Damn... 7928 characters, have to spit into two posts.
Part 1:
I recently had the need to search existing threads on this topic. Others had polluted a thread on climate change, claiming we were supporting the Shah's oil, rather than what actually happened in Tran in the 50's. What people read from blogs, and pundit sources, often miss the underlying truth. They Shah was for westernizing Iran in slow steps. He had violent opposition to that like we see today. The discourse in this other thread was claiming the Shah created a coup against Mosaddegh. Much of the truth however is revealed in post 33. To add (from my sometimes wrong memory) is that the Shah chose to dismiss Mosaddegh under article 46 of the constitution. He didn't leave, and had the support to cause a coup against the Shah. The Shah then left to Europe where now the US and UK governments helped him retain his place in Iran. It appears that today's revisionist history has all this being over oil, which it never was. It was about helping the legitimate government of an established ally.
Most the population doesn't realize that Iran was a great western ally until Carter allowed the Shah to be disposed in the late 70's. Here is one profound examples of changing to western ways:
Miss Iran competitions continues until 1978 and after Islamic Revolution
» Miss Iran History
For women in an Islamic culture, to be allowed such things... It took very long time before Iran started allowing such things.
The Shah was a friend to the west. Though I seldom use Wiki without verifying, I have seen such facts before the internet existed:
The White Revolution consisted of 19 elements that were introduced over a period of 15 years, with the first 6 introduced in 1962 and put to a national referendum on January 26, 1963.
Land Reforms Program and Abolishing "Feudalism": The government bought the land from the feudal land lords at what was considered to be a fair price and sold it to the peasants at 30% below the market value, with the loan being payable over 25 years at very low interest rates. This made it possible for 1.5 million peasant families, who had once been little more than slaves, to own the lands that they had been cultivating all their lives. Given that the average size of a peasant family was 5, the land reforms program brought freedom to approximately 9 million people, or 40% of Iran's population.
Nationalization of Forests and Pasturelands: Many measures were introduced, not only to protect the national resources and stop the destruction of forests and pasturelands, but also to further develop and cultivate them. More than 9 million trees were planted in 26 regions, creating 70,000 acres (280 km²) of "green belts" around cities and on the borders of the major highways.
Privatization of the Government Owned Enterprises, selling shares in manufacturing plants and factories to the public and the old feudal lords, thus creating a whole new class of factory owners who could now help to industrialize the country.
Profit Sharing for industrial workers in private sector enterprises, giving the factory workers and employees 20% share of the net profits of the places where they worked and securing bonuses based on higher productivity or reductions in costs.
Extending the Right to Vote to Women, who previously did not enjoy suffrage. This measure was criticized by some of the clergy.
Formation of the Literacy Corps, so that those who had a high school diploma and were required to serve their country as soldiers could do so by fighting illiteracy in the villages. In 1963 approximately 2/3 of the population was illiterate, with 1/3 found mainly in the capital city of Tehran.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Revolution
Closed.