian Ambassador in Washington.) The United States and Great Britain lent “successful” support.
At the end of this true account, in the late summer of 1953, the Shah said to me truthfully, “I owe my throne to God, my people, my army—and to you!” By “you” he meant me and the two countries—Great Britain and the United States—I was representing. We were all heroes.”
Roosevelt’s inference that “you” included both the U.S. and British governments is noteworthy. For one, it indicates the Shah’s awareness of the surreptitious Anglo-American role in deposing Mossadegh. It’s also a reminder that Roosevelt did, in fact, share credit for the successful joint operation. He wasn’t claiming that the Shah singled him out alone for praise.
Roosevelt considered everyone involved in the demise of Mossadegh, along with himself, “heroes”. In this context, he named Ardeshir Zahedi, who was not only an active player in the coup, but the son of Gen. Fazlollah Zahedi, whom the Shah had appointed to replace Mossadegh. Despite CIA records confirming his participation, Zahedi himself denied this all his life, claiming the coup was nothing more than a spontaneous popular uprising.
We might also presume that the Shah had the CIA in general in mind, along with the State Department, the Foreign Office and MI6. He was also surely thinking of his Iranian compatriots — royalists, the military, perhaps even the clergy...basically any of his countrymen who rallied to his support. And, of course, the Almighty.
Conclusion
So let’s get down to the nitty gritty...did the Shah say this or didn’t he? Given that single source, we must rely completely on the credibility, in addition to the memory, of “Kim” Roosevelt, secret agent man.
While we may not expect this quotation to be 100% accurate in terms of its precise phrasing, what we are really looking to confirm is the basic substance of the words.
Kermit Roosevelt wasn’t the only American to meet secretly with the Shah the day after he arrived back in Tehran. The first official the Shah summoned, in fact, was U.S. Ambassador Loy Henderson.
Henderson was no bystander, either. As CIA records show, he was another important player in the coup.
One illustration of the relative parity between him and Roosevelt comes from the Shah’s own 1961 memoir, Mission For My Country. Describing the events of 28 Mordad and his decrees ordering the change of Premiers, the Shah stated that he had made “contingency plans with the help of my American friends, who in those days included Kermit Roosevelt of the C.I.A. and the U.S. Ambassador in Tehran, Lloyd [sic] Henderson.”
At 6:00pm on August 23, 1953, Amb. Henderson arrived for a secret rendezvous at the Shah’s palace. Among other things, they discussed the failure of the first coup attempt, once again confirming that the events were part of a conspiracy against Premier Mossadegh involving the royal court and foreign governments.
Back at the Embassy later that same evening, Henderson cabled Washington a top secret summary of their historic meeting, copied to the British. Henderson paraphrased the Shah’s emotional response thusly:
“He greeted me warmly and expressed deep appreciation of [the] friendship which [the] US had shown him and Iran during [this] period. I read [an] oral message from [the] President to which I had taken [the] liberty of adding [an] introductory paragraph as follows: “I congratulate you for the great moral courage which you displayed at a critical time in your country’s history. I am convinced that by your action you contributed much to the preservation of the independence and to the future prosperity of Iran.” The Shah wept as I read this message and asked me in reply to tell the President how grateful he was for [the] interest which [the] President and Government of US had shown in Iran. He would always feel deeply indebted for this proof of genuine friendship. [The] Miracle of saving Iran which had just been wrought was due to [the] friendship [of the] West, to [the] patriotism [of the] Iranian people and to [the] intermediation [of] God. It [was] impossible for him [to] believe so many factors could have contributed simultaneously to this salvation [of] his country unless Providence had so willed [it].”
This seals it. Henderson’s fresh recollection of the Shah’s sentiments, which preceded Kermit Roosevelt’s experience in both chronology and posterity, corroborates the claim in Countercoup.
Clearly, they were all in cahoots. Soon after the Shah landed in Iran to cheering crowds on Aug. 22, Roosevelt and Henderson conversed about the happy occasion at the U.S. Embassy. And when Roosevelt returned from his Aug. 23rd meeting with the Shah after 1:00am, Loy Henderson was still up waiting to reconvene with him. Kermit showed off the gold cigarette case the Shah had just gifted him. “It’s a beauty”, remarked Henderson, who offered to have the Shah engrave it with his name and the date at their next meeting.
While the Shah’s exact words and their order are unknowable, he basically echoed this same praise, or words to that effect, to both men. And although Roosevelt made it famous, the Shah actually said it to Henderson first—in tears.
If ever a movie were to be made depicting this scene, it should show the tearful Shah saying this message to Loy Henderson, rather than Roosevelt, for maximum dramatic effect. Apparently, by the time Roosevelt came by, the Shah was all cried out.
“I owe my throne to God, my people, my army—and to you!”
1. God
2. People
3. Army
4. U.S. and Britain
“The miracle of saving Iran which had just been wrought was due to the friendship of the West, to the patriotism of the Iranian people and to the intermediation of God.”
1. U.S. and Britain
2. People
3. God
Related links:
After 1953 Coup, Henderson Scorns Iranian Conspiracy Theorists
The Return of the Shah | The Times Record, August 24, 1953
CIA: Mossadegh Unlikely To Fall | Aug. 19, 1953 Draft Study
MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”
