Mossadegh in America

In the autumn of 1951, Iran’s Prime Minister Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh traveled to the United States at the height of the international crisis over Iran’s nationalization of its oil industry. He came first to defend Iran’s case before the United Nations Security Council — but at the invitation of the United States government, he then stayed on for an official visit, meeting with President Harry S. Truman and engaging in diplomacy and negotiations aimed at resolving the oil dispute with the British government, with the United States serving as mediator. Between October 8 and November 18, 1951, he pressed Iran’s case before the UN Security Council, then traveled on to Washington, D.C.

On October 15, 1951, Mossadegh addressed the UN Security Council, opening in Persian before the remainder of his remarks were read by Allahyar Saleh due to his declining health — arguing that the authority to control Iran’s own resources rested with its people and their elected government, not with foreign concessions.

A week later, on October 22, 1951, Mossadegh came to Philadelphia. He spoke first near Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, where — to our knowledge — he remains the only Iranian statesman in history to have addressed the public at that site, drawing a direct line between Iran’s struggle for sovereignty and the ideals of self-determination the Liberty Bell itself represents. Philadelphia’s Mayor, Bernard Samuel, hosted him there, and Mossadegh signed the Independence Hall guestbook. Later that day, he addressed a luncheon hosted by the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia at the Barclay Hotel.

The following day, October 23, 1951, Mossadegh met with President Truman and Secretary of State Dean Acheson at Blair House in Washington, where the three discussed a path toward resolving the oil dispute. Throughout his time in Washington, he held a series of direct negotiating sessions with Assistant Secretary of State George McGhee, beginning in New York on October 9 and continuing at the Shoreham Hotel later that month, as the two sides searched for common ground on compensation and control of Iran’s oil industry. He was also received by Justice William O. Douglas at the U.S. Supreme Court, paid a visit to Mount Vernon — where he laid a wreath at the tomb of George Washington and signed the guest book, a gesture linking Iran’s own struggle for self-determination to the founding figure of the American republic — and, on November 13, 1951, addressed the National Press Club, appealing directly to the American public and press for support of Iran’s cause.

Mossadegh departed the United States on November 18, 1951, arriving the next day in Cairo, where he was greeted by millions of Egyptian supporters during a four-day visit before returning home to Iran.

Seventy-five years later, this conference returns to that same ground — retracing Mossadegh’s 1951 path through Philadelphia and revisiting what his visit meant, and continues to mean, for peace and harmony between the people of Iran and the people of the United States, and for the unfinished story of constitutional government and self-determination in Iran.