Ties that bind: John F. Kennedy and the foundations of the American–Israeli alliance

Abstract

In August 1962, John F. Kennedy became the first American President to sell a major weapon system, the Hawk anti-aircraft missile, to Israel. The Hawk sale was part of a much larger shift in thinking about the role of the bilateral relationship with Israel in achieving America's regional objectives. This article analyses the motives for President Kennedy's decision, which represented a decisive break from the arms control and diplomatic policies pursued by Presidents Truman and, especially, Eisenhower. The article ultimately concludes that President Kennedy's new orientation was driven primarily by his affinity for the Jewish state and his more receptive attitude towards Israel's security needs, whose accommodation he thought necessary to achieve stability in the Middle East.

Notes

  [1] Kissinger, White House Years, 54.

  [2] John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, MA (JFKL), National Security Files (NSF), Box 119, Israel-General 1/4/63–1/14/63, Memorandum of Conversation between Golda Meir and John F. Kennedy.

  [3] Gazit, President Kennedy's Policies, 31.

  [4] Schoenbaum, The United States and Israel, 131.

  [5] Safran, Israel, 455.

  [6] Evron, Arms Control in the Middle East, 3–6.

  [7] Gazit, President Kennedy's Policy, 57.

  [8] Little, ‘Making of the Special Relationship’, 564.

  [9] Shlaim, ‘The Impact of U.S. Policy’, 16.

 [10] Spiegel, The Other Arab–Israeli Conflict, 2.

 [11] Tivnan, The Lobby, 54.

 [12] Ben-Zvi, Kennedy and the Politics of Arms Sales, 50.

 [13] FRUS 1961–1962, XVII, 196, Memo of Conversation on Near East Policy Planning Meeting, 20 July 1961.

 [14] Bass, Support Any Friend, 7.

 [15] Evron, Israel's Nuclear Dilemma, 142.

 [16] See, e.g., Wenger, Living with Peril, 186–196.

 [17] See, Feldman, Israeli Nuclear Deterrence, 211; Little, ‘Making the Special Relationship’, 569.

 [18] Peres, David's Sling, 9.

 [19] Shlaim, The Iron Wall, 188.

 [20] Teveth, Ben Gurion, 795; Shlaim, The Iron Wall, 189.

 [21] FRUS 1952–1954, IX, 338, National Intelligence Estimate: Conditions and Trends in the Middle East Affecting US Security, 15 January 1953.

 [22] FRUS 1952–1954, IX, 1572, Memo from Byroade to Sec. of State John Foster Dulles, 3 June 1954.

 [23] Safran, United States and Israel, 284.

 [24] Alteras, Eisenhower and Israel, xiv.

 [25] Bar-Siman-Tov, ‘The Limits of Economic Sanctions’, 427–428.

 [26] Bar-Siman-Tov, ‘The Limits of Economic Sanctions’, 439–440.

 [27] Levey, ‘Israel's Quest for a Security Guarantee’, 51.

 [28] Peres, David's Sling, 171.

 [29] See, Drory, Israel's Reprisal Policy.

 [30] Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1955–1957, Vol. XIV, 92–93, Telegram from Secretary Dulles to Prime Minster Sharrett, 9 March 1955; Levey, ‘Israel's Quest for a Security Guarantee’, 53.

 [31] Drory, Israel's Reprisal Policy, 135.

 [32] FRUS 1955–1957, XIV, 93, Telegram from Secretary Dulles to Prime Minster Sharrett, 9 March 1955.

 [33] Hahn, Caught in the Middle East, 168.

 [34] Spiegel, The Other Arab–Israeli Conflict, 92–3.

 [35] FRUS 1955–1957, XIV, 762, National Intelligence Estimate: The Outlook for Egyptian Stability and Foreign Policy, 15 November 1955; see also, Bar-On, Gates of Gaza, 16–17.

 [36] Bar-On, Gates of Gaza, 8.

 [37] Ben-Zvi, Kennedy and the Politics of Arms Sales, 11.

 [38] FRUS 1955–1957, XIV, 622, Memo of Discussion at the 262nd Meeting of the National Security Council, 20 October 1955.

 [39] FRUS 1955–1957, XIV, 578, Special National Intelligence Estimate, 12 October 1955.

