Publication

This talk is on the Eisenhower Doctrine, the Middle East policy that the United States followed in 1957 and 1958. In the Suez war of late 1956, Britain had ignominiously failed to reverse Egypt’s nationalization of the Suez Canal Company, and it was generally understood that Britain was finished as the preeminent Western power in the region. President Dwight D Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles believed Britain’s failure had left a power vacuum in the region, which they feared the Soviets would fill— through increased economic and military aid and closer political ties—unless the United States took action.