That evening, the government declared martial law and a special session of parliament imposed harsh measures against the Shah's political enemies.
In an atmosphere of national sympathy for the monarchy, the Shah called for a constituent assembly to make amendments to the Constitution, to give him more power.
In 1906 during the drafting of the first Persian Constitution, a bicameral parliament was agreed upon in order to obtain royal approval from Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar.
Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar signed the Constitution at the end of December 1906 but died unexpectedly of a heart attack a few days later.
[5] In mid-1907, the Anjumans of the Mujahidin, a group of workers, artisans and peasants, called for much wider voting rights for men, and they expressed a wish that the Senate never be formed because it would make the nobility more powerful.
Ayatollah Mirza Sayyed Mohammad Tabatabai was one of those who influenced the composition and adoption of the 1906 Constitution, but he never insisted upon the formation of the board of ulama.
In September 1948, he sent National Bank director Abolhassan Ebtehaj to the US to ask the government of Harry S. Truman for military aid or financial support, and to present the idea that the Shah would activate the Senate.
[11][12] The US State Department prepared a report in January 1949 describing the goal of US diplomacy in Iran as the prevention of any widening of Soviet influence.
[13] On 4 February 1949, the Shah visited the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the University of Tehran, a symbol of secular success against the former monopoly of Islamic scholars who had previously controlled all aspects of the judicial branch of government.
The Shah ordered the closure of newspapers critical of his policies, and for treasonous activities he arrested 28 Tudeh leaders including the most prominent members of the Central Council of United Trade Unions (CCUTU).
The Seven Year Plan was intended to be an autonomous body, independent of political forces, but the Shah saw it as a vehicle for land reform measures that would reinforce his power.
With 25% of its monies earmarked for helping to fight poverty in agrarian Iran, the Shah felt that the Seven Year Plan would make the disaffected rural poor more resistant to Soviet influence.
Others thought that so much emphasis on agriculture would prevent Iran from growing out of its traditional role as a resource "appendage" supplying more powerful countries.
[19] As part of his effort to suppress religious radicals, the Shah asked Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi to rein in the more strident voices among the ulama.
[21] Borujerdi directed the 2,000 conference attendees to discuss whether the ulama should take part in political activity; after due consideration, the consensus was for continued quietism.
[18] Former Prime Minister Ahmad Qavam, writing from exile in Paris, published an open letter to the Shah which was very critical of any change to the Constitution.
Rather than respond personally, the Shah directed former prime minister Ebrahim Hakimi to publish a severe chastisement of Qavam, accusing him of treasonous collusion with the Soviets during the Iran crisis of 1946.
The Shah also took away the honorific title of hazrat-e ashraf (his noblest excellency) that he had conferred upon Qavam for the same diplomatic achievements that were now being called treason.
[33] The 1963 Iranian constitutional referendum, was seen as an approval of the Shah's White Revolution program including women's right to vote and compulsory education of children.