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Live Webcast/Book Launch--<i>Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran</i>

Editors Mark J. Gasiorowski and Malcolm Byrne will present findings from their recent collaboration Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran. The book examines the turbulent political climate that prevailed in Iran during Mosaddeq's tenure, the strategic considerations that led U.S. officials to opt for a coup, and the details of the coup itself. Based on exhaustive research, this is an authoritative account of the tragic events that led to the overthrow of Mosaddeq, including recent declassification of CIA documents regarding the 1953 coup that overthrew Mohammad Mossadeq's government in Iran.

Date & Time

Thursday
Jun. 17, 2004
4:00pm – 5:30pm ET

Overview

This event will be webcast live (audio only). To listen to the webcast, follow the links in the See Also box to the right of this screen.

About the authors

Malcolm Byrne is Deputy Director & Research Director of the George Washington University-based National Security Archive, where he runs the U.S.-Iran relations project. He is co-editor of The Iran-Contra Scandal: The Declassified History (The New Press, 1993) and The Chronology (Warner Books, 1987), among other publications.

Mark J. Gasiorowski is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Louisiana State University. He has also been a Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Law and Political Science of the University of Tehran. He is the author of U.S. Foreign Policy and the Shah (Cornell University Press, 1991), the co-editor (with Nikki Keddie) of Neither East Nor West: Iran, The Soviet Union, and the United States (Yale University Press, 1990), and the author of many articles on Iranian politics and democracy in the Third World.

From the publisher

Mohammad Mosaddeq is widely regarded as the leading champion of secular democracy and resistance to foreign domination in Iran's modern history. Mosaddeq became prime minister of Iran in May 1951 and promptly nationalized its British-controlled oil industry, initiating a bitter confrontation between Iraq and Britain that increasingly undermined Mossaddeq's position. He was finally overthrown in August 1953 in a coup d'itat that was organized and led by the United States? Central Intelligence Agency. This coup initiated a twenty-five-year period of dictatorship in Iran, leaving many Iranians resentful of the U.S. legacies that still haunt relations between the two countries today.

Contents include:

"Mosaddeq's Government in Iranian History: Arbitrary Rule, Democracy, and the 1953 Coup" - Homa Katouzian

"Unseating Mosaddeq: The Configuration and Role of Domestic Forces" - Fakhreddin Azimi

"The 1953 Coup in Iran and the Legacy of the Tudeh" - Maziar Behrooz

"Great Britain and the Intervention in Iran, 1953" - Wm. Roger Louis

"The International Boycott of Iranian Oil and the Anti-Mossaddeq Coup of 1953" - Mary Ann Heiss

"The Road to Intervention: Factors Influencing U.S. Policy Toward Iran, 1945-1953" - Malcolm Byrne

"The 1953 Coup d'Itat Against Mosaddeq" - Mark J. Gasiorowski

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Cold War International History Project

The Cold War International History Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War. Through an award winning Digital Archive, the Project allows scholars, journalists, students, and the interested public to reassess the Cold War and its many contemporary legacies. It is part of the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program.  Read more

Middle East Program

The Wilson Center’s Middle East Program serves as a crucial resource for the policymaking community and beyond, providing analyses and research that helps inform US foreign policymaking, stimulates public debate, and expands knowledge about issues in the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.  Read more

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