Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T02:45:06.337Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Analysis of Radio Propaganda in the 1953 Iran Coup

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Mervyn Roberts
Mervyn Roberts*
Affiliation:
History at the University of North Texas-Denton
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In 1953, the United States assisted in a coup that removed Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq from office. Analysis of radio broadcasts during and after the coup provides a window for scrutinizing the event and understanding the motivations of all sides. The United States monitoring agency, the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), snatched these ephemeral broadcasts from the ether for posterity. This study expands the coup narrative based on these broadcasts. An analysis of the transcripts suggests that assertions that the Central Intelligence Agency's covert propaganda program resulted in the coup's success are an oversimplification. On the contrary, the effect of both Mosaddeq's and the Tudeh party's actions unwittingly legitimized the coup-plotters' propaganda in the weeks prior to the coup and contributed more to the success of the coup.

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 45 , Issue 6 , November 2012 , pp. 759 - 777
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Iranian Studies 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Poulson, Stephen C., Social Movements in Twentieth-Century Iran (Lanham, MD, 2005), 164Google Scholar.

2 Kalev Leetaru, The Scope of FBIS and BBC Open-Source Media Coverage, 1979–2008, https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/volume-54-number-1/PDFs-Vol.-54-No.1/U-%20Studies%2054no1-FBIS-BBC-Coverage-Web.pdf (accessed 12 December 2011).

3 Brands, H.W., Inside the Cold War: Loy Henderson and the Rise of the American Empire, 1918–1961 (Oxford, 1991), 235Google Scholar.

4 Gasiorowski, Mark, “The 1953 Coup d'Etat Against Mosaddeq,” in Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran (Syracuse, NY, 2004), 227–60Google Scholar.

5 Donald Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, November 1952–August 1953 (Washington, DC, March 1954), 1, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/index.html (accessed 1 May 2011).

6 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 3.

7 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 9.

8 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, Appendix A: 7, 12–13.

9 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, Appendix B: 22.

10 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, Appendix B: 20–24.

11 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 12–17.

12 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, x.

13 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, Appendix B: 16.

14 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, Appendix B: 17.

15 Memo extract concerning Clandestine Radio Azarbaijan (presumably ADS), http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB78/propaganda%20100.pdf (accessed 1 May 2011).

16 “Probable Developments in Iran through 1953, National Intelligence Estimate 75,” 6, http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/document 0000014050 (accessed10 March 2011).

17 Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), Daily Report, vol. 127–47 (Washington, DC, 1953), 1 July 1953, CC-8-11.

18 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-2.

19 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-1,4.

20 FBIS, Daily Report, 7 July 1953, CC-2.

21 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-2.

22 FBIS, Daily Report.

23 FBIS, Daily Report,, 8 July 1953, CC-5,6.

24 US Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), Iran, vol. X, 1952–1954 (Washington, DC, 1989)Google Scholar, The Chargé in Iran (Mattison) to the Department of State, 12 Aug 1953, 742; FBIS, Daily Report, 9 July 1953, QQ-1.

25 FBIS, Daily Report, 9 July 1953, QQ-2.

26 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-3.

27 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, ix.

28 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 127–47, 10 July 1953, QQ-4.

29 FBIS, Daily Report, 14 July 1953, QQ-6.

30 FBIS, Daily Report, 13 July 1953, QQ-3.

31 FBIS, Daily Report, 13 July 1953, QQ-2.

32 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-3.

33 FBIS, Daily Report, 15 July 1953, QQ-2-4.

34 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 127–47, 17 July 1953, QQ-1,3.

35 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-3.

36 FBIS, Daily Report, 16 July 1953, QQ-4.

37 FBIS, Daily Report, 20 July 1953, QQ-2.

38 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, Appendix B: 13.

39 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 127–47, 21 July 1953, QQ-5.

40 “Tudeh Party Weekly Instructions,” http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_0001380958/DOC_0001380958.pdf (accessed 1 May 2011), 1.

41 “Tudeh Party Weekly Instructions,” 3.

42 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 127–47, 10 July 1953, CC-12.

43 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 127–47, 27 July 1953, QQ-2.

44 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-2.

45 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-2.

46 FBIS, Daily Report, 28 July 1953, QQ-1.

47 FBIS, Daily Report, 30 July 1953, QQ-1

48 FBIS, Daily Report, 31 July 1953, QQ-1.

49 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-2.

