Sources

I used The New York Times for some background information on Operation Ajax and an image.

http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html

I used The Butane Group for an image.

http://www.thebutanegroup.org/ajax.php

I used the Central Intelligence Agency for my primary source on some quotes from people during the time period. 

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no2/article10.html

I used The Latin library for some details on Operation Ajax.

http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/imperialism/notes/operationajax.html

I used Firm Magazine for America's viewpoint on Operation Ajax.

http://www.firmmagazine.com/features/910/What's_Libya_Got_to_Do_With_It...%3F.html

I used Global Research for an image and some background information. 

http://www.globalresearch.ca/flashback-to-1953-operation-ajax-joint-cia-mi6-military-coup-in-iran/20698

I used The History They Didn't Teach You in School for background information on Operation Ajax. 

http://vi.uh.edu/pages/buzzmat/htdtisirancoup.html

I used United States History for background information on the Iran Hostage Crisis.

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h2021.html

I used Opsec News for an image.
http://www.opsecnews.com/operation-tp-ajax/

I used Histomil for an image. 

http://www.histomil.com/viewtopic.php?p=42666

Operation Ajax

The Shah in Action. 

The Shah coming out of a plane. 

      The gruesome battle between America and Iran for over half a century has been a major topic all over the world. With all the ridiculous hate, discrimination, and deaths that have occurred, you would think that the starting point of this rivalry would begin with something a little more intense.

      Iran was a wealthy country with a lot of power and an abundant amount of oil. Mohammad Mossadegh, the Prime Minister of Iran in the early 1950's, was a part of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC.) This was a British founded company that uses Iranian land for oil. Britain was the first country to even discover this valuable oil in Iran. Mossadegh was completely against the AIOC, and even created an Anti-AIOC group called the National Front. Mossadegh was against this for a fairly valid reason. The British were taking advantage of Iranian resources and stashing large sums for themselves instead of equally distributing the commodity. In 1950, the AIOC "earned" 200 million pounds, while Iran got a whopping 8% of that in total. That adds up to only16 million pounds. In my opinion that is outrageous. Sure, the British found the oil first, but it was on Iranian soil. They should at least distribute the money equally. But of course we do not live in a perfect world.

     To spice things up, Mossadegh decided to he wanted to nationalize the oil. This is turning point that caused all further chaos in history with Iran. Britain was furious and America was ready to take action. The British had nothing but harsh words for Iran, such as, "The Iranian government is causing a great enterprise, the proper functioning of which is of immmense benefit not only to the UK and Iran, but to the whole free world, to grind to a stop. Unless this is promptly checked, the whole of the free world will be much poorer and weaker, including the deluded Iranian people themselves." Mossadegh, hating the British responded with, "You do not know how crafty they are, you do not know how evil they are. You do not know how they sully everything they touch." Neither side was too pleased with one another. The United States wanted a relationship with Iran since 1946 to keep their friendship with the USSR and gain some of the Iranian oil. America decided to create an operation that would rid Iran of their current Prime Minister and replace him with the clueless Shah behind the scenes in the country. This secret plan was called Operation Ajax, or codenamed as TPAJAX.

     Starting out with this project, I had no idea how the feud between Iran and America began. I just knew that it really hit home for me, because these two countries are literally my homes. Being a second generation Iranian, it is more difficult for me to enjoy my culture because it is being so despised in my birth country. Iran is not the most loved country right now, but I can honestly say that it is not the country, but the leaders that have made it what it has become. Just like in this situation 60 years ago, Mossadegh made the decision to completely destroy the trust of all his allies and start a never ending war between America and Iran. The people had no say in what happened.

        Eisenhower gave the almighty permission for Operation Ajax to set forth. It only costed America $1 million to run it and it was the cheapest and most effective way to fix the problem. On August 19th, 1953, Mossadegh decided to leave his position as Prime Minister because the pressure was rising between Iran, Britain, and the US. Iran's Shah took over immediately, but he was even more clueless so eventually he left that position as well. Britain and the US got what they wanted out of Operation Ajax. It all went according to plan.

       The aftermath of this operation, was what really sealed the deal for the hatred of America and Iran. The Shah preceding Mossadegh, promised the people that he would increase their personal freedoms and other social reforms, but being the clueless man that he was, none of those things materialized. The Shah lived a life of luxury, which angered his people. He was forced to step down and leave the country in January 1979. The ruler after that Shah was the man who initiated the Iran Hostage Crisis. Which permanently destroyed any chance of the two countries mending.

