Donald Newton Wilber (November 14, 1907,

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

– February 2, 1997,

Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...

Donald Newton Wilber '29 *49
," ''Princeton Alumni Weekly'', Mar. 19, 1997.),

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

writer and

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ''e ...

. Wilber, along with MI6 agent Norman Darbyshire was one of the two principal architects of the MI6-CIA project "

Operation Ajax Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

" (or " Operation Boot" as it was called by the British), a successful plot to overthrow the government of Iranian Prime Minister

Mohammad Mossadeq Mohammad Mosaddegh (, ; 16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967) was an Iranian politician, author, and lawyer who served as the 30th Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, elected by the 16th Majlis. He was a member of the Iranian parliament from 1 ...

. The plot replaced Iran's first democratically elected Prime Minister with General Fazlollah Zahedi; the government fell back into the hands of its disempowered

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980) was the last Shah of Iran, ruling from 1941 to 1979. He succeeded his father Reza Shah and ruled the Imperial State of Iran until he was overthrown by the Iranian Revolution, which ...

, who had supported the coup. Wilber served as a United States intelligence officer with the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the first intelligence agency of the United States, formed during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines ...

(OSS), and was an active participant in the power struggles of nations, especially during the rivalry between the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in Iran after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In addition to orchestrating the coup in Iran, in his spare time, Wilber wrote histories, travelogues and commentaries on

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. He was considered an authority on ancient Persia.

Background

Wilber studied the ancient and modern Middle East. He received his A.B. (1929), M.F.A., and Ph.D. (1949) from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, where he was the first student to receive a doctorate in architectural history. In 1939 Wilber married Margaret Patterson Surre; they had two daughters, Sara Wilber Cohen and Margaret Newton Wilber, who later changed her name to Valentine Margaret Wilber. His book, ''Iran, Past and Present'', was published in nine editions. Wilber collected oriental rugs and was president of the Princeton Rug Society for many years. He spent forty years in the Middle East. His memoir, which partially recounts his role in the coup, is ''Adventures in the Middle East: Excursions and Incursions''.

Publications

Wilber is the author of articles and books, including: * ''The Islamic Architecture of Iran and Turan: The Timurid Period'' (with Lisa Golombek, Princeton University Press, 2 vols.) * ''Iran, Past and Present'' (Princeton University Press) * ''The Architecture of Islamic Iran: The Il Khanid Period'' (Princeton University Press) * ''Persian Gardens and Garden Pavilions'' (Dumbarton Oaks) * ''Pakistan Yesterday and Today'' (Holt, Rinehart and Winston) * ''Persepolis: The Archaeology of Parsa, Seat of the Persian Kings'' (The Darwin Press, Inc.) * ''The Land and People of Ceylon'' ( J. B. Lippincott Company) * ''Contemporary Iran'' (Frederick A. Praeger) * ''Adventures in the Middle East: Excursions and Incursions'' (The Darwin Press, Inc.) * ''Afghanistan: Its people, its society, its culture'' (HRAF PRESS)

References

* Zinn, Howard & Buhle, Paul. A People's History of American Empire. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2008. p. 235

External links

Notes on Donald Newton Wilber

Notes by Don Wilber on the overthrow of Premier Mossadegh of Iran
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilber, Donald American spies 1907 births 1997 deaths Princeton University School of Architecture alumni 20th-century American writers 20th-century American male writers CIA operatives in Iran