Joining the conservative brotherhood: Israel, President Nixon, and the political consolidation of the ‘special relationship’, 1969–73NoamKochavi holds a Ph.D. in American history fromthe University of Toronto (1999). A Lecturer of international relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he is the author of A Conflict Perpetuated: China Policy during the Kennedy Years (Praeger, 2002) and Conservative Partnership: Nixon and the Consolidation of the American-Israeli Relationship (SUNY press, forthcoming).

NoamKochavi holds a Ph.D. in American history fromthe University of Toronto (1999). A Lecturer of international relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he is the author of A Conflict Perpetuated: China Policy during the Kennedy Years (Praeger, 2002) and Conservative Partnership: Nixon and the Consolidation of the American-Israeli Relationship (SUNY press, forthcoming).

Abstract

This article analyzes an important turning point in US–Israeli relations – Nixon's shift in the direction of Israel. The article argues that the standard array of factors employed in the ‘special relationship’ discourse – namely, strategic partnership, a sense of shared values, and skillful practice of interest-group politics by Israel and its American Jewish champions – does not fully explain Nixon's shift. Another salient factor was Israel's manifest support of Nixon in the contexts he valued most, Vietnam and prevalence over political opposition at home. These Israeli policy choices assuaged Nixon's hitherto lingering suspicion that Israel was under the sway of his perceived domestic enemies. Moreover, these choices had important longer-term consequences, as they contributed to the new bond between Israel and the more conservative (and neo-conservative) segments of American society, a bond still much in evidence today.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Uri Bialer, Raymond Cohen, Arie Kacowitz, and Scott Streiner for their helpful comments and criticism.

Notes

NoamKochavi holds a Ph.D. in American history fromthe University of Toronto (1999). A Lecturer of international relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he is the author of A Conflict Perpetuated: China Policy during the Kennedy Years (Praeger, 2002) and Conservative Partnership: Nixon and the Consolidation of the American-Israeli Relationship (SUNY press, forthcoming).

  [1] Nixon's Presidential Project, College Park, MD [hereafter NPP], NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 612, Folder ‘Israeli aid’. Nixon to Kissinger, 17 March 1970. Excerpts of the same memo, excluding the first sentence, can also be found in Nixon, RN, 479–80.

  [2] Quandt, Decisions, 81.

  [3] The Nixon Presidential Press Conferences , 3.

  [4] The Nixon Presidential Press Conferences , 30.

  [5] The Nixon Presidential Press Conferences , 24.

  [6] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 3, Folder 5. Kissinger–Elliot Richardson, 9 December 1969; NPP, NSC Saunders Files–Middle East Negotiations, Box 1169, Folder 11. Kissinger to Nixon (memo), 11 November 1969; Kissinger, White House Years, 559; Quandt, Decisions, 78.

  [7] NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 644, Folder 2. Nixon to Kissinger and Rogers, 22 February 1969. Of course, the very issuance of this directive indicates that Nixon was anything but indifferent to this factor, as is demonstrated below.

  [8] See Tucker, ‘Taiwan Expandable?’

  [9] Cohen and Burr, ‘Israel Crosses the Threshold’. Since this very recent article exhausts the issue until further evidence comes to light, my discussion of the nuclear element is confined to placing it within the context of explaining Nixon's Israeli policy shift.

 [10] Israel State Archive, Jerusalem (Hereafter ISA), RG 60, File 8163/2. Meir to Knesset Security and Foreign Affairs Committee, 16 March 1973; NPP, RG 59, Records of HAK, Box 136, Folder 2. Nixon–Golda et al. (memcon), 1 November 1973.

 [11] Compare, for instance, the angry criticism of Lenczkowski, American Presidents, and Tivnan, The Lobby, with the defensive accounts of Nixon aides, Safire, Before the Fall, Garment, Crazy Rhythm, and, of course, Kissinger, White House Years and Crisis. For an excellent analysis of the historiography of Nixon's image, see Greenberg, Nixon's Shadow.

 [12] Quandt, Decisions, 73; NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 644, Folder 1. Saunders to Kissinger, 22 October 1969; NPP, NSC VIP Visits, Box 921, Folder 4. Saunders to Kissinger, 4 November 1969.

 [13] For instance, even National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger was only partially briefed about the private meeting Nixon held with Prime Minister Golda Meir on 26 September 1969. Cohen and Burr, ‘Threshold’, 27.

