Author Sandra Mackey describes the climax of the coup in the book, The Iranians.
This event, unexpected and traumatizing in the eyes of the Iranians, established the realization that the American embassy could be used as a means for direct intervention in the internal affairs of Iran to further American interests in contradiction to the aspirations of the Iranian people. Ironic to the American assertion of desiring to spread democracy throughout the world and especially in the Middle East, the United States played a leading role in conducting an operation with the intention of removing a democratically elected leader from power in order to reinstall an authoritarian monarch.
While the coup had a profound impact on Iranians, Americans were generally unaware of it; thus making the hostage crisis 25 years later an enigma to most Americans. In Iran, the events of 1953 became a defining experience in the history of the country and in the way Iranians viewed Americans. Generations of Iranians were brought up with the knowledge of the coup and the mindset that American’s were to blame for the 25 years of brutal and oppressive rule they experienced under the Shah. While Iranians immediately viewed America’s actions in the downfall of Mossadegh as an interference in their domestic affairs and a direct violation of their independence, America’s role in the 1953 coup was not publicized in the United States. Both during and following the coup, president Eisenhower deliberately continued to conceal the United States’ involvement, even informing the American public that “the Iranian people had saved the day because of their revolution against communism and their profound love for their monarchy.” Even until the late 1970s, most American textbooks, foreign policy books, and scholarly sources failed to acknowledge this important piece of history that played a significant role in reshaping U.S.-Iranian relationship.
The United States' concealment of its involvement in the coup from its own people is clearly evident in the media covering the events of 1953 in Iran. This TIME magazine article, titled The People Take Over, shows the role of media in fueling this ignorance of the U.S. role in the coup throughout America. As the title indicates, the article depicts the coup that overthrew Mossadegh as an unplanned movement led by noble and spirited Iranians. TIME magazine writes:
Even more astonishingly, the article concludes with a passage that we now know is so untrue and ridiculous that its difficult to imagine how this interpretation even existed, let alone published as news. This extreme distortion of the truth in American media gives us a good picture of American's complete lack of knowledge about the U.S. involvement in the overthrow of Mossadegh.
Following the coup, while the reactions of the people of Iran were not positive towards the U.S. and its involvement in their country, the economic and political relationship between the U.S. and Iran flourished under the Shah's rule. However, Iran's close relationship with the U.S. and the United States' support of the Shah as he became increasingly autocratic only weakened the Shah' legitimacy through the eyes of the Iranians as they began to view the Shah as America's puppet.
This Iranian political cartoon, by Iraj Zare, depicts an image of Iran's shah kissing the hand of the United States' President Carter. The image and that caption which reads "He was grateful!" imply the power and control that the U.S. was able to exert on Iran during the shah's rule as well as conveys the view of the shah as a U.S. puppet.