       This just shows that a lack of leadership can cause an extreme downfall or ruin a perfectly good ally. The people are not to blame, but the incapable leaders that led the country to a nightmare. It became apparent after doing research on this topic that Iran has a mind of their own, and even though they are wealthy and intelligent, they really do not know what they are doing in a sense of good leadership.

   
 

Revolt. 

Operation Ajax Comic. 

Clever Poster for Operation Ajax. 

Sacco & Vanzetti

                                    “The Case That Will Not Die”

At 3:00 in the afternoon, shoe factory paymaster, Frederick Parmenter and his payroll guard Alessandro Berardelli were shot and robbed of $15,776 on April 15th, 1920. There were two men spotted to have committed the crime. Immediately afterwards they hopped into a car and drove off. This frequent occurrence was committed in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italian men, were accused of this felony. And because this was such a regular thing, you would expect this to be a normal robbery case, but it was not even in the slightest! This case changed the views of many Americans and immigrants.

Sacco was born in Torremaggiore, Italy. He was only one of the seventeen peasants in his home. In 1908, merely seventeen years old, Sacco immigrated to America and began to work at a shoe factory in Milford, Massachusetts. He eventually got married as well. Vanzetti was born in Villafalletto, Italy. He went to school for only seven years in Italy then moved to America in 1908 to work as a dishwasher in New York City. He worked in a stone quarry, a brick furnace; he dug ditches, and was once a fish peddler. Both of these men were intrigued by the relish of anarchism. Sacco and his wife would usually perform street theatre to raise money for anarchists. Separately, the men would be a part of strikes pro-anarchism and resisting war.  The two men met May of 1917 in Boston at the meeting of Galleanist Anarchists. A week later the two of them and a group of friends went to Mexico to hide out from the law in case of being drafted or deported for anti-war activities.

The night of the robbery, a man known as the “shotgun bandit” was suspected to be Vanzetti. Sacco was accused for being an accomplice. On May 5^th, 1920, Sacco and Vanzetti were stuck in a sticky situation when they were armed during their arrest and also did not say the truth about their whereabouts and other details about the night of the robbery. The two were arrested and Vanzetti was later tried in the summer of 1920. He had fifteen witnesses claiming they saw him the night of the robbery and that he was nowhere near the crime scene. Unfortunately his witnesses were all Italian and none of them spoke enough English to convince the judge of his innocence. The fact that he was blacklisted for strike at the Plymouth Cordage Factory in 1916 did not really help his case.  Vanzetti was found guilty. Sacco claimed to be in Boston trying to receive a passport on the day of the crime. Seven people had witnessed him. Sacco relied on a clerk at the shoe factory to back up his story, but he could not remember if he had seen him or not. This was understandable since he saw hundreds of faces a day. Sacco lied about his whereabouts, and his reasoning for obtaining a gun was improbable. Nevertheless, Sacco was almost certainly not guilty, but the judge was biased because the immigrant was "an enemy of our existing institutions." So he too was arrested for the robbery and murder. The ironic thing was that Sacco and Vanzetti were planning on moving back to Italy not too long before this whole fiasco.   

This local buzz began to get pretty heated and eventually the nation was stirring! "Millions around would have fought to save them." The unfortunate situation of their case was that it occurred during the Red Scare. This time period was a slightly darker era in our country's history. The people who were against the current actions of the government such as the communists, socialists, and anarchists were all afraid of what would become of them during that time. The whole country was in an odd place and was very unforgiving and un-"American." As Edmund Wilson stated, "It revealed the whole anatomy of American life, with all its classes, professions and points of views and all their relations, and it raised almost every fundamental question of our political and social statement." This statement really stood out to me because I found it very interesting that people were not allowed to properly use their freedom of speech without being punished immensely. One wrong turn and you could be out! "Innocent people were jailed for expressing their views, civil liberties were ignored, and many Americans feared that a Bolshevik-style revolution was at hand." Sacco and Vanzetti were just evidence of the injustice in a system that would frame two innocent men and execute them all because of their different view points on government behavior. 
In 1927 the two men were executed. They were each able to write letters to their loved ones before they were killed. Vanzetti wrote:
"August 4, 1927
From the Death house of the Massachusetts State Prison
To the Defense Committee:
        'Now ignoring and denial all the proofs of our innocence and insult us and murder us. We are innocent. This is as war of plutocracy against liberty, against the peeople. We die for Anarchy. Long life anarchy.
                    -Vanzetti'"
(Some words were spelled incorrectly because of his poor english, but I corrected them above just so there would be no confusion.)
This letter was a final cry of rebellion. It summed up all the feelings Sacco and Vanzetti had into a short and simple letter. They did not deserved to die the way they did. The two immigrants were mistreated and unfairly judged. It is so completely wrong that it ended the way it did, but hopefully people learned from this case and no repeats will occur, (no matter how unrealistic that seems).   

