Imagining the Middle East: The Building of an American Foreign Policy, 1918-1967

335 Pages·2011·1.263 MB·English

by  Matthew F. Jacobs

IMAGINING
THE MIDDLE EAST
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IMAGINING
THE MIDDLE EAST
The Building of an American Foreign Policy, 1918–1967
MATTHEW F. JACOBS
The University of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill
© 2011 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Designed by Courtney Leigh Baker and set in Quadraat and Univers by Tseng Informa-
tion Systems, Inc. Manufactured in the United States of America. The paper in this book
meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production
Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. The University of
North Carolina Press has been a member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jacobs, Matthew F.
Imagining the Middle East : the building of an American foreign policy, 1918–1967 /
Matthew F. Jacobs.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 8078- 3488- 6 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Middle East—Foreign relations—United States. 2. United States—Foreign
relations—Middle East. 3. Middle East—Foreign relations—20th century. 4. United
States—Foreign relations—20th century. 5. Middle East—Politics and government—
20th century. 6. Islam and politics—Middle East. 7. Arab-Israeli conflict. I. Title.
DS63.2.U5J34 2011
327.7305609′041—dc22
2011006662
A portion of this book was published, in somewhat different form, as “The Perils and
Promise of Islam: The United States and the Muslim Middle East in the Early Cold War,”
Diplomatic History 30, no. 4 (September 2006): 705–39. Used with permission.
15 14 13 12 11 5 4 3 2 1
To Jessica, Ally, and Jeremy
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1
1. The Task . . . Falls to the Area Specialists 23
National Interests, Knowledge Production, and the
Emergence of an Informal Network
2. The All- Pervading Influence of the Muslim Faith 55
The Perils and Promise of Political Islam
3. A New Amalgam of Interests, Religion, Propaganda, and Mobs 95
Interpretations of Secular Mass Politics
4. What Modernization Requires of the Arabs . . .
Is Their De- Arabization 140
Imagining a Transformed Middle East
5. A Profound and Growing Disturbance . . .
Which May Last for Decades 187
The Arab- Israeli- Palestinian Conflict and the Limits of the Network
Epilogue 235 Notes 249 Bibliography 287 Index 307
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Far more people contributed to this book than I can possibly thank in the
lines that follow. Nonetheless, the place to begin is with those who provide
the resources—both financial and archival—that make our work as scholars
possible. Over the years, I have benefitted from the generous support of the
Eisenhower World Affairs Institute, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation,
the Graduate School of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and
the Humanities Scholarship Enhancement Fund from the College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences at the University of Florida. I would not have been able to
complete the project without their support, for which I am truly grateful. I
also have been fortunate to work with outstanding archivists at the Truman,
Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Presidential Libraries, as well as the Na-
tional Archives in College Park, Maryland, the Middle East Institute in Wash-
ington, D.C., the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, and the
Seeley G. Mudd Library at Princeton University. I benefitted profoundly from
these archivists’ deep knowledge of their respective collections and their
ability to suggest materials that I had no idea existed.
I wish to reserve special thanks for those at the University of North Caro-
lina Press who ushered me and my book through the publication process.
Chuck Grench—ably supported by Katy O’Brien, Beth Lassiter, and Sydney
Dupre—has been an outstanding editor ever since his initial expression of
interest in my work in summer 2008. His faith in me and his careful inter-
ventions at crucial moments proved indispensible to the project’s successful
completion. Paul Betz provided invaluable guidance and oversight as project
editor, and I am truly grateful for Jeff Canaday’s thorough copyediting. Work-
ing with each of them has been a real pleasure.
Several individuals have offered insightful advice over the years, either
by reading drafts of chapters, commenting on my work at conferences, or
participating in conversations about my work. These include Mark Bradley,
Nathan Citino, Frank Costigliola, Peter Hahn, Walter Hixson, Paul Kramer,