During Pres. Eisenhower's terms in office, the best-known
covert operations were the ones that led to the overthrow of the governments of Mohammed
Mossadegh in Iran and of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala. This sort of operation worked in
the short term, but often came back to haunt the US. The Iran operation is perhaps the
best example of this.
After overthrowing Mossadegh, the US
supported the Shah of Iran as ruler of the country. The Shah's government, however, was
autocratic and repressive. US support of such a government led to hatred of the US
among many Iranians. This hatred manifested itself most clearly in 1979 when Iranian
revolutionaries overthrew the Shah and captured the US embassy in Teheran. The bad
blood between the US and Iran continues to be a major problem today. These bad
relations can be said to have stemmed from Pres. Eisenhower's covert
operations.
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