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Analysis of Radio Propaganda in the 1953 Iran Coup

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Mervyn Roberts
Mervyn Roberts*
Affiliation:
History at the University of North Texas-Denton
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Abstract

In 1953, the United States assisted in a coup that removed Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq from office. Analysis of radio broadcasts during and after the coup provides a window for scrutinizing the event and understanding the motivations of all sides. The United States monitoring agency, the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), snatched these ephemeral broadcasts from the ether for posterity. This study expands the coup narrative based on these broadcasts. An analysis of the transcripts suggests that assertions that the Central Intelligence Agency's covert propaganda program resulted in the coup's success are an oversimplification. On the contrary, the effect of both Mosaddeq's and the Tudeh party's actions unwittingly legitimized the coup-plotters' propaganda in the weeks prior to the coup and contributed more to the success of the coup.

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 45 , Issue 6 , November 2012 , pp. 759 - 777
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Iranian Studies 2012

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