Article Title
Abstract
U.S. covert action from the 1950s onward was shaped, in part, by the success a CIA-orchestrated coup d'état in which the United States deposed the popular Iranian nationalist Mohammed Mossadegh. Ordered by president Eisenhower, the coup in Iran set the precedent for utilizing covert action as a means of achieving State goals. In so doing, President Eisenhower overturned the precedent set by his immediate predecessor, President Truman: that is, the precedent of using the CIA in its intended function, gathering and evaluating intelligence. The coup, then, is an exemplary case of venture constitutionalism. Eisenhower, in ordering the coup, extended his authority as President by setting a new precedent of intervention without consulting Congress or the public. From here venture constitutionalism will be defined, the history of the CIA and its organizational context will be written, the coup will briefly be discussed, and then an explication of the constitutional venturing that took place therein will be provided.
Recommended Citation
Bruggeman, Jacob A.
(2018)
"Ike’s Constitutional Venturing: The Institutionalization of the CIA, Covert Action, and American Interventionism,"
Grand Valley Journal of History: Vol. 6:
Iss.
1, Article 1.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/gvjh/vol6/iss1/1
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