 [40] British troops landed on 17 July 1958, which was two days after American Marines had landed in Beirut to help prop up the government of Camille Chamoun, and three days after the coup in Iraq that ended in the execution of pro-Western King Faisal II. All three events, combined with the earlier union between Egypt and Syria, contributed to a growing sense on the part of the US and UK that they were ‘losing’ the Arab world to the Ba'thist influence of Nasser, and that consequently, Israel was a valuable regional partner.

 [41] Ben-Zvi, Kennedy and the Politics of Arms Sales, 13–14.

 [42] Levey, Israel and the Western Powers, 100.

 [43] Hahn, Caught in the Middle East, 266.

 [44] FRUS 1958–1960, XII, 156, Memo of Discussion at National Security Council, 21 August 1958.

 [45] Hahn, Caught in the Middle East, 264.

 [46] Levey, Israel and the Western Powers, 97.

 [47] Levey, Israel and the Western Powers, 96.

 [48] FRUS 1958–1960, XIII, 78, Letter from Secretary Dulles to Prime Minister Ben-Gurion, 1 August 1958; FRUS 1958–1960, XIII, 263, Memo from Asst. Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jones to Secretary Dulles, 12 February 1960.

 [49] Eban, Autobiography, 263.

 [50] FRUS 1958–1960, XIII, 264, Memo from Asst. Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jones to Secretary Dulles, 12 February 1960.

 [51] FRUS 1958–1960, XIII, 264, Memo from Asst. Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jones to Secretary Dulles, 12 February

 [52] FRUS 1958–1960, XIII, 286, Memo of a Conversation, White House, 10 March 1960.

 [53] FRUS 1958–1960, XIII, 358–361, Letter from Secretary of State Herter to Prime Minister Ben-Gurion, 4 August 1960.

 [54] Ben-Zvi, Kennedy and the Politics of Arms Sales, 34.

 [55] Spiegel, The Other Arab–Israeli Conflict, 57.

 [56] Patterson, Grand Expectations, 459.

 [57] JFKL, Pre-Presidential Files (PPF), Box 992, Foreign Aid, ‘Recommendations on Foreign Aid’.

 [58] Patterson, Grand Expectations, 458; Latham, Modernization as Ideology, 4.

 [59] Rostow, Stages of Economic Growth, 7.

 [60] Berlin, ‘Two Concepts of Liberty’, 189.

 [61] FRUS 1961–1963, IX, Memo from W.W. Rostow to John F. Kennedy, 28 February 1961. Kennedy's ideas found their most concrete expression in Latin America's Alliance for Progress and Vietnam's Strategic Hamlet Program. For a full discussion of the Alliance for Progress and the Strategic Hamlet Program, see Latham, Modernization as Ideology.

 [62] Quandt, ‘America and the Middle East’, 64.

 [63] FRUS 1961–1962, XVII, 155, Memorandum from Deputy Spec Asst. for National Security Affairs (Rostow) to Chairman of the Policy Planning Council (McGhee).

 [64] Gazit, President Kennedy's Policy, 21; Bass, Support Any Friend, 86.

 [65] JFKL, Personal Papers of the President (PPP), Correspondence Box 4A, Joseph Kennedy Letters From John F Kennedy (1939–1942), Letter From John F. Kennedy to Joseph Kennedy.

 [66] JFKL, PPP Box 11, Asian Trip, Diary Entry (undated).

 [67] JFKL, PPP Box 11, Asian Trip, Diary Entry (undated)

 [68] JFKL, PPF Box 93, Jewish People Speeches, Speech at Kehlath Jacob Award, 24 February 1952.

 [69] JFKL, PPF Box 93, Jewish People Speeches, Speech at Kehlath Jacob Award, 24 February

 [70] See e.g. Dean, ‘Masculinity and Ideology’.

 [71] JFKL, PPF Box 1030, Israel: Miracle of Progress Speech, 24 February 1958.

 [72] JFKL, PPF Box 1030, Israel: Miracle of Progress Speech, 24 February

 [73] Ben-Porath, ‘Entwined Growth’.

 [74] Central Bureau of Statistics of Israel, National Income Originating in Israel's Agriculture: Input, Output, and Value Added 1952–1963, Special Series # 165, xv–xviii.

 [75] Central Bureau of Statistics of Israel, Employment and Employees: From the National Insurance Institute Data, Special Series # 192, x–xiv.