 [14] On the American side, Kissinger's telephone conversations and the Nixon tapes offer invaluable insight into the flavour and content of the policy-making deliberations that took place between the president and his national security advisor. Unfortunately, no comparable vehicles for recovering the other pieces of the puzzle – Nixon's conversations with Rogers, for instance – are in the public domain. Whether this is attributable to the unevenness of the declassification process or simply reflects Kissinger's monopoly of Nixon's ear is impossible to determine. On the Israeli side, although the government's deliberations are still under lock and key, the papers of Meir aide-turned-ambassador Simcha Dinitz provide partial access to the most sensitive channel of communications between the Prime Minister's Office and the White House.

 [15] The State Department disseminated this American position among the parties on 28 October, eliciting a strong Israeli rejection. For details, see Quandt, Decisions, 89–92; Rabin, Memoirs, 123–5.

 [16] Quandt, Decisions, 98.

 [17] Rabin, Memoirs, 141–2.

 [18] Karsh, ‘Israel’, 168.

 [19] Direct evidence to this effect is lacking. The case for this point is based on the rare convergence of opinion between Kissinger's memoirs and the most authoritative account to date that draws on State Department sources. See Kissinger, White House Years, 564; Korn, Stalemate, 148.

 [20] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 5, Folder 8. Nixon–Kissinger, 8 June 1970. See also Westad, The Global Cold War, 195.

 [21] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 2, Folder 6. Kissinger–Attorney General Mitchell, 11 September 1969.

 [22] NPP, NSC Institutional Files, Box H-34, Folder 5. NSC Review Group, 18 February 1969.

 [23] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 1, Folder 4. Kissinger–Rogers, 13 March 1969; NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 644, Folder 2. Saunders to Kissinger (memo), 19 March 1969.

 [24] Korn, Stalemate, 154.

 [25] Cited in Korn, Stalemate, 156.

 [26] Korn, Stalemate, 149.

 [27] Kissinger, White House Years, 348.

 [28] NPP, NSC Saunders Files–Middle East, Box 1169, Folder 10. Rogers to Nixon (memo), 14 October 1969. See also: National Archives II, College Park, MD (Hereafter NA), RG 59, Box 1824, Folder ‘pol 27 Arab–Israeli 11/15/69’. Rogers to Nixon, 16 November 1969; NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 3, Folder 4. Kissinger–Sisco, 4 December 1969. The minority view within State, particularly Yost and a number of mid-level INR figures, argued that Arab endorsement of the plan might be possible if only the United States would be seen to apply concerted pressure on Israel. See NA, RG 59, Box 1824, Folder ‘pol 27 Arab–Israeli 11/15/69’. Pierce (INR) to Open Forum Panel, 20 November 1969; NPP, NSC Saunders Files, Middle East Negotiations, Box 1170, Folder 1. Yost to Kissinger, 9 July 1969.

 [29] Nixon was one of the original proponents of the Domino Theory. See Kimball, ‘Peace with Honor’, 153.

 [30] See, for instance, Nixon, RN, 479; NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 9, Folder 1. Nixon–Kissinger, 13 December 1969.

 [31] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 5, Folder 3. Nixon–Kissinger, 13 December 1969.

 [32] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 2, Folder 7. Nixon–Kissinger, 27 September 1969. See also NA, RG 59 Office Files of Rogers, Box 4, Folder ‘White House Correspondence 1969’. Nixon to Rogers, 11 January 1969; NA, Haldeman Diary, CD version, Entry, 27 October 1969.

 [33] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 5, Folder 3, Nixon–Kissinger, 13 December 1969.

 [34] NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 645, Folder 5. Kissinger to Nixon, 2 October 1969.

 [35] Garment, Crazy Rhythm, 192.

 [36] ISA, RG 130, Foreign Ministry Files (hereafter FM) 4156/3. Bitan to Avidar, 23 December 1969.

 [37] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 2, Folder 7. Meir–Kissinger and Kissinger–Nixon, 27 September 1969.

 [38] Cohen and Burr, ‘Threshold’, 24.

 [39] NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 604, Folder 2. Nixon to Kissinger, 22 September 1969, and Laird to Kissinger, 22 August 1969. See also Safire, Before the Fall, 566.

 [40] NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 612, Folder ‘Israeli Aid’. Kissinger to Nixon (telcon), 10 March 1970.

 [41] Kissinger, White House Years, 565–7; NA, Haldeman Diary, CD version, Entry, 26 February 1970; ISA, RG 93, File 7792/A8. Dinitz to Gazit, 4 April 1973.

 [42] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 4, Folder 6. Kissinger–Garment, 12 March 1970; NA, Haldeman Diary, CD version, Entry, 18 March 1970.

 [43] Rabin, Memoirs, 116; Karsh, ‘Israel’, 171.

 [44] Parker, The Politics, 156–7.

