This study presents an analysis of US-Iranian relations in the twentieth century, with particular attention to the crisis over nationalization of British oil interests at midcentury. As such, it focuses on the career of Muhammad Musaddiq, who struggled during those years to free his country from foreign influence, and whose memory continued to haunt bilateral relations with the United States up to the Iranian revolution. Throughout, it examines Anglo-American views of Iranians (and by implication of other non-Westerners) which affected - and still affect - the conduct of international relations.