 [76] JFKL, PPF Box 93, Jewish People Speeches, Speech at Kehlath Jacob Award, 24 February 1952.

 [77] JFKL, PPF Box 96, Jewish Speeches, ‘Some Background Information Concerning Israel Especially Its Foreign Relations’.

 [78] FRUS 1955–1957, XIV, 578, Special National Intelligence Estimate, 12 October 1955.

 [79] FRUS 1955–1957, XIV, 622, Memo of Discussion at the 262nd Meeting of the National Security Council, 20 October 1955.

 [80] Eban, Autobiography, 222.

 [81] Safran, Israel, 335.

 [82] JFKL, PPF, Box 992, Foreign Policy, Briefing Paper on the Middle East, 1960.

 [83] Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, 49.

 [84] Crosbie, A Tacit Alliance, 40–46.

 [85] Crosbie, A Tacit Alliance, 23.

 [86] For this paper, ‘United Arab Republic’ (UAR) and ‘Egypt’ will be used interchangeably. The UAR was the title given to the political union between Syria and Egypt that lasted from 1958 to 1961. It was the first step in Nasser's plan to unite the Arab people as part of his Ba'ath (Arab Socialist Party), pan-Arab movement to achieve strength and prestige by uniting all Arab peoples; JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 2/61, Memorandum of Conversation between McGeorge Bundy and Avraham Harman, 16 February 1961.

 [87] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 2/61, Memorandum of Conversation between McGeorge Bundy and Avraham Harman, 16 February 1961.

 [88] Bass, Support Any Friend, 148.

 [89] See e.g. FRUS 1955–1957, XII, 577–86, Special National Intelligence Estimate (Probable Consequences of the Egyptian Arms Deal With the Soviet Bloc), 12 October 1955; FRUS 1955–1957, XII, 504–5, Telegram From the UK Embassy to the Department of State, 22 September 1955; Ben-Zvi, Decade of Transition, 43–4.

 [90] In a policy Memorandum, the Director of the Office of Near Eastern Affairs enumerated the reasons that Nasser was falling out of favor with the US prior to the Suez Canal nationalization. He said that ‘Nasser has … failed to move toward a settlement with Israel; has raised a number of serious objections with respect to the provisions of the proposed Aswan dam agreements; he has inaugurated a series of bilateral military pacts with Syria and Saudi Arabia because of opposition to the Baghdad Pact; he set aside the offer of American arms from the U.S. and made an agreement with Czechoslovakia; his radio and press are now speaking strongly against the U.S. and other Western countries. Against this background there seems little likelihood the U.S. will be able to work with Nasser in the foreseeable future.’ FRUS 1955–1957, XV, 352 Memo by the Director of the Office of Near Eastern Affairs, 14 March 1956; Bass, Support Any Friend, 145.

 [91] Marr, ‘Iraq’, 189.

 [92] See Yaqub, Containing Arab Nationalism.

 [93] FRUS 1955–1957, XV, 352, Memo by the Director of the Office of Near Eastern Affairs, 14 March 1956.

 [94] JFKL, Myer Feldman Oral History (MFOH), Vol. 11, 533.

 [95] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 2/61, ‘Considerations Bearing on Israel's Request for Hawk Missiles’, February 1961.

 [96] The cost was estimated to be $37 million for six batteries and 300 missiles, with $5 million dollars in annual maintenance expenses. The State Department also realized that Israel would ask the US to finance the purchase at most favourable credit terms, a factor adding to American reluctance.

 [97] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 2/61, ‘Considerations Bearing on Israel's Request for Hawk Missiles’, February 1961.

 [98] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 2/61, ‘Considerations Bearing on Israel's Request for Hawk Missiles’, February

 [99] JFKL, NSF Box 119A, Israel Security – Ben-Gurion Visit 5/30/61, ‘Israel–United States Relations: Discussion’.

[100] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 6/61, Memorandum of Conversation between President Kennedy and Prime Minister Ben-Gurion, 31 May 1961.

[101] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 6/61, Memorandum of Conversation between President Kennedy and Prime Minister Ben-Gurion, 31 May

[102] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 6/61, Memorandum of Conversation between President Kennedy and Prime Minister Ben-Gurion, 31 May

[103] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 4/62–5/62, Memo for McGeorge Bundy, 14 May 1962.

[104] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 4/62–5/62, Memo From State Dept. to Middle East Embassies, 24 May 1962.