 [45] For the different appraisals of Soviet motives, compare: Parker, The Politics, esp. 125; and Ginor, ‘Under the Yellow Arab Helmet’.

 [46] See Parker, The Politics, 160; Inbar, Rabin, 40.

 [47] NPP, NSC Countries–Middle East, Box 612, Folder ‘Israeli Aid’. Nixon–Kissinger (telcon), 10 March 1970.

 [48] NPP, NSC Countries–Middle East, Box 612, Folder ‘Israeli Aid’. Kissinger memo on conversation with Rabin and Nixon, 18 March 1970; Rabin, Memoirs, 134.

 [49] For Nixon's brinkmanship instinct in Vietnam, see: Small, ‘Containing Domestic Enemies’, 137; and Kimball, ‘Peace with Honor’, 160.

 [50] Small, ‘Containing Domestic Enemies’, 143; Qaundt, Decisions, 99; NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 5, Folder 8. Nixon–Kissinger, 8 June 1970.

 [51] NPP, NSC Countries–Middle East, Box 606, Folder 1. Rabin–Kissinger (memcon), 25 April 1970; NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 5, File 9. Kissinger–Nixon, 11 June 1970.

 [52] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 5, Folder 2. Rogers–Kissinger, 9 April 1970.

 [53] NPP, NSC Saunders Files–Middle East Negotiations, Box 1186, Folder 5. Sisco to American Embassy, Moscow, 9 July 1970. Israel also began to realize it had no military answer to the Egyptian SA-3 missiles. See Rabin, Memoirs, 136; Bar-Siman-Tov, War of Attrition, 183.

 [54] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 5, Folder 9. Nixon–Kissinger, 11 June 1970; ISA, RG 72, File 11455/C3, Dinitz Papers. Gazit to Dinitz, 11 August 1970.

 [55] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 6, Folder 2. Kissinger–Garment, 14 July 1970; NPP, Country Files–Middle East, Box 654, Folder 3, Kissinger–Rogers (telcon), 7 August 1970.

 [56] Karsh, ‘Israel’, 173; NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 5, Folder 6. Nixon–Richardson, 22 May 1970. The letter was addressed to Rogers, signalling Nixon's success at diverting domestic criticism to the secretary of state.

 [57] For the text of Nixon's address, see Quandt, Decisions, 100–101.

 [58] Korn, Stalemate, 263.

 [59] Korn, Stalemate, 266.

 [60] ISA, FM 4156/2. Ben Aharon to Foreign Office, 26 March 1969, and Bitan to Elizur, 27 May 1969; NPP, NSC VIP Visits, Box 921, Folder 3, Barbour to SecState, 20 May 1969. The quote is from Barbour's telegram. See also Rafael, Besod Leumim, 165–7.

 [61] ISA, FM 4156/2. Raviv to Elizur, 4 April 1969; NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 644, Folder 2. Saunders to Kissinger, 19 March 1969; Rabin, Memoirs, 115.

 [62] NA, RG 59, Office Files of William P. Rogers, Box 1, Folder ‘memcons’. Rogers–Presidents of Major American Jewish organizations (memcon), 15 April 1969; Bar-On, ‘Five Decades’, 271; Klinghoffer, Vietnam, 57.

 [63] ISA, File 4156/2. Argov to Bitan, 26 March 1969.

 [64] Argov persisted in calling for a confrontation with the administration, contributing to his falling from Rabin's grace. See ISA, File 4156/2. Argov to Foreign Office, 28 May 1969; ISA, RG 72, File 11455/C4, Dinitz Papers. Argov to Dinitz, 6 August 1970; ISA, RG 72, File 11455/C2, Dinitz Papers. Argov to Gazit, 24 March 1971.

 [65] Rabin, Memoirs, 102–4; Inbar, Rabin, 37–8; Kennen, Israel's Defense Line, 219.

 [66] Inbar, Rabin, 41.

 [67] ISA, FM 4156/2. Bitan to Rabin, 21 April 1969, and Knesset Security and Foreign Affairs subcommittee deliberations, 20 May 1969; NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 1, Folder 5. Kissinger–Garment, 14 March 1969; Rabin, Memoirs, 111–15.

 [68] ISA, FO 4156/2. Eban to Rabin and Argov, 30 April 1969.

 [69] Meir, My Life, 2. See also Namir, Shlichut BeMoskva, 52.

 [70] Meir, My Life, 203–204; ISA, FM 4550/3. FO to Washington Embassy, 14 January 1970; Meir to journalist James Reston, New York Times, 27 December 1970.

 [71] ISA, FO 4156/2. Raviv to Elizur, 4 April 1969.

 [72] ISA, FO 4156/2. Elizur to Rabin, 30 April 1969; See also Eban, Autobiography, 463.