Photographs of Sacco & Vanzetti.

Sacco & Vanzetti in handcuffs after being in prison for three years. 

This is a cartoon version of the alleged robbers from an article.

This is an image symbolizing The Red Scare.

Sources for Sacco & Vanzetti

Famous American Trials-The Trial of Sacco & Vanzetti

-This was the main source I used to research the Sacco and Vanzetti case. It branched out to four more websites I used.

Modern and Contemperary American Poetry: Sacco-Vanzetti Case
-This was the source I used to obtain specific details about the initial robbery that started it all.

Evidence: Summery of Evidence of Sacco and Vanzetti Case
-This site provided a thorough description of all the evidence, witnesses, statements, and notes that appeared in court. 

The Sacco & Vanzetti: A Chronology
-This site helped put all the events in chronological order.

Letters of Bartolomeo Vanzetti from the Death House: Death house
-This site provided me with my primary source. It contained the letters Sacco and Vanzetti sent out from the death house to their loved ones. 

Red Scare: Sacco & Vanzetti Trial
-This site gave me a good understanding of The Red Scare.

New York Times: Sacco and Vanzetti Executed in Boston
-This source provided me with a picture along with information I had already gathered about the topic. 

The Journal for MultiMedia History: Sacco and Vanzetti
-This source provided me with details on the robbery and Vanzetti's situation after being arrested. 

Socialist Worker: Sacco and Vanzetti
-This source gave me some understanding on how America saw this case and how it affected them also. 

AVL- EBSCOHOST: Article
-This AVL article "Sacco and Vanzetti" clearly displayed America's standpoint in the situation along with some quotes from the trials and background information on the men. 

Sources

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=104&sid=c6d41fc2-9776-4540-96b8-06033ebbf1a3%40sessionmgr4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=27523189
-Places the Fleet actually visited+dates

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq42-1.htm
-Details about the fleet

http://www.spanamwar.com/evans.htm
-Evans' back story

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/rdevans.htm
-Poem+Details about his life

http://www.greatwhitefleet.info/Evans_Page.html
-Details about his life

http://www.greatwhitefleet.info/A%20GWF%20set%20of%20Photos/Admiral%20Evans/General_Order_No_77.jpg
-Primary source from Asiatic Fleet (Evans)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_White_Fleet
-Nation's goals in sending the Fleet on a trip around the world.

What I'm Doing!

I am currently researching my sailor, Robley Evans. I am searching his back story along with his life during the Great White Fleet. I will collect all the information I need then print out appropriate postcard pictures. Then glue them onto a large note card and write his adventures. 

Evelyn Nesbit

A classic image of the "Gibson Girl", Evelyn Nesbit.

    Evelyn Nesbit was a model and a performer that was mainly remembered for being "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing." Her family lived in poverty before her fame. She was discovered in Philadelphia at the age of fourteen. She was found by the painter Charles Dana Gibson, and she supposedly inspired the famous "Gibson Girl." She moved to New York in 1900 at the age of fifteen as a model. She became an overnight sensation. Her mother gave up seam-stressing to live off her daughter's new found fame. She became a hit in the chorus of a musical as "Florodora." She modeled during the day, and performed at night. She was the icon of her age. She was the very first "It Girl." Her photographs changed the standards of beauty at the time. Despite her glamorous facade, she actually faced many hardships in a horrid love triangle that ended in quite the mess.