[105] JFKL, MFOH Vol. 11, 539–540.

[106] FRUS 1962–1963, XVIII, 3, Memo from Phillips Talbot to Dean Rusk, 9 July 1962.

[107] JFKL, NSF Box 118A, Israel-General 6/1/62–6/15/62, Letter from John F. Kennedy to David Ben-Gurion, 13 June 1962.

[108] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 4/62–5/62, Memo of Conversation between William Bundy and Shimon Peres, 28 May 1962.

[109] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 4/62–5/62, Memo of Conversation between William Bundy and Shimon Peres, 28 May

[110] See Shalom, Israel's Nuclear Option, 1.

[111] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 6/61, Memorandum of Conversation between President Kennedy and Prime Minister Ben-Gurion, 31 May 1961.

[112] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 6/16/62–6/30/62, Letter from Prime Minister Ben-Gurion to President Kennedy, 24 June 1962.

[113] Bass, Support Any Friend, 211.

[114] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 4/62–5/62, Memorandum of Conversation between William Bundy and Shimon Peres, 28 May 1962.

[115] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 4/62–5/62, Memorandum of Conversation between William Bundy and Shimon Peres, 28 May

[116] Bass, Support Any Friend, 161.

[117] Bass, Support Any Friend, 162–3.

[118] Ben-Zvi, Kennedy and the Politics of Arms Sales, 76.

[119] For an example of Kennedy's belief in the need for free societies to defend their freedom, see: JFKL, PPF Box 93, Freedom Speech Miami (undated). In the speech, Kennedy proclaims that ‘price of freedom is never permanently won. It must be held and won by each generation...Men are the architects of their own liberty. If men are to have freedom they must build it for themselves’; Ben-Zvi, Kennedy and the Politics of Arms Sales, 76.

[120] FRUS 1962–1963, XVIII, 4, Memo from Talbot to Rusk, 9 July 1962.

[121] FRUS 1962–1963, XVIII, 4, Memo from Talbot to Rusk, 9 July

[122] FRUS 1962–1963, XVIII, 31, Memo from Rusk to Kennedy, 7 August 1962.

[123] Ben-Zvi, Kennedy and the Politics of Arms Sales, 92.

[124] FRUS 1962–1963, XVIII, 32, Memo from Rusk to Kennedy, 7 August 1962.

[125] JFKL, MFOH, Vol. 11, 536.

[126] See e.g. Drory, Israel's Reprisal Policy.

[127] ‘Carrot & Stick’, The New York Times, 25 December 1960.

[128] Shalom, Israel's Nuclear Option, 11.

[129] Cohen, ‘Israel and the Evolution of U.S. Nonproliferation Policy’, 5.

[130] Little, American Orientalism, 95; see also Little, ‘Making of the Special Relationship’, 569.

[131] Little, ‘Making of the Special Relationship’, 580.

[132] Feldman, Israeli Nuclear Deterrence, 211.

[133] Walt, The Origins of Alliances, 96.

[134] Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, 111. There were two such visits during the Kennedy years, in May 1961 and September 1962, with five more on an annual schedule during the Johnson administration. The final American inspection of the Dimona facility came on 12 July 1969.

[135] Bar-Siman-Tov, Israel, the Superpowers, and War, 87.

[136] FRUS 1962–1963, XVIII, 545-552, Letter from Philips Talbot to John Badeau, 20 May 1963; Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, 166.

[137] Bass, Support Any Friend, 204.

[138] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 3/61–5/61, Memo For McGeorge Bundy, 26 May 1961; Shalom, Israel's Nuclear Option, 25.

[139] ‘’61 pledge to Israel by U.S. is confirmed', The New York Times, 16 June 1968.

[140] Though in early 1962 JFK tried in vain to entice Sweden to take on the job of inspecting the site; see Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, 108–10.

[141] Ben-Zvi, Kennedy and the Politics of Arms Sales, 53.

[142] Shalom, Israel's Nuclear Option, 34–5.

[143] JFKL, President's Office Files (POF) Box 119A, Israel Security 1961–1963, Letter from President Kennedy to Prime Minister Ben-Gurion, 18 May 1963 (emphasis added).

[144] Bass, Support Any Friend, 257.

[145] Bass, Support Any Friend, 204.