 [73] NPP, NSC VIP Visits, Box 921, Folder 3. Barbour to Rogers, 20 May 1969; NPP, NSC, Box 604, Folder 1. Rabin–Saunders (memcon), 26 May 1969.

 [74] See Cohen and Burr, ‘Threshold’, 27.

 [75] See, for instance, NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 606, Folder 2. Meir to Nixon (letter), 12 March 1970; NPP, NSC Name Files, Box 815, Folder ‘Garment’. Garment to Haldeman, 21 November 1970.

 [76] Rabin, Memoirs, 120–21; NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 9, Folder 1. Kissinger–Rabin, 28 February 1970.

 [77] ISA, RG 72, File 11455/C3, Dinitz Papers. Eban to Dinitz, 17 March 1970.

 [78] Rabin, Memoirs, 127.

 [79] NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 606, Folder 3. Meir–Barbour (memcon), 23 March 1970. At least until the aftermath of the 1973 War, Nixon fully endorsed the Meir government's determination to retain control over the Golan Heights. See NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 3, Folder 4. Kissinger–Sisco, 4 December 1969; NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 9, Folder 1. Kissinger to Sisco, 27 February 1971.

 [80] Eban, Autobiography, 465–6.

 [81] Rabin, Memoirs, 139; NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 10, Folder 5. Kissinger–Sisco, 22 June 1970; NA, RG 59, Office Files of Rogers, Box 3, Folder ‘Personal papers of Rogers’. Rabin to Kissinger (memcon), 22 June 1970.

 [82] NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 608, Folder ‘Israel vol. VII 2 of 2’. Nixon to Congressman MacGregor (memcon), 10 September 1970.

 [83] NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 607, Folder 7. Sisco to Barbour, 7 August 1970. See also Quandt, Decisions, 106.

 [84] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 9, Folder 5. Kissinger–Rabin, 22 March 1971.

 [85] Quandt, Decisions, 128.

 [86] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 9, Folder 1. Nixon–Kissinger, 24 February 1971.

 [87] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 9, Folder 1. Kissinger–Sisco, 27 February 1971.

 [88] Little, American Orientalism, 106; Quandt, Decisions, 122; Hanhimaki, Flawed Architect, 96–98; Yager, Israel's Foreign Ministry, 273; and Bar-Siman-Tov, ‘A Special Relationship?’, 245.

 [89] Rabin, Memoirs, 148.

 [90] NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 607, Folder 7. Sisco to Barbour, 25 September 1970; Nixon Tapes, Tape 628/16. Nixon–Meir–Rabin meeting, 2 December 1971.

 [91] To illustrate, the quantum leap in economic and military aid to Israel took place between 1970 and 1971: $159.3 million for 1970, and $1285.7 million for 1971. See Organsky, The $36 Billion Bargain, 143.

 [92] NPP, Haldeman Diary, CD version, Entry, 11 March 1971; NPP, HAK Office Files, Box 129, Folder 1A. Haldeman memo on Nixon–Rogers–Haldeman meeting, 22 April 1971.

 [93] Diagle, ‘The Russians are Going’, 1–15. Overlooking Kissinger's role, Diagle somewhat overplays Rogers’ general influence over Nixon; yet, for those few months, his case is validated by Nixon's choice not to inform Kissinger about Rogers’ meetings with Sadat. See Quandt, Decisions, 144.

 [94] Excerpt of a citation by Diagle, ‘The Russians are Going’, 8. The citation is too importantly illuminating not to be reproduced here.

 [95] NPP, Haldeman Diary, CD version, Entry, 17 May 1971.

 [96] NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 657, Folder ‘nodis July–Sept. 71, 1 of 2’. NSC meeting, 5 August 1971.

 [97] Yaacobi, ‘The attempt to reach an interim agreement’, 46; ISA, FM 4549/8. Ramati–Brosh, 9 July 1971; ISA, RG 43, File 6689/C36. Rafiah–Gazit, 1 August 1971; NPP, Box 658, Folder ‘nodis Oct.–Dec. 71 3 of 3.’ Meir–Rogers (memcon) 4 December 1971.

 [98] Nixon Tapes, Tape 628/2. Nixon–Meir–Kissinger–Rabin discussion, 2 December 1971.

 [99] Nixon Tapes, Tape 528/9. Nixon–Douglas Home discussion, 30 September 1971. For a similar interpretation of Sadat's motives, see Dawisha, ‘Egypt’, 36.

[100] Quandt, Decisions, 146–7; NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 13, Folder 1. Nixon–Haldeman, 25 January 1972.

