Hasan Ali Mansur ( fa, حسن علی منصور; 13 April 1923 – 26 January 1965) was an
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
politician who served as
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
from 1964 to 1965. He served during the
White Revolution
The White Revolution ( fa, انقلاب سفید ''Enqelāb-e Sefid'') or the Shah and People Revolution ( fa, انقلاب شاه و مردم ''Enqelāb-e Shāh o Mardom'') was a far-reaching series of reforms resulting in aggressive moderniz ...
of the
Shah
Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and was assassinated by a member of the
Fada'iyan-e Islam
Fadā'iyān-e Islam ( fa, فدائیان اسلام, also spelled as ''Fadayan-e Islam'' or in English "Fedayeen of Islam" or "Devotees of Islam" or literally "Self-Sacrificers of Islam") is a Shia fundamentalist group in Iran with a strong activi ...
.
Early life and education
Hassan Ali was born in Tehran on 13 April 1923
to Prime Minister
Ali Mansur
Ali Khan Mansur ( fa, علی خان منصور, also known as ''Mansur ul-Mulk'' (); 1886 – 8 December 1974) was the Prime Minister of Iran for two terms between 1940 and 1941 and in 1950.
Biography
Born in Tehran, he served as Govern ...
(Mansour-al-Molk) and daughter of Zahir-ol-Molk Raiss.
He received primary education in Tehran and graduated from Firooz-Bahram High School. During the
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
era, he entered Law School at the
University of Tehran
The University of Tehran (Tehran University or UT, fa, دانشگاه تهران) is the most prominent university located in Tehran, Iran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching pro ...
and graduated with a degree in political science.
Career
In the post World War II era, Mansour started his political career by entering the foreign ministry and completed several internal and foreign assignments including tours of Germany and France. In the 1950s, this thirty-year-old was twice appointed chief of prime minister's office, first for a brief period because of change in government, and second lasted for 2 years. In 1957, Prime Minister
Manuchehr Eghbal appointed him as chairman of the economics council and vice prime minister. He also held the positions of minister of labor, and minister of trade. Prime minister
Asadollah Alam
Asadollah Alam ( fa, اسدالله علم; 24 July 1919 – 14 April 1978) was an Iranian politician who was prime minister during the Shah's regime from 1962 to 1964. He was also minister of Royal Court, president of Pahlavi University and g ...
appointed him as chairman of "Bimeh Iran" insurance company.
The Progressive Party or "Kanoon Motaraghion" was founded by Mansour to conduct economic policy research as well as the launching pad for his future prime ministership. In 1962 Mansour ran for the 21st Majlis and was elected as the second representative from Tehran, after
Abdollah Riazi, speaker of the Majlis. A few dozen of his party members were also elected to Majlis, with the exception of
Hoveyda and Kashefian who were more interested in executive branch. Mansour then expanded his power base by forming a coalition and founded "IRAN NOVIN" party with a majority of 175 out of 230 deputies, and was elected the Majority Leader of Parliament.
After Alam resigned his premiership in 1964, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi appointed Mansur prime minister and
his cabinet was announced on 7 March.
He introduced many young new faces, such as Amir Abbas Hoveyda,
Jamshid Amuzegar,
Ataollah Khosravani, Nahavandi,
Alinaghi Alikhani, Manouchehr Rohani, and many other Iran Novin members. Since most of his cabinet were young and American/European educated, Mansour had pro-American tendencies in his politics and enjoyed the support of American government. Clearly the Shah now felt more comfortable working with people from his own generation than older generation who also served his father and called him "Shah Javan" or the "Young Shah". The torch was passed from the old war heroes to younger educated technocrats to carry out the "White Revolution" and an explosive decade of growth.
Mansur passed the Geneva Convention American Force Protection Act, also known as the highly controversial
Capitulation Law. This led to a fiery attack by
Ayatollah Khomeini from
Qom, and resulted in his historical exile to
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
, and many subsequent riots. Mansur also raised the price of gasoline from 5 to 10 Rials to meet budget deficits, but later retreated after strikes by taxi drivers.