[146] FRUS 1962–1963, XVIII, 31, Memo from Rusk to Kennedy, 7 August 1962.

[147] FRUS 1962–1963, XVIII, 27, Memo from Rusk to Kennedy, 7 August 1962.

[148] JFKL, MFOH, Vol. 11, 535–536.

[149] JFKL, NSF Box 118A, Israel-General 8/17/62–8/20/62, Memo for President Kennedy.

[150] Ben-Zvi, Politics of Arms Sales, 73–4.

[151] JFKL, NSF Box 118A, Israel-General 8/9/62–8/15/62, Memo from Phillips Talbot to Myer Feldman, 9 August 1962.

[152] JFKL, NSF Box 118A, Israel-General 8/9/62–8/15/62, Memo from Phillips Talbot to Myer Feldman, 9 August

[153] JFKL, NSF Box 118A, Israel-General 8/9/62–8/15/62, ‘Memorandum for the President’ from Myer Feldman, 10 August 1962.

[154] JFKL, NSF Box 118A, Israel-General 8/9/62–8/15/62, ‘Memorandum for the President’ from Myer Feldman, 10 August

[155] JFKL, MFOH, Vol. 9, 418.

[156] JFKL, NSF Box 118A, Israel-General 8/9/62–8/15/62, ‘Memorandum for the President’ from Myer Feldman, 10 August 1962.

[157] JFKL, NSF Box 118A, Israel-General 8/9/62–8/15/62, ‘Memorandum for the President’ from Myer Feldman, 10 August

[158] Gavin, Gold, Dollars, and Power, 59.

[159] FRUS 1962–1963, XVIII, 60, Notes of Conference, 14 August 1962.

[160] FRUS 1962–1963, XVIII, 60, Notes of Conference, 14 August, 57.

[161] FRUS 1962–1963, XVIII, 60, Notes of Conference, 14 August, 56, 58.

[162] JFKL, NSF Box 118A, Israel-General 8/9/62–8/15/62, Letter from President Kennedy to Prime Minister Ben-Gurion, 15 August 1962.

[163] JFKL, MFOH, Vol. 11, 537.

[164] JFKL, MFOH, Vol. 11

[165] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 8/17/62–8/20/62, Telegram from Myer Feldman to the Secretary of State, 19 August 1962.

[166] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 8/17/62–8/20/62, Telegram from Myer Feldman to the Secretary of State, 19 August

[167] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 8/17/62–8/20/62, Telegram from Myer Feldman to the Secretary of State, 19 August, 21 August 1962.

[168] FRUS 1962–1963, XVIII, 112, Memo from Talbot to Rusk, 20 September 1962.

[169] JFKL, NSF Box 119, Israel-General 9/6/62–9/21/62, Letter from Prime Minister Ben-Gurion to President Kennedy, 20 August 1962.

[170] JFKL, NSF Box 118A, Israel-General 8/21/62-8/31/62, Telegram to Myer Feldman from Dean Rusk, 20 August 1962.

[171] JFKL, NSF Box 119, Israel-General 9/6/62–9/21/62, Memo of Conversation between Myer Feldman and Golda Meir.

[172] JFKL, NSF Box 119, Israel-General 12/22/62, Memo from Robert Komer to President Kennedy.

[173] JFKL, NSF Box 119, Israel-General 12/22/62, Memo from Robert Komer to President Kennedy

[174] JFKL, NSF Box 119, Israel-General 1/4/63–1/14/63, Memorandum of Conversation between President Kennedy and Golda Meir.

[175] Ben-Zvi, Kennedy and the Politics of Arms Sales, 89.

[176] JFKL, NSF Box 119, Israel-General 1/4/63–1/14/63, Memorandum of Conversation between President Kennedy and Golda Meir.

[177] JFKL, NSF Box 118A, Israel-General 6/1/62–6/15/62, Telegram from the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to Secretary Rusk, 8 June 1962.

[178] JFKL, NSF Box 118A, Israel-General 8/9/62–8/15/62, Memo from Robert Komer to Myer Feldman and McGeorge Bundy, 13 August 1962.

[179] JFKL, NSF Box 118, Israel-General 2/61, Memo of Conversation between Secretary Rusk and Avraham Harman, 13 February 1961.

[180] JFKL, PPF Box 993A, Africa-Conventional Weapons, ‘The Arab States and U.S. Policy’, (undated).