[101] Kissinger, White House Years, 1289; NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 609, Folder 2. Saunders to Kissinger, 28 October 1971. Eban was so methodically kept out as to embarrass even Rabin's successor Dinitz. See ISA, RG 93, File 7792/A8. Dinitz to Gazit, 4 July 1973. On the US side, particularly uninformed was the American embassy in Tel Aviv, all the more so after the replacement of Barbour with Kenneth Keating. See Morgan and Kennedy, American Diplomats, 144; ISA, RG 93, File 7792/A8. Shomron–Dinitz, 27 July 1973.

[102] Hanhimaki, Flawed Architect, 97; Lebow and Stein, We All Lost the Cold War, 174–5.

[103] On the Rogers plan, see Ben-Zvi, The United States and Israel, 85; NA, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy Files 1967–69, Box 1824, Folder ‘pol 27 Arab–Isr. 11/15/69’. #6454 Moscow to State, 20 November 1969; ISA, FM 5294/9. Atherton to Evron, 22 April 1972.

[104] Compare: Rabin, Memoirs, 120; NPP, WHSF: POF: Annotated News Summaries, Box 30, Folder 9. Nixon Handwriting, 29 September 1969; NPP, Haldeman Diary, CD version, Entry, 18 September 1970; Nixon Tapes, Tape 771/1. Nixon–Kissinger conversation, 6 September 1972.

[105] NPP, President's Personal Files, Box 51, Folder 21. Nixon notes in preparation of meeting Meir, 25 September 1969; NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 6, Folder 1. Nixon–Kissinger, 7 July 1970.

[106] NPP, NSC Saunders Files–Middle East Negotiations, Box 1169, Folder 11. Kissinger to Nixon (memo), 11 November 1969; NPP, NSC Institutional Files, Box H-25, Folder ‘NSC meeting 10 December 1969.’ Kissinger memo, 10 December 1969; NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 645, Folder 1. Kissinger–Nixon, 16 June 1970.

[107] NPP, Haldeman Diary, CD version, Entry, 17 September 1970.

[108] See, for instance, Nixon's grudging remarks about this to Mitchell, Nixon Tapes, Tape 576–6. Nixon–Mitchell discussion, 18 September 1971.

[109] See, for instance, NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 8, Folder 2. Kissinger–Sisco, 14 December 1970; NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 606, Folder 1. Saunders handwritten remarks to Haig at the margins of a document titled ‘Economic and Military Assistance to Israel’, 10 March 1970. Sisco was naturally concerned lest he end up ‘the fall guy’ in the duel between Kissinger and Rogers, but he persevered to stay on as assistant secretary when Kissinger replaced Rogers in late 1973. See NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 11, Folder 10. Kissinger–Sisco, 9 October 1971.

[110] Kissinger Telcons, Box 11, Folder 5. Rabin–Kissinger, 5 October 1971; Garment, Crazy Rhythm, 190.

[111] NPP, Haldeman Diary CD version. Entry, 11 March 1971; Nixon Tapes, Tape 628/2. Kissinger-Nixon discussion, 2 December 1971; Hanhimaki, Flawed Architect, 25.

[112] Nixon Tapes, Tape 628/2. Kissinger–Nixon discussion, 2 December 1971.

[113] Klieman, Statecraft in the Dark, 46; ISA, RG 72, File 11455/C3, Dinitz Papers. Gazit to Dinitz, 30 November 1970.

[114] ISA, RG 72, File 11455/C3. Rabin to Dinitz, 2 June 1971; ISA, RG 93, File 7792/A-8. Rabin to Dinitz, 27 December 1972; Eban, Autobiography, 465.

[115] NPP Kissinger Telcons, Box 18, Folder 6. Kissinger–Rabin, 18 January 1973.

[116] Nixon Tapes, Tape 628-16. Meir–Nixon–Kissinger–Rabin meeting, 2 December 1971; Rabin, Memoirs, 161–3.

[117] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 9, Folder 7. Nixon–Kissinger, 29 September 1971.

[118] NPP, Haldeman Diary, CD version, Entry, 17 January 1972.

[119] Glad and Link, ‘President Nixon's Inner Circle of Advisors’, 23. The year between mid-1972 and the eruption of Watergate saw many Israelis concerned lest Nixon might replace Kissinger. See, for instance, ISA, FM 5294/10. Evron to Eban, 31 August 1972; ISA, RG 93, File 7792/A8. Gazit to Dinitz, 3 June 1973.

[120] NPP, WHSF: POF: Annotated News Summaries, Box 37, Folder 2–7 December 1971. 6 December 1971; Elizur, ‘Security Without Peace’, 308.

