Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-225) and index.
CONTENTS NOTE
Text of Note
1. Introduction -- Syria After World War Two -- Eisenhower, the Cold War, and the Middle East -- 2. American Policy Under Truman -- Arms for Sale -- 3. Eisenhower's Turn -- John Foster Dulles in the Middle East -- Constraints on Shishakli -- 4. The Swinging of the Pendulum In Syria -- The Fall of the Shishakli Regime -- Inter-Arab Politics -- Reversing Course -- The Rise of the Bath Party: The September 1954 Elections -- 5. Syria's Choice -- Beyond Washington's Control -- The Assassination of Malki -- A Final Opportunity -- 6. Policy Fragmentation -- The Soviet Factor -- Syria's Internal Problems in 1956 -- Bath Consolidation and Suez -- 7. Prelude to the 1957 Crisis -- The Showdown in Syria -- Moving Against Sarraj -- The May 1957 Syrian By-elections -- The Syrian-Soviet Economic Agreement -- 8. Syria's Rapprochement with Saudi Arabia and Iraq -- Saudi-Syrian Relations Prior to the Crisis -- The Gulf of Aqaba Question -- The Buraimi Dispute -- Iraqi-Syrian Relations Prior to the Crisis -- 9. The American Riposte -- Strategic Considerations -- Nasser's Concerns About Syria -- American-Saudi Divergence -- The Henderson Mission -- A Shift in Tactics: The Turkish Alternative -- Assessing the Soviets -- A Game of Chess -- 10. Regional Diplomacy of Saud and Nasser -- Nasser's Response -- 11. The International Crisis -- Syrian Inscription in the United Nations -- American-Egyptian Modus Vivendi? -- 12. Conclusion.
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SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
"The "Syrian crisis" of 1957, sparked by a covert attempt by the Eisenhower administration to overthrow what it perceived to be an emerging Soviet client-state in the Middle East, represented the denouement of a badly misguided U.S. foreign policy, according to David Lesch. The repercussions of this incident, which almost precipitated a superpower confrontation, made glaringly obvious the pitfalls of a Middle East policy so obsessed with the "Soviet threat" that it precluded a reasoned analysis of the complex dynamics of the region." "Focusing on regional politics and utilizing newly available primary documentation, Syria and the United States offers a multi-dimensional analysis of Syrian-American relations during the Eisenhower years and presents a new interpretation of the "Syrian crisis" and the evolution of U.S. foreign policy that led to it. In addition, Lesch offers important new insight into the roles played by Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and the United Nations as well as a thorough examination of the Syrian political scene. The implications of the past for the present, Lesch emphasizes, should not go unremarked in light of current events - and Syria's pivotal role in them - in the Middle East."--Jacket.