March 19 Notes

U.S. and the Middle East

LBJ and Israel

March 19, 2008

I. Kennedy and the Middle East

1. Democracy and Development (Iran as case study: tension between democracy and anti-communism; from land reform to White Revolution; turn toward Israel)

2. Nuclear Diplomacy (decision for Jupiters; Khrushchev and missile crisis diplomacy; Dimona and NPT)

3. The Foreign Aid Revolt (postwar constitutional transformations; left-right coalitions; significance of policy riders)

II. LBJ and the World

1. The Transition from Kennedy (establishing an image: healer after tragedy, legislative tactician, commitment to civil rights; recalibrating advisors: increased prominence of Rusk, McNamara, Bundy; foreign policy through a domestic prism: 1964 election, Panama and Cuba affairs, Lodge, Vietnam, and Tonkin Gulf Resolution, Goldwater challenge and nuclear issue; ouster of Khrushchev and long-term effects)

2. Interest in the Middle East (LBJ and vision of Israel; U.S. and brokering of tank deal; Jordan crisis—UAC, weakness of King Hussein, fear of Soviet influence, Israeli and W. German political divisions; joint arms sales and road to Skyhawks)

III. The United States and the Six Day War

1. Johnson’s Dilemmas (Great Society and Americanization of Vietnam War—“guns and butter” approach; urban unrest and political realignment—1966 elections; liberal revolt—Fulbright Hearings; Church, Symington, and military aid, role of RFK)

2. War and American Diplomacy (Nasser diplomacy and impact of Soviets; State Department, pressures on Eshkol government, and question of preemption; Eshkol domestic weaknesses; start of war and LBJ response; three-front victory and international pressure; Liberty and Israeli-American relations)

3. Aftermath (role of UN: Cold War tensions, U.S. and the Occupied Territories, Third World effects, path to 242; international realignments—France, Soviet Union; Israeli-U.S. strategic partnership—LBJ and Goldberg, 1968 Phantom sale)