[121] NPP, Haldeman diary, CD version, Entry, 23 January 1972.

[122] Most students of Nixon agree on this point. See, for instance, Bundy, A Tangled Web, 519–520; Small, ‘Containing Domestic Enemies’, 133–42. For a mild counterargument, see Hoff Wilson, Nixon Reconsidered, 1994.

[123] The only major study covering the nexus between Jerusalem, Washington, American Jewry, and Vietnam hardly goes beyond the Johnson years. See Klinghoffer, Vietnam.

[124] NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 608, Folder ‘Israel vol. VIII 1 of 3’. Kissinger–Rabin (memcon), 22 December 1970. For two other occasions, see NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 607, Folder 3. Barbour to Rogers, 23 July 1970; ISA, RG 93, File 4996/A1. Dinitz to Idan, 24 March 1973.

[125] On the status of Israeli–Vietnamese relations at the time, see ISA, FM 4189/39. Horam to Erel, 24 April 1968.

[126] Klinghoffer, Vietnam, 58.

[127] Klinghoffer, Vietnam, 66–9; Rostow–Harman memcon, 3 May 1966, in FRUS 1964–1968, Vol. 18, Arab–Israeli Dispute, 1964–1967, 581.

[128] ISA, FM 4156/3. Bitan to Rabin, 6 November 1969, and Bitan to Rabin, 13 November 1969; NA, Country Files–Middle East, Box 605, Folder 1(A). Davis to Elliot, 12 November 1969.

[129] See: Knesset Deliberations, 26 November 1969, Vol. 56, 80–85; NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 607, Folder 2. Garment to Haldeman, 26 May 1970.

[130] See, for instance, ISA, FM 4159/10. Bitan to Herzog, 14 December 1969.

[131] ISA, FM 4156/3. Bitan to Rabin, 6 November 1969.

[132] For a good though later example see ISA, FM 5295/8. Rabin to Gazit, 26 December 1972.

[133] NPP, NSC Name Files, Box 815, Folder ‘Garment’. Garment to Haldeman, 14 October 1969; Safire, Before the Fall, 567. To the best of my knowledge, Safire's memoir is the only source that advances this paper's argument that Nixon's Israeli policy was importantly shaped by his perception of her conduct in non-Middle Eastern contexts.

[134] ISA, FM 5294/9. Elizur to Rabin, 23 May 1972.

[135] Small, ‘Containing Domestic Enemies’, 140; Nixon, In the Arena, 332; Nixon, No More Vietnams, 115; ISA, FM 4156/3. Ben-Haim to Prime Minister's Office, 7 October 1969. This message actually relays the very positive impression Meir left on Nixon regarding Vietnam during their meeting in September 1969.

[136] Safire, Before the Fall, 577; ISA, FM 5294/11. Nixon to Meir, 22 March 1973; NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 14, Folder 2. Nixon–Kissinger, 6 May 1972; NPP, Haldeman Diary, CD version, Entry, 1 February 1972.

[137] Washington Post, 11 June 1972, A1.

[138] NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 609, Folder 2. Clawson to Haldeman, 14 June 1972.

[139] ISA, FM 5295/8. Rabin to Foreign Office, 18 July 1972.

[140] NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 609, Folder 2. Clawson to Haldeman, 14 June 1972; NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 14, Folder 2. Nixon–Kissinger, 6 May 1972.

[141] Inbar, Rabin, 39; NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 16, Folder 2. Rabin–Kissinger, 25 September 1972.

[142] ISA, FM 4548/6. Elizur to Brosh, 1 December 1971; NPP NSC Name Files, Box 815, Folder ‘Garment’. Garment to Haldeman, 21 November 1970; Kennen, Oral History, The Politics of American Jews collection, New York Public Library (NYPL) DOROT section, New York City.

[143] ISA, FM 4156/2. Elizur to Argov, 27 July 1969; NPP, NSC Presidential Correspondence, Box 756, Folder 6. Meir to Graham, 11 March 1970; NPP, NSC Countries–Middle East, Box 609, Folder 2. FBI Director to Kissinger, 13 August 1971.

[144] Nixon–Graham conversation, 1 February 1972, in Prados, The White House Tapes, 243-244. Nixon professed not to care about his standing with Jewish voters, but during 1971 his campaign strategists, at least, believed this could prove a key swing factor. Rita Hauser Oral History, The Politics of American Jews Collection, NYPL.

[145] ISA, RG 93, File 7792/A8. Rabin to Dinitz, 27 December 1972.

