From Arab Nationalism to OPEC: Eisenhower, King Sa'ud, and the Making of U.S.-Saudi Relations (Indiana Series in Middle East Studies)

264 Pages·2002·1.65 MB·English

by  Nathan

From Arab Nationalism to OPEC
Indiana Series in Middle East Studies
Mark Tessler, General Editor
From Arab Nationalism
to OPEC
Eisenhower, King Sa>¥d, and the Making of
U.S.-Saudi Relations
Nathan J. Citino
This book is a publication of
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Citino, Nathan J.
From Arab nationalism to OPEC : Eisenhower, King Sa>¥d, and the making of
U.S.-Saudi relations / Nathan J. Citino.
p. cm. — (Indiana series in Middle East studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-253-34095-0(cloth : alk. paper)
1. United States—Foreign relations—Saudi Arabia. 2. Saudi Arabia—Foreign
relations—United States. 3. United States—Foreign relations—1953–1961. 4. Eisenhower,
Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890–1969. 5. Saud, King of Saudi Arabia, 1902–1969. 6.
Petroleum industry and trade—Political aspects—Arab countries—History. I. Title: From
Arab nationalism to Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. II. Title. III. Series.
E183.8.S25C58 2002
327.730538—dc21
2002020514
1 2 3 4 5 07 06 05 04 03 02
For my parents
David and Mary

Contents
Illustrations follow page 111
Acknowledgments ix
Note on Transliteration xi
Maps xii
Introduction 1
1. ADutch Uncle: The U.S. and Buraym•, 1952 19
2. Old Soldiers: Eisenhower and >Abd al->Az•z ibn Sa>¥d,
January–November 1953 39
3. Reaching a Crossroads: The U.S. and King Sa>¥d,
December 1953–November 1955 63
4. ATangled Skein: Suez, December 1955–December 1956 87
5. We Have Here an Opportunity: The Eisenhower Doctrine,
January 1957–July 1958 117
6. We Might as Well Believe in Arab Nationalism:
OPEC and the Modern Saudi State, August 1958–December 1960 145
Conclusion 161
Abbreviations 167
Notes 169
Bibliography 215
Index 231

Acknowledgments
I
have accumulated many debts while completing this book, and these
brief sentences can serve only to recognize and not repay them. I received
generous financial support from the Ohio State University Department of
History and Center for International Studies, as well as an Abilene Travel
Grant from the Eisenhower World Affairs Institute. Two Foreign Language
and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships enabled me to study Arabic at the
Ohio State University and the University of Chicago. The College of Lib-
eral Arts at Colorado State University also provided helpful research sup-
port as I finished the final stages of the manuscript.
Several archivists graciously shared their knowledge of primary source
material and made this book a richer study than it would otherwise have
been. For their assistance, I wish to thank Herbert Pankratz, Bonita B. Mu-
lanax, Kathleen A. Struss, and the staff of the Eisenhower Library; Milton
Gustafson at the National Archives and Records Administration; and the
staff of the Special Collections Division at Lauinger Library, Georgetown
University.
My dissertation advisors, Michael J. Hogan, Peter L. Hahn, and Jane
Hathaway, each made an indispensable contribution to this study. I am
grateful to them for their encouragement and constructive criticism, and
especially for the high standards they set as scholars themselves. Where I
have failed to measure up, the responsibility is entirely mine. Professor
Mahdi Alosh and Raghad Dwaik of the Ohio State University and Profes-
sor Farouk Mustafa and Anne Broadbridge of the University of Chicago
deserve special thanks for helping me learn to read modern standard
Arabic. I am also grateful to my fellow graduate students in the diplomatic
history program at Ohio State for their friendship and helpful suggestions
when I was just beginning the long process of writing and revising. En-
couragement from the gang at the Wittenberg University Department of
History was greatly appreciated. My new friends and colleagues in the
History Department at Colorado State University have offered thoughtful
ix