Frank Lloyd Wrong
May 26, 1952 — The Buffalo Courier-Express
May 26, 1952 — The Buffalo Courier-Express
| The Mossadegh Project | September 29, 2015 |
The trouble with this 1952 Iran editorial from “Buffalo’s Best Newspaper” is that it’s based upon an unsubstantiated news item which we have never come across and cannot confirm — that Mossadegh announced his pending resignation within a month (tearfully, of course).
The rest of his alleged statements, including the quote attributed to him, are the first we’ve ever heard of them. So whether or not the Courier-Express were lying, the basis for their commentary appears to be simply untrue.
Architect of Disaster Has
Real Reason to Weep
His tears seem most appropriate. Premier Mossadegh’s stubborn stand on nationalizing Iran’s vast oil resources has reduced oil production and the resultant revenues to a trickle. Iran’s treasury is exhausted.
Having brought his country to this predicament, the premier now is going to quit. And he’s worried about a Communist threat, the threat that inevitably follows economic downfall. He’s afraid the Communists may sweep into power when he resigns. He says he has warned both Britain and the United States.
“They don’t seem to realize it,” he is quoted, “but it will be as great a disaster for them as for us.”
He ought to know. He’s not only an expert on disaster but an architect of it.
Related links:
Iranian Elections Show Growing Opposition To Mossadegh — Buffalo Courier-Express (1952)
Anyone Surprised? — U.S. editorial, April 29, 1952
Mossadegh Makes One More Bad Guess — The Daily Republic, July 18, 1952
MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”