[146] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 17, Folder 10. Nixon–Kissinger, 16 January 1973. See also Kissinger Telcons, Box 14, Folder 10. Nixon–Kissinger, 29 June 1972. Indeed, Rabin appears to have been the most influential among several Israeli ambassadors in Washington who figured importantly in the shaping of the relationship. For the general phenomenon, see Gazit, ‘The Role of the Foreign Ministry’, 1090.

[147] ISA, RG 93, File 7792/A8. Dinitz to Rockefeller, 16 May 1973; ISA, RG 93, File 4496/A2, Dinitz to Gazit, 23 August 1973, and Shalev to Gazit, 10 September 1973. After the Yom Kippur War, when the American–Israeli relationship ran into grave problems, this would come to haunt Dinitz.

[148] ISA, RG 93, File 7792/A8. Max Fisher–Meir meeting, 27 May 1973.

[149] ISA, RG 93, File 7792/A8. Government meeting protocol, 3 June 1973, and Dinitz to Gazit, 5 June 1973.

[150] NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Dobrynin File, Box 27, Folder 10. Kissinger–Dobrynin, 22 April 1973. Kissinger may have presented the message delivered to Israel in over-dramatic terms so as to cater to his interlocutor, Dobryinin.

[151] ISA, RG 93, 4996/2. Dinitz to Gazit, 30 September 1973.

[152] ISA, RG 60, File 8163/4. Rabin to Knesset Security and Foreign Affairs Committee, 30 March 1973.

[153] ISA, FM 5294/11. Elizur to Foreign Ministry director general, 21 March 1973; Levanon, Hakod Nativ, 400–401; ISA, RG 93, File 4996/1. Gazit to Dinitz, 27 April 1973; ISA, RG 60, File 8163/4. Meir to Knesset Security and Foreign Affairs Committee, 4 May 1973.

[154] NPP, NSC Presidential/HAK memcons, Box 1026, Folder 20. Meir–Nixon (memcon), 1 March 1973.

[155] ISA, FM 5294/13. Elizur to Dinitz, 2 September 1973; NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 12, Folder 10. Kissinger–Nixon, 15 January 1972. See also ISA, RG 93, File 7792/A8. Gazit to Dinitz, 10 May 1973.

[156] Rabin, Memoirs, 165–7; NPP, WHSF: POF: Annotated News Summaries, Box 37, Folder 2–7 December 1971, 6 December 1971.

[157] ISA, RG 93, File 4996/A2. Gazit to Dinitz, 14 June 1972, and Gazit to Dinitz, 15 June 1973; NPP, Kissinger Telcons, Box 20, Folder 7. Kissinger–Dinitz, 14 June 1973.

[158] ISA, RG 93, File 7792/8. Gazit to Dinitz, 8 April 1973. For Sadat's perspective, see Sadat, In Search of Identity, 229.

[159] ISA, FM 5295/8. Periodical summary (probably authored by Military Intelligence), 3 July 1972, Rabin to Foreign Office, 18 July 1972; ISA, RG 60, File 8163/4. Rabin testimony before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security committee, 30 March 1973.

[160] Eban, Autobiography, 486; ISA, FM 5295/9. Foreign Ministry symposium on American Policy, 26 March 1973; ISA, RG 93, File 7792/A8. Government session minutes, 16 September 1973.

[161] NPP, NSC Country Files–Middle East, Box 658, Folder ‘nodis vol. V 2 of 2’. Zurhellen (American charge d'affairs)–Allon discussion, 5 March 1973.

[162] Rafael, Besod Leumim, 246–249; Eban, Autobiography, 479.

[163] ISA, FM 5294/9. Eban–Rogers–Sisco (memcon), 21 April 1972; NPP, NSC Countries–Middle East, Box 610, Folder ‘Israel vol. 12’. Sisco interview on Israeli television, 1 August 1973.

[164] NPP, NSC Countries–Middle East, Box 610, Folder ‘Israel vol. 12’. Kissinger–Keating (memcon), 13 August 1973; ISA, RG 93, File 4996/A2. Dinitz to Gazit, 11 July 1973; ISA, File 7792/A8. Dinitz to Kidron, 3 August 1973.

[165] ISA, RG 93, File 7792/A8. Rabin to Dinitz, 30 December 1972.

[166] This aspect of the story is well covered in the literature and, essentially not in scholarly dispute, requires no detailed recounting here. See Quandt, Decisions, 143–64; Bar-On, ‘Five Decades’, 274–5; Hanhimaki, The Flawed Architect, 305–306; Commentary by former Ambassador to Egypt Herman Elits, in Friedman and Levantrosser, Cold War Patriot and Statesman, 141–4; Lebow and Stein, We All Lost the Cold War, 179.

[167] Quandt, Decisions, 129.

