Hossein Ala'

Hossein Ala' (Persian: حسین علاء; 13 December 1881 – 13 July 1964) was an Iranian politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Iran in two terms. He also served as the Foreign Minister of Iran from 1943 to 1945, and as the Iranian Ambassador to the United States from 1945 to 1950.

Early life and education

He was born in 1881 in Tehran and spent his early years in London. He was educated at Westminster School and studied law at the University of London after which he was admitted to the bar at Inner Temple. He became involved in politics through a position in the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Iran.^[2]

Career

In his early political life Ala served as the chef de cabinet of the Iranian foreign ministry from 1905 to 1916. Subsequently, he was a member of an Iranian diplomatic delegation sent to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Despite the efforts of the delegation, led by Aliqoli Massoud Ansari, and assisted ably by Ala, the British government of the time nixed Iran's hopes of officially attending the diplomatic gathering. Moreover, with the Iranian Government in Tehran having recently negotiated the Anglo-Iranian Agreement it was decided that Ansari and Ala would be banished to foreign legations to ensure they would not act as lightning rods against the agreement. Ala was appointed as the Iranian diplomatic envoy to Spain in 1920. Shortly thereafter Ala was appointed as Iran's lead diplomat in Washington where he attempted to interest American oil companies to agree to invest in Iran, to undercut the monopoly of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.^{[citation needed]}

He then became a member of parliament and was among the opposition to the fall of the Qajar dynasty.^{[citation needed]}

He was the governor of Bank Melli Iran from 1933 to 1934 and from 1941 to 1942.^[3] From 1934 to 1936, Alā was ambassador to the United Kingdom.^[4] Alā was Iranian Ambassador to the United States from 1946 to 1950.

He was elected prime minister by parliament following the assassination of Haj Ali Razmara in 1951. His premiership, however, was not to last long, and he resigned less than seven weeks later on 27 April, after Mohammad Mosaddegh had submitted another oil nationalisation bill to parliament two days earlier. The issue of nationalisation was highly contentious, and Alā did not want to appear to oppose it.^[5] During his brief administration, the term of service of members of parliament was increased from 2 to 4 years. He was later appointed as Court Minister, remaining one until his death.

Alā was appointed prime minister for the second time in 1955, and in November 1955 survived an assassination attempt at the funeral of a son of Abol-Ghasem Kashani.^[6] He was replaced in April 1957 after an upsetting international incident involving the murder of three Americans by outlaw Ahmad Shah and his gang.^[7]

In 1963, the protests led by religious figures intensified in Iran due to the policies of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.^[8] Mohammad Ali Varasteh, Abdollah Entezam and Ala personally expressed their concerns about Shah's policies and their potential results which made all of them outsiders in the court of the Shah.^[8] In addition, Ala' and Entezam were dismissed from the Iranian Senate to which they had just appointed.^[8]

Personal life and death

Alā died of pneumonia on 13 July 1964 at the age of 82.^[9] He left a son and a daughter, and was survived by his wife, who died in 1981. His son, Fereydoun Ala, was the founding director of the National Iranian Blood Transfusion Service and is honorary president of the Iranian Comprehensive Haemophilia Care Center. His daughter, Irān, is married to Eskandar Firouz, the noted authority on Iranian fauna and environmental topics.

Honours and awards

• Order of the Crown, 1st class
• Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria (1958)^[10]

See also

• List of ambassadors of Iran to the United States
• List of prime ministers of Iran

References and sources

References

1. ^ ویژه گی های زندگی سیاسی حسین علاء بخش دوم
2. ^ "مؤسسه مطالعات تاريخ معاصر ايران Iichs"
3. ^ Īrān, Bānk-i Millī-i (27 September 1958). "A History of the First Thirty Years of Bank Melli Iran, 1928-1958". Printed in Bank Melli Iran Press. – via Google Books.
4. ^ The International Who's Who 1943–44. 8th edition. George Allen & Unwin, London, 1943, p. 9.
5. ^ Ervand Abrahamian (2013). The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the roots of modern U.S.-Iranian relations. New York: New Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-59558-826-5.
6. ^ Seyed Mohammad Ali Taghavi (2004). The Flourishing of Islamic Reformism in Iran: Political Islamic Groups in Iran (1941–61). Routledge. p. 120. ISBN 9780203321621.
7. ^ "Killers' Capture in Wilds". Life. 22 April 1957. p. 40. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
8. ^ Fakhreddin Azimi (2009). Quest for Democracy in Iran: A century of struggle against authoritarian rule. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-674-02036-8.
9. ^ "Chronology June 16, 1964-August 31, 1964". The Middle East Journal. 18 (4): 463. Autumn 1964. JSTOR 4323777
10. ^ "Reply to a parliamentary question" (in German). p. 52. Retrieved 2 October 2012.

Sources

The following reference was used for the above writing: 'Alí Rizā Awsatí (عليرضا اوسطى), Iran in the Past Three Centuries (Irān dar Se Qarn-e Goz̲ashteh – ايران در سه قرن گذشته), Volumes 1 and 2 (Paktāb Publishing – انتشارات پاکتاب, Tehran, Iran, 2003). ISBN 964-93406-6-1 (Vol. 1), ISBN 964-93406-5-3 (Vol. 2).