Donald Wilber
Encyclopedia
Donald Newton Wilber American
writer and spy
.
Wilber was the architect of the CIA project "Operation Ajax
", a successful plot to overthrow the government of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq. The plot replaced Iran's first democratically elected leader with a brutal dictator and monarch. The coup installed the monarchy of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi who ordered the deaths of thousands of Iranians through SAVAK
, the Shah's tightly controlled secret police.
Wilber served as a United States intelligence officer with the Office of Strategic Services
(OSS), and was an active participant in the power struggles of nations, especially during the rivalry between the United States
and the Soviet Union
in Iran after World War II
.
In addition to orchestrating the coup in Iran to benefit oil barons in Britain
and the United States
, in his spare time, Wilber wrote histories, travelogues and commentaries on Iran
, Afghanistan
and Sri Lanka
.
, where he was the first student to receive a doctorate in architectural history.
In 1939 Wilber married Margaret Patterson Surre; they had two daughters, Sara Wilber Cohen and Margaret Newton Wilber.
His book Iran Past and Present, was published in nine editions. Wilber collected oriental rugs, and was president of the Princeton Rug Society for many years. He spent forty years in the Middle East.
His memoir, which partially recounts his role in the coup, is Adventures in the Middle East and Iran, Past and Present and Iran Past.
Economics Professor Sasan Fayazmanesh, an Iranian expatriate, wrote:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer and spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
.
Wilber was the architect of the CIA project "Operation Ajax
Operation Ajax
The 1953 Iranian coup d'état was the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh on 19 August 1953, orchestrated by the intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom and the United States under the name TPAJAX Project...
", a successful plot to overthrow the government of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq. The plot replaced Iran's first democratically elected leader with a brutal dictator and monarch. The coup installed the monarchy of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi who ordered the deaths of thousands of Iranians through SAVAK
SAVAK
SAVAK was the secret police, domestic security and intelligence service established by Iran's Mohammad Reza Shah on the recommendation of the British Government and with the help of the United States' Central Intelligence Agency SAVAK (Persian: ساواک, short for سازمان اطلاعات و امنیت کشور...
, the Shah's tightly controlled secret police.
Wilber served as a United States intelligence officer with the Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
(OSS), and was an active participant in the power struggles of nations, especially during the rivalry between the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in Iran after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
In addition to orchestrating the coup in Iran to benefit oil barons in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, in his spare time, Wilber wrote histories, travelogues and commentaries on Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
.
Background
Wilber studied the ancient and modern Middle East. He received his A.B. (1929), M.F.A., and Ph.D. (1949) from Princeton UniversityPrinceton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, where he was the first student to receive a doctorate in architectural history.
In 1939 Wilber married Margaret Patterson Surre; they had two daughters, Sara Wilber Cohen and Margaret Newton Wilber.
His book Iran Past and Present, was published in nine editions. Wilber collected oriental rugs, and was president of the Princeton Rug Society for many years. He spent forty years in the Middle East.
His memoir, which partially recounts his role in the coup, is Adventures in the Middle East and Iran, Past and Present and Iran Past.
CIA Plot
In August 2003, California State UniversityCalifornia State University
The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
Economics Professor Sasan Fayazmanesh, an Iranian expatriate, wrote:
On April 16, 2000, The New York Times broke what its writer, James Risen, called the US's "stony silence" by devoting a number of pages to publishing parts of a still classified document on the "secret history" of the 1953 coup. The history was written by one Donald N. Wilbur, an expert in Persian architecture and one of the "leading planners" of the operation "TP-Ajax."
The report chronicled gruesome details of the events in 1953: how, by spending a meager sum of $1 million, the CIA "stirred up considerable unrest in Iran, giving Iranians a clear choice between instability and supporting the shah"; how it brought "the largest mobs" into the street; how it "began disseminating 'gray propaganda' passing out anti-Mossadegh cartoons in the streets and planting unflattering articles in local press"; how the CIA's "Iranian operatives pretending to be Communists threatened Muslim leaders with 'savage punishment if they opposed Mossadegh'"; how the "house of at least one prominent Muslim was bombed by CIA agents posing as Communists"; how the CIA tried to "orchestrate a call for a holy war against Communism"; how on August 19 "a journalist who was one of the agency's most important Iranian agents led a crowd toward Parliament, inciting people to set fire to the offices of a newspaper owned by Dr. Mossadegh's foreign minister"; how American agents swung "security forces to the side of the demonstrators"; how the shah's disbanded "Imperial Guard seized trucks and drove through the street"; how by "10:15 there were pro-shah truckloads of military personnel at all main squares"; how the "pro-shah speakers went on the air, broadcasting the coups' success and reading royal decrees"; how at the US embassy, "CIA officers were elated, and Mr. Roosevelt got General Zahedi out of hiding" and found him a tank that "drove him to the radio station, where he spoke to the nation"; and, finally, how "Dr. Mossadegh and other government officials were rounded up, while officers supporting General Zahedi placed 'unknown supports of TP-Ajax' in command of all units of Tehran garrison."
"It was a day that should have never ended," Risen quotes Wilbur as saying, for "it carried with it such a sense of excitement, of satisfaction and of jubilation that it is doubtful whether any other can come up to it."
Publications
Wilber is the author of articles and books, including:- The Islamic Architecture of Iran and Turan: The Timurid Period (with Lisa Golombek, Princeton University Press, 2 vols.)
- Iran Past and Present (Princeton University Press)
- The Architecture of Islamic Iran: The Il Khanid Period (Princeton University Press)
- Persian Gardens and Garden Pavilions (Dumbarton Oaks)
- Pakistan Yesterday and Today (Holt, Rinehart and Winston)
- Persepolis: The Archaeology of Parsa, Seat of the Persian Kings (The Darwin Press, Inc.)
- The Land and People of Ceylon (J. B. Lippincott CompanyJ. B. Lippincott CompanyJ. B. Lippincott & Co. was an American publishing house founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1836 by Joshua Ballinger Lippincott.Formed by descendants of the Religious Society of Friends, Joshua Lippincott's company began selling a line of Bibles, prayer books and other religious works before...
) - Contemporary Iran (Frederick A. Praeger),
- Adventures in the Middle East: Excursions and Incursions (The Darwin Press, Inc.)