[168] NPP, Country Files-Middle East, Box 610, Folder ‘Israel Vol. 11’. Kissinger to Nixon, n.d. (around October 1972).

[169] ISA, FM 5294/4. Ben-Aharon to Foreign Office, 13 December 1972; ISA, FM 5294/9. Rabin to Gazit, 19 July 1972.

[170] ISA, RG 93, File 7792/A8. Dinitz to Meir, 29 May 1973.

[171] Quandt, Decisions, 161.

[172] ISA, RG 93, File 4996/A2. Dinitz to Gazit, 30 September 1973.

[173] NPP, Presidential/HAK memcons, Box 1027, Folder 3. Kissinger–Scowcroft–PFIAB (memcon), 3 August 1973.

[174] The Israeli embassy was far less concerned about these speeches than was the Israeli Foreign Office. Compare: ISA, FM 5294/13. Shalev to Evron, 12 September 1973, and Evron to Shalev, 14 September 1973.

[175] ISA, RG 93, File 4996/A2. Dinitz to Gazit, 30 September 1973; Quandt, Decisions, 162; Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 296.

[176] Lebow and Stein, We All Lost the Cold War, 166–72; Garthoff, Detente and Confrontation, 404–12; [Zubok, Failed Empire, 238.]

[177] Lebow and Stein, We All Lost the Cold War, 285–8.

[178] See Gottschalk, ‘Perspectives’, esp. 37; Friedman, The Neoconservative Revolution, 125; Kissinger–Jewish intellectuals (memcon), 6 December 1973, reprinted in Shalom, ‘Kissinger’.

[179] Meir, My Life, 365; NA, RG 59, Records of HAK, Box 136, Folder 2. Nixon–Kissinger–Golda Meir (memcon), 1 November 1973; NA, RG 59, Records of HAK, Box 2, Folder ‘November–December 1973 Folder 2’. Kissinger–Golda Meir (memcon), 11 November 1973. The Jackson–Vanik amendment provided another rallying point of convergence for Israel and upcoming neo-conservative influential figures like Jackson aide Richard Perle. See ISA, RG 93, 4996/1. Gazit to Dinitz, 3 May 1973; ISA, FM 5370/2. Shomron to FO, 15 June 1973.

[180] Dobrynin, In Confidence, 302–5.

[181] NPP, NSC HAK Office Files, Box 129, Folder 3. Nixon–Secretary of the Treasury Simon (memcon), 9 July 1974.

[182] This section draws on the overview of the approaches presented by political scientist Gabriel Sheffer. See Sheffer, ‘Introduction’, 6. See also Hahn, ‘Special Relationships’.

[183] Bar-Siman-Tov, ‘A Special Relationship?’, 231–62; Ben-Zvi, The United States and Israel, 83.

[184] See, for example, McAllistair, Epic Encounters; Benson, Truman and the Founding of Israel.

[185] Mearsheimer and Walt, The Israel Lobby. See also Rubenberg, Israel and the American National Interest; Tivnan, The Lobby.

[186] Inbar, Rabin, 54–5; Rabin, Memoirs, 179.

[187] ISA, FM 4159/10. Bitan to Herzog, 14 December 1969.

[188] ISA, FM 4156/3. Ben Haim to Prime Minister's Office, 7 October 1969; Betram H. Gold, ‘Who Speaks for the Jews?’ Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem (CZA), File S62/765, Annual American Jewish Committee Meeting Address, 4 May 1972.

[189] Herzberg, A Jew in America, 302; CZA, File S100/1071. Herzberg to Meir, 31 December 1969.

[190] Urofski, We Are One!, 390.

[191] Urofski, We Are One!; Novik, The United States and Israel, 67; Rita Hauser interview, 22 August 1973, Ben Wattenberg interview, 11 August 1974, Richard Maass interview, 5 June 1974, all in The Politics of American Jews collection, NYPL.

[192] For discussion of this phenomenon, see Janis, Groupthink.

[193] Opinions on this crucial ‘what-if’ question diverge sharply among Israeli practitioners. For the argument that Sadat was not truly willing to negotiate peace prior to 1973, see Gazit, ‘Was the War Avoidable?’ For the argument that a more conciliatory line would have made a difference, see Yaacobi, ‘The Attempt’, esp. 47, 55; Elizur, ‘Security Without Peace’, 301; and Eban, Autobiography, 476.

[194] ISA, RG 93, File 7792/A8. Dinitz to Kidron, 18 July 1973; ISA, FM 5294/12. Leef to Israeli Military Intelligence, 8 August 1973.

[195] ISA, RG 93, File 4996/A2. Dinitz to Eagleburger, 30 September 1973; Kissinger, Crisis, 12–13.