Couscous Mussolini: US perceptions of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the 1958 intervention in Lebanon and the origins of the US–Israeli special relationship

Abstract

This article argues that the US print media influenced US foreign policy by crafting a powerful narrative of Gamal Abdel Nasser that characterised Nasser as an expansionistic dictator by comparing him to Hitler and Mussolini. This narrative gained currency when the US public became anxious over Israel's security after the Czech arms deal of 1955. The narrative influenced US policy by strengthening the cultural relationship between Israel and the US by describing Nasser in similar terms, and also by influencing Eisenhower's and Dulles' perceptions of the Middle East immediately prior to the US deployment of troops to Lebanon in 1958.

Notes

Richard J. McAlexander earned his MA in History from Temple University in 2008 and is currently working toward his MA in Near Eastern Studies at New York University.

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 [96] Yaqub, Containing Arab Nationalism, 224.

 [97] US Department of State, FRUS, 1958–1960, 11:219.

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 [99] Ben-Zvi, Decade of Transition, 75.

[100] Wynn, Nasser of Egypt, 121.

[101] For Munich's role in the Korean War, see Anderson, Condemned to Repeat It, 76. For the Cuban Missile Crisis, see Ketz, Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy, Volume 2, 450. For the Vietnam War, see Khong, Analogies at War, 64.

[102] Alin, The United States and the 1958 Lebanon Crisis, 98–9.

[103] 374th Meeting of the NSC, 31 July 1958, NSC Series, Box 10 folder: ‘374th Meeting of the NSC, July 31, 1958’ DDEL.

[104] Brands, The Specter of Neutralism, 294.

[105] ‘Egypt's Nasser: Hope or Menace’, Reader's Digest, August 1956.

[106] ‘Nasser: Pharaoh in Shortsleeves’, The Nation, 12 January 1958.

[107] ‘What Does Nasser Seek?’, The Christian Century, 25 June 1958.

[108] ‘Dissent on Egypt’, National Review, 9 March 1958.

[109] ‘Wings for Nasser’, National Review, 16 March 1958.

[110] Campbell, Defense of the Middle East.

[111] ‘Statement of the Post's Views’, The New York Times, 4 November 1958.

[112] Call of the Egyptian Ambassador to the Secretary, 30 September 1955; Reel 134; John Foster Dulles State Department Microfilm, Princeton University Library.

[113] US–Egyptian Relations Department of State Memo, 17 May 1956; Reel 134; John Foster Dulles State Department Microfilm, Princeton University Library.

[114] See Christison, Perceptions of Palestine.

[115] McAlister, Epic Encounters.

[116] Said, Covering Islam, 43–4.

[117] Berman, Anti-Americanism in Europe, 83.

[118] Hurst, ‘The Rhetorical Strategy of George H. W. Bush during the Persian Gulf Crisis 1990–91’.

[119] See Ben-Zvi, Decade of Transition.

[120] See Mart, Eye on Israel.