August 18, 1952 — U.S. Editorial
| Arash Norouzi The Mossadegh Project | February 13, 2024 |
Let us unearth a stunningly ignorant artifact from the Cold War about Iran. So dishonest it’s nauseating, it reads like CIA propaganda and perhaps it was.
The piece, which was not syndicated material, ran in the editorial section of newspapers across the U.S. in August 1952. As if the original was not rotten enough, one Virginia paper made their own (even more extreme) additions. Those portions have been highlighted below.
Mossadegh Wants Money
Perhaps the most anti-American spot on earth today, with the exception of North Korea, is the dictatorship of Iran. Premier Mohammed Mossadegh has repeatedly sneered at the United States. His hoodlums and goon squads have assaulted Americans, stoned our newsmen, jeered our diplomats and hindered the Iran-helping American workers filling the aims of point-four aid. Still ringing in the ears of our people is the command, “Yankee go home!”
Mossadegh himself has bullied his representative bodies into making him the most powerful despot outside the iron curtain. Full of confidence and empty of scruples, he has hounded the pro-American opposition into hiding, confiscated their property and forced them to stand trial on fake charges.
After all this, according to the semi-official Iranian newspaper, Bakhtar Emrouz, Mossadegh has unhesitatingly asked the despised United States for a $50,000,000 loan. He knows Iran cannot survive without the revenue formerly earned from the Anglo-Iranian Oil company, unless he can get the money, quick, from somewhere.
Although he threatened to ask Russia for help, apparently his sense of expediency told him the best place to get money, with no strings attached, was in the United States. Thus we have this tyrant knocking at our door. It is doubtful whether giving a loan would soften his contempt. It would probably bring more insults and more threats.
Most Americans would doubtless advise to let him dicker with Anglo-Iranian Oil again and eat crow if necessary. His shrewd move in taking from the rich to aid the poor may get those helped on his side for the moment. But it is dubious as yet how much it will mean in the long run.
Newspapers who ran this editorial under their masthead included:
The Record-Argus (Greenville, Pennsylvania), August 18, 1952
The Daily Herald (Provo, Utah), August 19, 1952
The Oneonta Star (Oneonta, New York), August 19, 1952
The Corsicana Daily Sun (Corsicana, Texas), August 21, 1952 (lead editorial, title: Mossy Wants Money)
The Daily Record (Long Branch, New Jersey), August 26, 1952
August 18, 1952 (lead editorial)
Mossadegh Wants Money
Perhaps the most anti-American spot on earth today, with the exception of Russia and North Korea is the dictatorship of Iran, which is the old Kingdom of Persia. Premier Mohammed Mossadegh has repeatedly sneered at the United States and makes no secret of his contempt for this country and its people. His hoodlums and goon squads have assaulted Americans, stoned our newsmen, jeered our diplomats and hindered the Iran-helping American workers who are filling the aims of “point-four” aid. Still ringing in the ears of our people is the command, “Yankee go home!”
Well, why don’t we? Mossadegh himself has bullied his representative bodies into making him the most powerful despot outside the Iron Curtain. Full of confidence and empty of scruples, he has hounded the pro-American opposition into hiding, confiscated their property and forced them to stand trial on faked charges. Why should we try to cram our money down the throats of such a monster and those of his blind and foolish followers? He wants the money all right, but he wants it on his own terms, and he wants us to get out of Iran and stay out of it. And again we ask, “Why don’t we?”
After all this contemptuous treatment of Americans abroad, according to the semi-official Iranian newspaper, Bakhtar Emrouz, Mossadegh has unhesitatingiy asked the despised United States for a $50,000,000 loan. He knows Iran cannot survive without the revenue formerly earned from the Anglo-Iranian Oil company, unless he can get the money, quick, from somewhere. And since our government is the only sucker government loose in the world today, he doesn’t mind taking a few million dollars from us. So he passes up his plate with the rest of the “point four” countries for a loan which he never expects to pay back.
Mossadegh has repeatedly threatened to ask Russia for help, but he never gets around to the point of doing it. Apparently his sense of expediency tells him the beat place to get money with no strings attached is in the United States. He probably knows that he would have to pawn his skin and all the gold-filled teeth in Iran if he dealt with Soviet Russia. And after the loan — if he ever got one — he would be taking his orders from Moscow. And the Russians would not lease the Iranian oil wells at a neat profit to Iran, as the British did. They would just take over the oil properties.
Most Americans would doubtless advise to let him dicker with Anglo-Iranian Oil again and eat crow if necessary. His country had a good thing and didn’t know it. So they seized and nationalized the oil industry and told the British to get out. Now they can’t operate the wells, because they lack both money and skill, and it is exceedingly doubtful if Russia could furnish the tanks for transportation and market the oil satisfactorily. Fifty million dollars wouldn’t go far in rehabilitating Iranian Oil. But it would line the pockets of Mossadegh and his friends very neatly.
Related links:
We Need a Good Policy in Iran | Dorothy Thompson, Aug. 1, 1952
Paradoxical Mossadeq Won Over Persians | Philip Toynbee (Oct. 1951)
Iranian Scramble | The Michigan Daily, Jan. 10, 1952
MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”
