De Courcy concluded:
“The Persian situation has now been allowed to deteriorate to such an extent that no politician there dares oppose the popular movement which has been whipped up by the extremely clever work of Soviet agents. Some of the highest officials, moreover, are on Russia’s payroll, and this has been allowed to happen right under our noses.”
On Saturday morning, June 2, 1951, the following headline appeared in The Los Angeles Times:
“Truman Intervenes in Iran Oil Row.” The Associated Press dispatch datelined Tehran, June 1, 1951, continued in part:
“President Truman took a hand personally today in the British-Iranian oil dispute by sending letters to Premier Mohammed Mossadegh and Prime Minister Attlee reportedly urging moderation on both sides. The unusual move by the President indicated the extreme seriousness with which the U. S. government views the oil crisis.”
A member of Iran’s Senate who declined to reveal his name, was quoted by The Los Angeles Times article as saying:
“Why should Truman belittle himself by sending such a message?”
In my humble opinion, therefore, World War III began on June 25, 1950. Our entry into it was two days later. There will be no peace, of any importance, as I see it, until 1953 or thereabouts. I say this with a heavy heart. This war that is so pointless and was so unnecessary, had its birth in our Administration’s betrayal of China. It will have its death on a bloody battlefield in Palestine.
What a heritage we have, on the one hand, and what means for destruction on the other! How far we are today from Chaos, no man knows. It may be far later than we think. Until the time of greater enlightenment we know that a strong and forceful public opinion can be the result only of strong and forceful individual opinions. We are not, as yet, God-like creatures, but by making a supreme and prayerful effort we might become more nearly creatures like God. One small voice crying in the wilderness can be doubled and quadrupled into millions until, finally, it becomes the deafening roar of all freedom-loving peoples the world over.
“The journey of a thousand miles,” the Chinese say, “begins with just one step.” If each of us will take that one step now, toward a better understanding of how to protect our country from its enemies, both within and without, America will remain the light to which the whole world turns in the blackness of its oppression. And let us each remember that, as individuals, “it is better to light one candle, than to curse the darkness.”