Twilight Years
August 6, 1956 — The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Mossadegh Project | September 5, 2018                           


After Mossadegh was transferred from his three year prison term into lifetime house arrest in Ahmadabad, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette seemed to relish the opportunity to once again ridicule “Mossy”, their former punching bag...



Mossy Come Home

ONE OF the greatest actors of our day is back in circulation again: Mohammed Mossadegh has been released from prison, whither he was sent by an Iranian court after his overthrow as premier. Mossadegh was front-page copy for quite a while. He nationalized his country’s oil industry, kicked out the British-owned oil company, and led Iran through assorted crises, all suitably dramatized by his public tears, swoons, and pajama-clad demagoguery. He finally came acropper in his efforts to depose the Shah as sovereign of Iran. [An absolute falsehood]

Mossadegh is nearing 80 and presumably will spend his brief remaining span of life in quiet retirement. [He had just turned 74!!] However, he seems to be much tougher physically than he looks or acts. Many years ago, the present Shah of Iran, then but the crown prince, interceded with his ruling father [Reza Shah] on behalf of a political exile. The ban of exile was lifted, and so the aging and ailing Mohammed Mossadegh came home to spend out his presumably few remaining weeks of life. [Referring to his release from Reza Shah’s prison in Dec. 1940 and resumption of house arrest] In 1941 the crown prince succeeded his father on the throne, and 12 years later it was none other than old man Mossadegh who had virtually all the power in Iran and who sent the Shah himself packing. Shortly thereafter, however, Mossadegh was overthrown. He got the clink; the Shah got back the throne.

Now that Mossadegh is free again, the Shah would be prudent to make sure that nothing more political than flower-sniffing engages the old boy’s attention in his twilight days.



The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Saturday, August 11, 1956
“The People Speak” letters section

Cites Shah’s Plea On Behalf of Mossy

From a Cy Hungerford cartoon, as published with letter Editor, the Post-Gazette:
I read your editorial (“Mossy Come Home,” Aug. 6) dealing with the ironic relationships between the Shah of Iran and the former premier, Mohammed Mossadegh.

You might also have recalled that, even after Mossadegh was overthrown and brought to trial for trying to dispossess the Shah, the Shah asked for leniency, citing “the services rendered by Dr. Mossadegh during his first year as premier in connection with nationalization of the oil industry . . . .”

F. C.
Pittsburgh


Shah Of Iran Spells Good News For United States (1967 column)
Shah Of Iran Spells Good News For U.S. | Holmes Alexander (Oct. 1967)

Search MohammadMossadegh.com



Related links:

Mossadegh: A Lesson For Nasser? | Holmes Alexander, August 7, 1956

Iran Rebels Face Exile | Associated Press, May 23, 1955

Mossy and the Pistol | The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 2, 1952



MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”

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