Two Parties, One Coup · Episode 4 of 6 · 19 min
How Oil Money Built the Shah's Secret Police
The coup brought Western oil companies about half of Iran's oil, the Shah absolute power, and Iran the secret police SAVAK. Mosaddegh was jailed and then held under house arrest until he died in 1967. Once the Shah was installed, support for him became bipartisan, as Republican and Democratic presidents alike treated him as a Cold War ally.
Who's who
- Mohammad Reza Pahlavi+8 more episodesYoung Shah of Iran, pressured to sign decrees against Mosaddegh
- Mohammad Mosaddegh+6 more episodesDemocratically elected prime minister of Iran who nationalized its oil
- Dwight D. Eisenhower+12 more episodesRepublican president whose administration backed the restored Shah
- John F. Kennedy+4 more episodesDemocratic president who continued support for the Shah
- Lyndon B. Johnson+7 more episodesDemocratic president who continued support for the Shah
- Richard Nixon+15 more episodesRepublican president who treated the Shah as a regional pillar
Where it happens
- Tehran, Iran+7 more episodesSeat of the Shah's consolidated rule and of SAVAK
- Iran+1 more episodeCountry whose oil production the Consortium divided among Western firms
Timeline
- 1953-1956The Shah returns and consolidates power; Mosaddegh is tried for treason and jailed for three years.
- 1954The Consortium Agreement replaces the British monopoly with British, American and European companies.
- 1957The Shah's government creates SAVAK, the secret police, with U.S. and Israeli help.
- 1967Mosaddegh dies while still under house arrest.
Still debated
The episode's through-line is that the post-1953 embrace of the Shah was bipartisan, so neither party can be described as uniformly for or against intervention across the whole era.
Connected episodes in other series
Operation Ajax: How the CIA Overthrew Iran's Mosaddegh in 1953Iran & America: A Century and Counting · Episode 2Also features Dwight D. Eisenhower, Mohammad Mosaddegh
How White Evangelicals Moved From Democrat to RepublicanA Wall of Separation · Episode 7Also features Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon
The Wet NASA: The Birth of NOAA (1970)Storm Warning: America's Earth Science · Episode 3Also features Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon
The Infinite Dividend: The WPA's Legacy and the 2025 Funding FightThe Infinite Dividend: The WPA · Episode 13Also features Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson