FDR and the End of Empire: The Origins of American Power in the Middle East

213 Pages·2012·1.323 MB·English

by  Christopher D. O’Sullivan (auth.)

The World of the Roosevelts
Published In Cooperation with The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute
Hyde Park, New York
Series Editor:
David B. Woolner
General Editors:
William E. Leuchtenburg, William vanden Heuvel, and Douglas Brinkley
FDR AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES PEARL HARBOR REVISITED
Foreign Perceptions of an American Edited by Robert W. Love, Jr.
President
Edited by Cornelis A. van Minnen and FDR AND THE HOLOCAUST
John F. Sears Edited by Verne W. Newton
NATO: THE FOUNDING OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE
THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE AND INTEGRATION OF EUROPE
THE INTEGRATION OF EUROPE Legacies of the Postwar Era
Edited by Francis H. Heller and John R. Edited by Francis H. Heller and
Gillingham John R. Gillingham
AMERICA UNBOUND ADENAUER AND KENNEDY
World War II and the Making of a A Study in German-American Relations
Superpower Frank A. Mayer
Edited by Warren F. Kimball
THEODORE ROOSEVELT AND
THE ORIGINS OF U.S. NUCLEAR
THE BRITISH EMPIRE
STRATEGY, 1945–1953
A Study in Presidential Statecraft
Samuel R. Williamson, Jr. and Steven L.
William N. Tilchin
Rearden
TARIFFS, TRADE AND EUROPEAN
AMERICAN DIPLOMATS IN THE
INTEGRATION, 1947–1957
NETHERLANDS, 1815–50
From Study Group to Common Market
Cornelis A. van Minnen
Wendy Asbeek Brusse
EISENHOWER, KENNEDY, AND
SUMNER WELLES
THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE
FDR’s Global Strategist
Pascaline Winand
A Biography by Benjamin Welles
ALLIES AT WAR
The Soviet, American, and British THE NEW DEAL AND PUBLIC
Experience, 1939–1945 POLICY
Edited by David Reynolds, Warren F. Edited by Byron W. Daynes,
Kimball, and A. O. Chubarian William D. Pederson, and
Michael P. Riccards
THE ATLANTIC CHARTER
Edited by Douglas Brinkley and David R. WORLD WAR II IN EUROPE
Facey-Crowther Edited by Charles F. Brower
FDR AND THE U.S. NAVY ROOSEVELT AND FRANCO DURING
Edward J. Marolda THE SECOND WORLD WAR
From the Spanish Civil War to Pearl Harbor
THE SECOND QUEBEC Joan Maria Thomàs
CONFERENCE REVISITED
Edited by David B. Woolner HARRY HOPKINS
Sudden Hero, Brash Reformer
THEODORE ROOSEVELT, June Hopkins
THE U.S. NAVY, AND THE
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR ELEANOR ROOSEVELT AND
Edited by Edward J. Marolda ADLAI STEVENSON
Richard Henry
FDR, THE VATICAN, AND THE
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN GEORGE C. MARSHALL
AMERICA, 1933–1945 Servant of the American Nation
Edited by David B. Woolner and Edited by Charles F. Brower
Richard G. Kurial
ROOSEVELT, FRANCO, AND
FDR AND THE ENVIRONMENT THE END OF THE SECOND
Edited by Henry L. Henderson and WORLD WAR
David B. Woolner Joan Maria Thomàs
VAN LOON: POPULAR FDR AND INTERNATIONAL CIVIL
HISTORIAN, JOURNALIST, AVIATION
AND FDR CONFIDANT Flying Strong, Flying Free
Cornelis A. van Minnen Alan P. Dobson
FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT’S THE DIPLOMATIC EDUCATION
FOREIGN POLICY AND OF FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT,
THE WELLES MISSION 1882–1933
J. Simon Rofe Graham Cross
FDR’S WORLD FDR AND THE END OF EMPIRE
War, Peace, and Legacies The Origins of American Power in the
Edited by David B. Woolner, Warren F. Middle East
Kimball, and David Reynolds Christopher D. O’Sullivan
FDR and the End of
Empire
The Origins of American Power
in the Middle East
C D. O’S
HRISTOPHER ULLIVAN
FDR AND THE END OF EMPIRE
Copyright © Christopher D. O’Sullivan, 2012.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-1-137-02524-1
All rights reserved.
First published in 2012 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-43885-3 ISBN 978-1-137-02525-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137025258
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the
Library of Congress.
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: October 2012
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Maeve
Previous Publications
Colin Powell: A Political Biography (2010)
Sumner Welles: Postwar Planning and the Quest for a New World Order
(2008)
The United Nations: A Concise History (2005)
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: A New Deal for the Middle East 1
1. FDR and the End of Empire in the Middle East 11
2. Iraq Between Two Empires: Great Britain,
Arab Nationalism, and the Origins of American Power 27
3. The New Deal on the Nile: Challenging British
Power in Egypt 49
4. Iran: “A Testing Ground for the Atlantic Charter” 69
5. FDR and Saudi Arabia: Forging a Special Relationship 89
6. Palestine: The Paradox of Self-Determination 105
7. FDR’s Road to Damascus: The United States,
the Free French, and American “Principles
on Trial” in the Levant 127
Conclusion: Sowing the Dragon’s Teeth: Th e Origins
of American Empire in the Middle East 147
Notes 155
Bibliography 197
Index 203

Acknowledgments
This book would never have been possible without the support and
encouragement of a number of people. I am grateful to David Woolner,
executive director of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, for sug-
gesting the book for the World of the Roosevelts series. The editorial team at
Palgrave Macmillan, particularly my editor Chris Chappell, as well as Sarah
Whalen and Joel Breuklander, have all deftly steered me through the pub-
lication process. Sumathi R. Ellappan also provided copyediting expertise.
Several institutions afforded me critical support. The Fulbright program
and the Jordanian-American Commission for Educational Exchange, and,
in particular, their executive director, Alain McNamara, provided research
support and created an environment for scholarship and fellowship dur-
ing my recent year at the University of Jordan. The American Historical
Association’s National History Center and its founding director, William
Roger Louis, generously granted me their decolonization summer fellowship
for work at the National Archives and the Manuscript Division of the Library
of Congress. I am much obliged to all of the members of the summer semi-
nar but particularly Jason Parker, Mairi MacDonald, and Pillarisetti Sudhir.
The Center for International Studies at the London School of Economics
provided me with a visiting fellowship to conduct research in the British
National Archives. I am indebted to their director, John Kent, for sharing
his perspectives about the end of empire in the Middle East and for first
sparking my interest in the topic during his lively Middle East seminar.
The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute granted me the Isador Lubin-
John Winant research fellowship for work in the archives at the Franklin D.
Roosevelt Presidential Library, where I was assisted by their fabulous team
at Hyde Park, led by the incomparable Bob Clark and his unstintingly help-
ful archivists including Sarah Malcolm, Mark Renovitch, Matt Hanson,
Virginia Lewick, Robert Parks and Karen Anson. Finally, the Andrew Mellon
Foundation furnished me with a generous research grant for exploration of
archives in Washington, DC, and London. My student research assistants,
Sarah Reinheimer, Steve Schulz, Rylan Albright, Elizabeth Moorhatch, and