Abstract
The issue of spontaneity — or lack thereof — in the events of 19 August is one of the main topics of our enquiry. There is no doubt that at that point in history the Shah enjoyed a residual support among ordinary Iranians. Random, but incontestable evidence, worth glancing at, is the attitude of people on the balconies (Figure 32) of their houses in the following snapshot taken on 19 August.
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Notes
Wilber, Overthrow, 2000: 46; the US chargé Mattison to Department of State, FRUS, Vol. X, doc. 343, p. 745.
Wilber, Overthrow, 2000: Annex B, pp. 20–1.
The exact wording was related to this author by a key government official in post in Qom shortly after the events of 19 August, who had frequent contacts with the Grand Ayatollah (whose identity I am not at liberty to disclose). See also Wilber, Overthrow, 2000: 65–6.
Behbahani’s support for the Shah and his role in the February and August 1953 events is acknowledged across the board. Professor Mark Gasiorowski observes: ‘Ayatollah Behbahani apparently played a key role in organizing the demonstrations of August 19’ (in Gasiorowski and Byrnes, 2004: 254). See also Azimi, ibid.: p. 67, Bill, 1988: 101; Wilber, Overthrow, 2000: 57;
Homa Katuzian, Musaddiq and the Struggle for Power in Iran (London and New York: I. B. Tauris 1999), 178–9. Woodhouse, Kianouri, Zahedi and a host of other authors also refer to the supportive role played by Behbahani, notably during the 28 February 1953 crisis.
Wilber, Overthrow, 2000: 66.
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© 2010 Darioush Bayandor
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Bayandor, D. (2010). Where Did the Spark Come From?. In: Iran and the CIA. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230277304_8
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