Personal life
Mansur was briefly engaged to Noushie Teymourtash, but subsequently married Farideh Emami. He was survived by a son, the jazz guitarist Ahmad Mansur (1960–2011) and a daughter, the journalist Fati Mansur (1964). Farideh's sister Leyla Emami, later married prime minister
Amir Abbas Hoveyda
Amir-Abbas Hoveyda ( fa, امیرعباس هویدا, Amīr 'Abbās Hoveyda; 18 February 1919 – 7 April 1979) was an Iranian economist and politician who served as Prime Minister of Iran from 27 January 1965 to 7 August 1977. He was the l ...
. Javad Mansur, his brother, also served as a consultant to prime minister Hoveyda. His sister Touran was briefly engaged to
Fereydoun Hoveyda
Fereydoon Hoveyda ( fa, فریدون هویدا ''Fereydūn Hoveyda'', 21 September 1924 – 3 November 2006) was an Iranian diplomat, writer and thinker. He was the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations from 1971 until 1979.
Early life and ...
but subsequently married Manouchehr Teymourtash.
Assassination
At 10am on 21 January 1965,
''Chicago Tribune''
22 January 1965, p1A-11 a few days before the first anniversary of the White Revolution, Mansour was entering the gates of Majlis to present his first State-of-the-Union speech. After he stepped out of his car in Baharestan Square
Baharestan ( fa, بهارستان ) is a locality east of the central part of Tehran in Iran. The historical Baharestan building is located in this neighborhood.
Kendriya Vidyalaya Tehran, the Embassy of India School, is in Baharestan. , he was shot three times by 21-year-old Mohammad Bokharaei
Mohammad Bokharaei, ( fa, محمد بخارایی) was a member of the executive branch of the "Islamic Coalition Party" who was born in 1944 in (the south of) Tehran. He assassinated Hassan Ali Mansur (the prime minister of the Shah) and was exe ...
, a member of Fada'iyan-e Islam. Bokharaei was later executed, along with three others implicated in the assassination – Reza Saffar Harandi, Haaj Sadegh Amani, and Morteza Niknejad
Morteza Niknejad ( fa, مرتضی نیکنژاد) was an Iranian Shia Twelver who was a member of Islamic Coalition Party. Niknejad was born in 1942 in the south of Tehran in a religious family; he was a religious person since his period of ado ...
.
Mansour was put back into the car and rushed to the hospital, where he remained in critical condition for 5 days before he finally died. During the crisis, the Shah quickly appointed Mansur's friend, Amir-Abbas Hoveida
Amir-Abbas Hoveyda ( fa, امیرعباس هویدا, Amīr 'Abbās Hoveyda; 18 February 1919 – 7 April 1979) was an Iranian economist and politician who served as Prime Minister of Iran from 27 January 1965 to 7 August 1977. He was the lo ...
as the acting prime minister, in which role he continued for the next thirteen years. Mansour's assassination occurred a few years after the assassination of prime minister Ali Razmara
Ali Razmara, also known as Haj Ali Razmara ( fa, حاجیعلی رزمآرا, Ḥājī`alī Razmārā; 30 March 1901 – 7 March 1951), was a military leader and prime minister of Iran.
He was assassinated by 26-year-old Khalil Tahmasse ...
.
Mansour was buried in Shah-Abdol-Azim near Reza Shah's mausoleum
The mausoleum of Reza Shah ( fa, آرامگاه رضاشاه), located in Ray south of Tehran, was the burial ground of Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878–1944), the penultimate ''Shahanshah'' (Emperor) of Iran. It was built close to Shah-Abdol-Azim s ...
, and a Kennedy-like Black Granite Eternal Flame was constructed at his grave site. After the Islamic Revolution, the Mansur gravesite was destroyed by Ayatollah Khalkhali, and his remains were dug up and scattered.
References
* '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). (Vol. 1), (Vol. 2).
* ''Biography of Recent Political and Military People of Iran, Bagher Agheli, Volume 3, p.1548, in Persian, Tehran 2001''
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mansur, Hassan Ali
1923 births
1965 deaths
Prime Ministers of Iran
Assassinated Iranian politicians
Iran Novin Party Secretaries-General
Mansur, Hassan Ali
Deaths by firearm in Iran
People murdered in Iran
Assassinated heads of government
20th-century Iranian people
Children of national leaders
People assassinated by the Fada'iyan-e Islam
Victims of Islamic terrorism