50 Steven A. Koch, “Zendebad Shah!” The Central Intelligence Agency and the Fall of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq, August 1953, CIA History Office (Washington, DC, June 1998), http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/index.html (accessed 1 May 2011).

51 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 148–70, 3 August 1953, QQ-1.

52 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-2, 4.

53 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 148–70, 4 August 1953, QQ-2.

54 FBIS, Daily Report, 5 August 1953, QQ-1.

55 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-3.

56 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-3

57 FBIS, Daily Report, 7 August 1953, QQ-2.

58 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-1.

59 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-3.

60 FBIS, Daily Report, 10 August 1953, QQ-5.

61 FBIS, Daily Report, 7 August 1953, QQ-1.

62 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-1.

63 FBIS, Daily Report, 10 August 1953, QQ-2.

64 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 148-170, 10 August 1953, QQ-3.

65 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-3.

66 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-1.

67 FRUS, Iran, The Chargé in Iran (Mattison) to the Department of State, 12 Aug 1953, 742.

68 FRUS, Iran.

69 FRUS, Iran.

70 FRUS, Iran, 742–44.

71 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 148–70, 12 August 1953, QQ-1.

72 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-1.

73 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 148–70, 12 August 1953, QQ-4.

74 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 39.

75 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 148–70, 13 August 1953, CC-1.

76 FBIS, Daily Report, CC-1.

77 FBIS, Daily Report, CC-2.

78 FBIS, Daily Report, 14 August 1953, QQ-4.

79 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-1.

80 FBIS, Daily Report, 13 August 1953, QQ-3.

81 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-1.

82 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-2.

83 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 148–70, 14 August 1953, CC-3.

84 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, x.

85 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 148–70, 17 August 1953, QQ-2.

86 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-3.

87 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 48.

88 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 148–70, 17 August 1953, QQ-7.

89 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-8.

90 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-9.

91 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-10, 12.

92 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-11.

93 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-11.

94 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 56.

95 FRUS, Iran, The Ambassador in Iraq (Berry) to the Department of State, 17 Aug 1953, 747.

96 FRUS, Iran, The Chargé in Iran (Mattison) to the Department of State, 17 Aug 1953, 737.

97 FRUS, Iran, The Chargé in Iran.

98 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 45.

99 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 148–70, 18 August 1953, QQ-7.

100 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 57.

101 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 66.

102 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 59.

103 Brands, Inside the Cold War, 283–84.

104 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 148–70, 18 August 1953, QQ-1.

105 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-2.

106 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 65.

107 FRUS, Iran, The Ambassador in Iran (Henderson) to the Department of State, 20 Aug 1953, 752–55.

108 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 59.

109 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 66.

110 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 68.

111 FRUS, Iran, The Ambassador in Iran (Henderson) to the Department of State, 20 Aug 1953, 754.

112 Koch, “Zendebad Shah!”, 63.

113 Poulson, Social Movements in Twentieth-Century Iran, 71.

114 Koch, “Zendebad Shah!”, 66, 68.

115 FRUS, Iran, The Ambassador in Iran (Henderson) to the Department of State, 20 Aug 1953, 752–55.

116 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 148–70, 19 August 1953, QQ-1.

117 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 71.

118 Koch, “Zendebad Shah!”, n.p.

119 FRUS, Iran, The Ambassador in Iran (Henderson) to the Department of State, 20 August 1953, 754.

120 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 148–70, 19 August 1953, QQ-2.

121 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-3.

122 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-3.

123 Hakimeh Saghaye-Biria, “United States Propaganda in Iran: 1951–1953” (master's thesis, Louisiana State University, 2009), 69.

124 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 148–70, 19 August 1953, QQ-4.

125 FBIS, Daily Report, QQ-5.

126 FBIS, Daily Report, vol. 148–70, 20 August 1953, QQ-9.

127 FBIS, Daily Report, AA-13.

128 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 62.

129 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 60.

130 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 62.

131 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 85.

132 Wilber, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, 86.

133 Behrooz, Maziar, “The 1953 Coup in Iran and the Legacy of the Tudeh,” in Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran (Syracuse, NY, 2004), 120, 306Google Scholar.