Transcript An American Hero in Iran

An American Hero in Iran
The True Story of
Howard Conklin Baskerville
Few Americans have heard of Howard
Conklin Baskerville, but most Iranians
know his name. A native of Nebraska,
Baskerville graduated from the Princeton
Theological Seminary and moved to Iran
as a Presbyterian missionary. He was 23.
The year was 1907. Baskerville was an
idealist at a time of idealism in Iran.
The year before Baskerville’s arrival, the
ailing king of Iran, Mozaffar ud-Din Shah,
had bowed to popular demands for a
constitutional monarchy and Iranians had
drafted the first Constitution of their 25century-long history. A parliament, the
Majlis, was established and each city
elected an assembly, or Anjoman.
Tabriz — where Baskerville worked as a
schoolteacher — was the capital of the
constitutionalists and its assembly
assumed a national role in the movement.
Many Iranians presumed that the time for
change had finally arrived.
But the shah died in January 1907, and his
son Muhammad Ali Shah was a
Russophile and despot who opposed the
Constitutional Revolution. His Cossack
brigades, commanded by Russian officers,
attacked and bombarded the Majlis. The
constitution was suspended. Politicians,
journalists and the leaders of the
constitutionalists were hanged.
Some Constitutionalists Martyrs
Surrounded by royalist troops, the people
of Tabriz fought back. And instead of
choosing the safety of the American
consulate, Baskerville joined the
outgunned and outnumbered
constitutionalists. The young Nebraskan
has been quoted as saying, “The only
difference between me and these people
is my place of birth, and this is not a big
difference.”
Baskerville was given command of a
contingent of 150 men whose job was to
defend the city’s fortifications. Three
weeks later, on April 19, 1909, while he
was leading a mission to break through
the royalists’ siege and bring food into the
city, a bullet tore through his heart and he
was killed instantly.
He was 24 years and 9 days old.
After his death, carpet weavers in Tabriz wove his portrait
as a gift to his mother in America
This year is the 100th anniversary of his
death, but Baskerville is still revered and
honored as a symbol of American ideals
and principles. In 2005, former president
Mohammad Khatami unveiled a bust of
Baskerville in Tabriz’s Constitution House.
Someone still leaves fresh yellow roses on
his gravestone in Tabriz. To Iranians,
Howard Baskerville is their American
martyr.
Statue of Howard Baskerville in constitutional
House, Tabriz
Produced by:
http://www.iranreview.org
Based on an article by Farnaz Calafi, Ali Dadpay, Pouyan Mashayekh
Let’s Know Iran Better