Disgusting rapist, Stanford White

   Nesbit quickly became enchanted by the charismatic architect, Stanford White. He created famous locations such as Columbia University's main campus, the James Farley Post Office, the Brooklyn Museum, the Morgan Library, Penn Station, the Washington Square Arch, and the classic Madison Square Gardens. He was the most distinguished architect of his time. But despite his business successes, he was a truly repulsive human being. He was a womanizer that seduced young women and also payed for their courtship. But that is not all. He grew fascinated with Nesbit's fame and needed to be a part of the new star's life. He rapidly took over, and never really left. He started out by fixing her discolored tooth as if she were some sort of porcelain doll that needed a touch up. Her mother was very content with this bizarre relationship only for the vast amount of money White was providing her family. His sick ways only started there. He had a disturbing interest in young women, underaged teenagers to be more specific. His home had many rooms built for seduction. He had a room with mirrors for walls, a room with a four poster bed with mirror headboards and a canopy, and finally, the object that started it all, the room with the red velvet swing. He forced Nesbit to swing on it in full nudity for his entertainment. Later in her defense she explained that she was only sixteen and enjoyed swinging. The forty six year old architect eventually raped the sixteen year old model until she was obligated to stay in the relationship. She was forced to be his mistress for months before she finally let go of him, or so she thought. She moved on to the actor John Barrymore. Her mother ended the relationship quickly before it was too late. But Nesbit was already impregnated by the actor. White swooped in and sent her to a boarding school where the abortion was hidden as appendicitis. Nesbit fought her way out of that mess and went straight into a new one.

Murderer Harry Thaw

    Nesbit met a new disaster named Harry Thaw, the heir to a $40 million coal and railroad fortune. Despite his controlling deranged personality, she married the sap. Although, she got out of one dysfunctional relationship, she entered an entirely worse one. Thaw was also a sexual predator among young women. He would lie to girls by luring them into thinking they would star in Broadway shows, then rape them and beat them severely. Thaw became obsessed with his new bride. He was extremely jealous of her former lovers and constantly pestered her about them. Not only pestered, but abused. He beat her with a leather riding crop for telling him about White until she couldn't think of anymore to say, so she had to keep making things up just to please his disturbed mind. It was sick and twisted. He forced her to speak of White as "The Beast" or "The Bastard." He would sometimes carry a revolver around the house saying how he will keep other girls from going through his poor wife's horrible experience. This only lead to a troubling ending for all of them.

    On June 25, 1906, the Thaw's went out to see a play at Madison Square Gardens called "Mamizelle Champagne." Harry Thaw noticed White through the corner of his eye, and the rage began to bubble inside him. A second glance at White threw him over the edge, irritating him just enough to shoot Stanford White three times, twice in the head and once in the shoulder. White was killed instantly. The first shot was fired about twelve feet away, but the second and third were only two to three feet away. Ironically, White was shot during the song, "I Could Love a Million Girls."This became known as the Crime of the Century.

     Thaw plead insanity in hopes that he will get out of electrocution in the chair. His spoiled personality allowed him believe he can even get away with murder. He claimed to have a mysterious force outside of his body and that he was being possessed by the spirits of the dead. A doctor later backed up that statement, somehow. The doctor's wife was also a professed medium that helped further the argument. The alleged ghost's name was Johnson. He was believed to be a lower class man and wanted rich womanizers such as White to no longer live in the world. "Stealing our children from us and putting fine clothes on them." were his words, supposedly. Later Johnson claimed to be Thaw's dead father. Of course this is all a hunk of bologna, so he was proven not guilty because he was absolutely insane, or so they say. Thaw was saved from the electric chair. This was also known as the Trial of the Century. After all of this, Thaw divorced Nesbit.

      Nesbit later became pregnant, and claimed that it was Thaw's child. He rejected that statement intensely. She named the child Russell William Thaw. Many films were made of this horrific experience that traumatized Evelyn Nesbit known as "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing." She returned to her career but as a silent movie actress. She married her dance partner, Jack Clifford, but he left her two years later. She dealt with alcoholism and a drug addiction. Thaw helped a little bit by leaving her $10,000 in his will. For the last few years of her life, she was a ceramics teacher. She died at the age of eighty two. She lived every little girls dream and more. Though she was caught up in the worst relationships and never truly found love. Women in that time period were treated as objects, scum. Feelings, and other riff-raff meant nothing to the high class business men. Women were an arm piece, something used to flaunt, not anything more. Nesbit was unfortunately part of that horrendous era and was used like the nearest tissue.

Colored photo of Nesbit showing her famous Auburn hair.

LINKS:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/century/sfeature/sf_interview.html

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5261

http://www.theawl.com/2012/01/the-architect-the-it%E2%80%9D-girl-and-the-toy-pistol-that-wasnt

http://www.prairieghosts.com/thaw.html

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/thaw/Thawswing.html

http://www.short-biographies.com/biographies/EvelynNesbit.html

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/thaw/Thawaccount.html