Special Needs
October 8, 1952 — The Times Record

Arash Norouzi
The Mossadegh Project | January 14, 2016                    


Particularly considering the source, this is quite an interesting piece. The Times Record was a staunch Republican newspaper, generally pro-British, which exhibited an extremely negative opinion of Premier Mossadegh (the title of their editorial one year prior was Mossadegh Acts Like A Madman).

Here, the Troy, New York newspaper suggested that the rising tide of nationalism in underdeveloped countries was a ‘worthy objective’, come what may, and that sovereignty and self-governance were their natural rights. So why all the venom toward Mossadegh, simply seeking to empancipate his country from British domination?




RETARDED NATIONS TRYING TO CATCH UP

The difficulty with this particular period in the world’s history is the complications created by the efforts of retarded nations to catch up with those which have moved ahead.

The colonies, once slowly led toward self-government by nations often predatory but always improving the quality of their possessions, are demanding independence. Backward nations are striving to take their place in the circle of civilization, with all the hampering handicaps which their makeup has created. Yet all of them are pointed in the right direction—toward the goal of higher standards and broader places in the sun.

Here is Egypt, for instance, in the throes of a semi-revolution. Now the Wafds have decided they cannot withstand the efforts of the government to eliminate their baleful influence; and they are knuckling down to continuous pressure. In Iran there is a back-and-fill which threatens to overwhelm the land; but Mossadegh will not let up. The same situation exists elsewhere.

How far such rudimentary efforts at government can go without getting the countries into magnificent messes remains to be seen. But it would seem that the objective is so worthy that the end might to be satisfactory, no matter how tortuous the process. We cannot help but be interested in Egypt, now fighting for a more progressive position. Whether present leadership is the best that can be provided remains to he seen; but at any rate it is better than Farouk—or any sort of management from outside, contrary to the wishes of the people themselves. [King Farouk, ousted in July 1952]


Winston Churchill | 1951 Campaign Speech on Iran Oil Crisis
The untold story behind Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh's famous quote “If I sit silently, I have sinned”

Search MohammadMossadegh.com



Related links:

Woes in the Near East | U.S. editorial, October 19, 1951

Sec. of State Dean Acheson’s Letter to Premier Mossadegh (Oct. 5, 1952)

UK v. Iran Judgment: ICJ Lacks Jurisdiction on AIOC Case | July 22, 1952



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

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