“The Takeover of the Dizzy Old Wizard" Once upon a time, in a mountainous land between Baghdad and the Sea of Caviar there lived a nobleman. This nobleman, after a lifetime of carping at the way the kingdom was run, became Chief Minister of the realm. Within a few months he had the whole world hanging on his words, his deeds, his jokes, his tears, and his tantrums. His personal behavior, which included wearing pajamas for numerous public appearances; speeches to the Majles (Parliament) from his bed, which was brought into its chambers. Frequent spells of public weeping, helped focus world attention upon him during his premiership. Yet, his people loved all that he did, and cheered him to the echo whenever he appeared in the streets. Though, behind his grotesque antics lay issues and ideas that would affect many lands far beyond his mountains (Roosevelt, 1972, p.15) Today, we examine this bizarre leader who went by the name of Mohammad Mossadegh, the U.S. intervention of Iran in 1953 and that conflict’s relationship with the democratic peace theory. Many have heard of the democratic peace but few can relate it to the United States involvement in Iran during August of 1953. I will attempt to illustrate that the democratic peace theory was a relevant and true assumption of actions and relations between the United States and Iran in 1953. To illustrate their relations we will briefly examine the actual confrontation with the Unites States and Iran during August of 1953, to understand if there were any true characteristics of a war. Also, we will take a look at the countries involved to see if they themselves qualify as a liberal democracy. Finally, we will attempt to exhibit any link between the U.S. intervention with Iran during 1953 and the democratic peace theory. But first, in order to gain a sense of the situation in Iran during 1953, it is essential that we examine a history of the events that took place in...
