America, Oil, and War in the Middle East

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5704232
AutoresT C Jones, Tina Jones (Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, autor correspondente)
Ano2012
Volume99
Fascículo1
Páginas208-218
Data de publicação2012-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of American History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0021-8723 • E-ISSN: 1945-2314
EditoraOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/jahist/jas045
OpenAlexW2163344492
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas26

Let our position be absolutely clear: An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.-Jimmy Carter, state of the union address, Jan. 23, 1980 Middle Eastern oil has enchanted global powers and global capital since the early twentieth century.Its allure has been particularly powerful for the United States.The American romance began in earnest in the 1930s, when geologists working for Standard Oil of California discovered commercial quantities of oil on the eastern shores of Saudi Arabia.In the years that followed, enchantment turned into obsession.Shortly after World War II it became clear that oil was more than merely a coveted industrial commodity.The most visible and celebrated event in that history occurred when Franklin D. Roosevelt hosted Abd al-Aziz Ibn Saud, the founding monarch of Saudi Arabia, aboard the uss Quincy on Egypt's Great Bitter Lake in February 1945.The meeting permanently linked Middle Eastern oil with American national security.It also helped forge one of the twentieth century's most important strategic relationships, in which the Saudis would supply cheap oil to global markets in exchange for American protection.A bargain was made.And so too was a future tinderbox. 1 Over the course of the twentieth century, preserving the security not just of Saudi Arabia but of the entire Persian Gulf region and the flow of Middle Eastern oil were among the United States' chief political-economic concerns. 2 The pursuit of American power in the Gulf has been fraught with peril and has proved costly in terms of both America

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