The Man who Shaped the Middle East: Kermit Roosevelt and the Legacy of 1953

Regime change is back in vogue. As part of the Capital Rare Book Fair, join us to discuss the life and legacy of CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt. Tickets include entry to the fair, which will bring two dozen booksellers to the University Club in downtown DC.

Kermit Roosevelt was the quintessential CIA operative, instrumental in helping Nasser overthrow Farouk I in Egypt in 1952 and removing Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in Iran in 1953. Arriving at the Shah’s palace shortly after, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi greeted him warmly, proclaiming "I owe my throne to God, my people, my army—and to you!” At a stop in London on the way back to Washington, Roosevelt stopped in on Winston Churchill at 10 Downing Street. Bed-ridden following a stroke, but still puffing on a cigar, Churchill told him, "Young man, if I had been a few years younger, I would have liked nothing better than to have served under your command in this great venture."

Years before the Graham Greene novel, British double agent Kim Philby dubbed Roosevelt, the “quiet American,” describing him as "a courteous, soft-spoken Easterner with impeccable social connections, well-educated rather than intellectual, pleasant and unassuming as host and guest". Philby quipped, "in fact, the last person you would expect to be up to his neck in dirty tricks.”

In this timely talk, Kermit's grandson Kermit III will discuss his life and legacy.

About the Speaker:

Kermit Roosevelt III is the David Berger Professor for the Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Roosevelt works in a diverse range of fields, focusing on constitutional law and conflict of laws. He has published scholarly books in both fields. Conflict of Laws (Foundation Press, 2010) offers an accessible analytical overview of conflicts. The Nation that Never Was (Chicago, 2020) argues that the Fourteenth Amendment is at the heart of America’s contemporary constitutional identity. The Myth of Judicial Activism: Making Sense of Supreme Court Decisions (Yale, 2006) sets out standards by which citizens can determine whether the Supreme Court is abusing its authority to interpret the Constitution.

He has published articles in the Virginia Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, and the Columbia Law Review, among others. He is also the author of two novels, In the Shadow of the Law (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005) and Allegiance (Regan Arts, 2015). In 2014, he was selected by the American Law Institute as the Reporter for the Third Restatement of Conflict of Laws.

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